No Shortage of Arts at ARTech

Visit the on any given night after most of the 120 students and teachers have headed home and it’s not hard to find Bob Gregory-Bjorklund.

Just listen.

“Louder! We can’t hear you!” he’ll call out to one of his sheepish middle-school actors.

As a director, Gregory-Bjorklund’s actions are on par with anyone who is trying to get the most out of the actors in front him. Though, in this case, he’s got a group of 32 students ranging from sixth grade to seniors.

No problem. He’s got it covered.

“They’re kids who love to be expressive and are willing to take on challenges," said the ARTech arts coordinator.

Call it boot camp.

And tonight, the actors go to battle in the school’s iteration of Oliver Twist—not based on the kid-friendly musical, but rather the original, dark text.

Following the arts at ARTech

ARTech’s four-show run of Oliver Twist is just one of several experiences students get to dabble in this spring with Gregory-Bjorklund at the helm.

Junior Arye Lovestrand, 17, who plays Bill Sikes, a main antagonist in Oliver Twist, was and is involved in two other projects this spring.

Lovestrand was one of 19 ARTech students to participate in The Guthrie’s School on Stages program where students worked with actors from the theater and created a piece that was performed at The Guthrie on April 2. He will also be involved in the upcoming artist residency with Flying Foot Forum, a company out of the Twin Cities that will turn into a collaborative project next year for ARTech, and and colleges.

These are opportunities that Arye has grown to love since becoming an ARTech student in eighth grade.

While he’s enjoyed the different experiences, he says nothing beats getting on the stage and executing a line, a look and a movement.

“I really enjoy the process,” he said.

And that’s what Gregory-Bjorklund is working toward.

“I consider one of my main jobs as a teacher to expand kids’ worlds,” he said. “All of these arts opportunities do that incredibly well and not just for the student as an artist, but as the student as a person.”

That’s the point, Gregory-Bjorklund said. It’s not just about the art. It’s about life, too.

“They get a chance to work with people who are in the business,” he said. “The work itself is very important, but it’s everything around that experience also.”

Old, meet new

A fourth project Gregory-Bjorklund spearheaded this spring is a collaboration with Carleton College and Rob Hardy, who for six weeks met with ARTech students and taught about Greek mythology and theater and his adaptation of the Oresteia. ARTech students will visit Carleton to see its staging and watch the adaptation.

For Hardy, it was a perfect relationship. Since the opening of the , community outreach has been a goal of Carleton’s. Introducing students to a world in which they rarely visit was a great opportunity, Hardy said.

“Greek Tragedy is not something that is performed a lot and it’s a bit different,” he said. “It seemed like a good opportunity to introduce it to the kids.”

Hardy has gone through his script, which was pared down from the original five-hour piece to 90 minutes, and talked about Greek mythology with the students. They’ve been receptive, he said.

As for Friday’s show, two budding ARTech actors are eager for Oliver Twist and many arts opportunities to come.

Ninth-grader Tom Winter, 15, and seventh-grader Isabelle Gray, 13, play Mr. and Mrs. Sowerberry.

“I just enjoy telling a story,” said Isabelle.

“It is fun to be someone else,” added Tom.

And someone else they will be. Mr. Sowerberry is an undertaker and the couple will be dressed in Gothic garb—including black lipstick and dyed black hair. 

For the light-haired Tom, it’s a step he’s willing to take in the name of art. And it’s these type of students that Gregory-Bjorklund is happy to have for years to come.

“You find these kids in other schools, too,” he said. But at ARTech, “I think it naturally draws a student who’s interested in exploring, questioning, discovering and participating.”

With the curtain rising for the first time on Oliver Twist tonight, Gregory-Bjorklund has spent the past several weeks fully immersed in Twist’s world. But does that make it his favorite undertaking of the spring?

Of course not. He’s enjoyed all of them equally.

“It sounds like a cop-out answer, but it’s true,” he said. “What I, as an arts educator, want to do here is to create a student who is informed and asks questions and is excited and engaged in the arts.”

End scene.

Follow Northfield Patch on Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Sign up for our daily newsletter

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Oliver Twist
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday, May 5, 6
WHERE: ARTech
COST: $6 for adults, $4 for students