Performing and Visual Arts Recap Spring 2026

The talent and creativity of Nobles’ visual and performing artists took center stage on campus this spring. Student actors, artists, and musicians dazzled audiences in Vinik Theatre, Lawrence Auditorium, and Foster Gallery with melodious song, thought-provoking theatrics, and striking works of art.

The Nobles Theatre Collective staged Tina Satter’s Is This a Room—a true story about 25-year-old former Air Force linguist Reality Winner that draws verbatim from the transcript of her 2017 interrogation by the FBI. NTC’s 75-minute performance invited deep reflection, staying with the audience long after the house lights came up. At the end of the final performance, the cast and crew invited the audience to join them for a talkback.

“Students working backstage and onstage with the Nobles Theatre Collective this spring created a production unlike any in my long time at Nobles and perhaps in the history of the school,” reflects Director of Performing Arts Dan Halperin. “Our staging of Tina Satter’s Is This a Room may have been the first by any high school ever. Our open-minded and courageous students crafted thought-provoking, dramatic, and at times funny performances of this uber-realistic, yet also simultaneously almost surreal contemporary play, and did so in-the-round on stage in Vinik. We are so proud and thankful for our students, from the newest middle schoolers who joined us backstage to the seniors who helped lead our company.”

Hundreds of student musicians also took to the stage this spring, filling May evenings with song and celebration. The Concert Band and Symphony Orchestra opened the concert season, featuring the Middle School String and Wind ensembles. This inspiring celebration of music included commemorative works such as Omar Thomas’s “A Mother of a Revolution,” arrangements of popular music from films such as Pirates of the Caribbean, and classical works by Dmitri Shostakovich and Antonín Dvořák.

The choral concert followed, with performances by the Middle School Chorus, the Half-Notes, the Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, the Chamber Singers, Imani, the Nobleonians, and the Greensleeves. Musical selections ranged from a cappella pop arrangements to traditional choral works by composers Florence Price, Laura Farnell, and Tracy Wong, as well as pieces rooted in Hungarian folk music and African American spirituals. 

“Nobles music wrapped up another incredible season of concerts that featured over 220 students in the middle school, upper school, faculty, and staff,” shares Director of Music Nhung Truong. “The concerts featured performances of pieces with progressive themes and backgrounds; there was always something for the students and audiences to learn.”

The Jazz and Blues bands, Rock Performance and Drum ensembles, and the Middle School Jam Band brought energy to the stage with performances that included jazz standards such as “In the Mood,” by Joe Garland; contemporary arrangements of pieces such as “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” by Wallace Willis; pop hits such as “Everything,” by Noah Kahan and Gracie Abrams; and “Oye Como Va,” by Santana, arranged for the No-Bull Drum Ensemble. 

In the more intimate setting of the recital hall, the Instrumental Chamber Music Recital offered a moment of quiet pause and reflection, featuring small, student-led instrumental ensembles performing Mozart, Brahms, and Dvořák.

The spring concluded with the annual showcase of student artwork at the opening of the AP Art Show in Foster Gallery. A much-anticipated event each spring at Nobles, the 2026 AP Art show brought the community together once again to celebrate an impressive collection of culminating student work in photography, painting, drawing, and ceramics, rounding out a season that showcased the creative talents of student artists at Nobles.