Honest reviews deserve recognition
Three performers sit at a news ask for one of YAMO’s most popular skits.
Dear Editor,
I am writing in order to pass on congratulations from myself, an ETHS alum, and another ETHS and YAMO alum to Viveka Herzum for her well-written, honest, and brave review of this year’s production of YAMO. What Viveka wrote was not easy. We are all aware of the social pressures of high school and how difficult it can be to criticize work put out by one’s peers.
We know that Viveka and the Evanstonian are probably getting flack from the Theater Dept. and those involved in YAMO, but we think her review is important. It is such an amazing thing for high school theater students to receive well thought out and fair criticism of their work, something that Viveka masterfully provided.
We also urge the Evanstonian to continue to publish honest reviews of student productions in the upcoming issues. As long as these opinions are supported and given without overt biases, we can see only good coming from them: for the actors, who are given a chance to grow; for the readers, who are given the chance to see a well writ- ten review of a production and compare those views to their own; and for the writers, to gain experience and growth from the journalistic exercise.
We look forward to reading more of Viveka’s and the entire Evanstonian staff’s work throughout the year.
ETHS 2013 alum (name withheld)
Your donation will support the student journalists of the Evanstonian. We are planning a big trip to the Journalism Educators Association conference in Philadelphia in November 2023, and any support will go towards making that trip a reality. Contributions will appear as a charge from SNOSite. Donations are NOT tax-deductible.
billyjoe • Nov 28, 2015 at 5:42 pm
My feeling is that Viveka actually liked the production. Here are key words and phrases lifted from her supposedly negative review:
show was a goldmine of Wildkit references and inside jokes.
students, parents, and our own Principal Campbell were both amused and entertained.
in-show references like the return of Sam Bailey’s stellar Zumba instructor in “So I Think You Can Dance” kept the audience laughing.
Highlights were the clever (and timely) “Back to the Future Part 1.5”, which combined a myriad of pop culture references with a touch of commentary in a way that was fresh and well executed.
YAMO is a classic part of the ETHS experience that is both entertaining and well-worth seeing.