The 2024/25 school year marks 20 years since Chateauguay Valley Regional High School (CVR) launched its performing arts department. For two decades, its students have been sharing musical theatre, choir, cabaret performances, and more with the Valley.
Lynn Harper, the head of music at CVR and one of the founders of the department, says “The 20th anniversary kind of crept up on us, to be honest. I was looking through photographs today, and I was like, that’s a lot of shows!” She laughs, saying she remembers her former students based on the show they were in rather than the year they graduated. Harper ran the department since the beginning, with Tina Bye as the drama teacher for the first 10 years and Dawna Babin for the last 10. The dance sector has been taught by Annick Hébert, Neva Shelton, Joyce Rudicelle, Cindel Chartrand, and now Kim Guérin and Erika Rosenbaum.
Over the years Harper has noticed that “The expectations of the community have changed. When we began this process, they thought they were coming to a ‘high-school show.’ We endeavour to not do that.” Her goal is to offer a professional experience. As well, she explains that having access to performing arts lets kids discover new parts of themselves. “It’s about personal growth for students, and this is true for all of the arts at CVR. We’re not anticipating creating virtuosos – we might, but we want people to grow as artists and also as humans.”
The celebrations for the 20th anniversary have already begun. In December, CVR hosted a winter gala which acted as a retrospective; the current class performed vignettes from four previous shows: Annie, Footloose, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid. This meant there were 14 dance numbers in one night. Harper says, “The kids were really excited to celebrate with us!” and promises that there will be more opportunities to celebrate the anniversary over the next few months.
She has been organizing an alumni concert, which will be taking place at 2 p.m. on February 16. This show will feature a mixture of numbers from the current performing arts class, the After Hours choir, and department alumni. “The people in the alumni show are people from all levels of experience. Some people are still making music; some are not, but they are brave enough to say, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that.’ I’m glad that looking back they still feel comfortable enough to take a risk.” The show will feature some familiar favourite songs from different eras of the choir, along with solo and group acts from the alumni. Connor Stacey has agreed to host the show. Tickets are ten dollars and will be available at the door.
Harper is grateful for the past two decades and all the department has been able to accomplish. She makes sure to give a huge shoutout to Sasha Geukjian and the students who help make the tech elements of each show work. She also acknowledges that none of this would be possible without local support. “We really would like to thank the community for their support over the years. They have really stood behind our kids, and they make our kids feel like superstars.”