Elston High School - Elstonian Yearbook (Michigan City, IN)

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The girls dance to the Tea House of the August Moon. Mark Jones draws conclusions from the play. The Geisha girl portrayed by Jody Taub struggles to make Rob Burnham more comfortabkx

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This year's all-school play was the recipant of much of this change as a new director Mr. Holdcraft, took control of the annual event. While Mr. Hold- craft may be new to the aIl-school play his expertise as director of Elston's musical production is well known by all. And this years actors, under his direction. preserved his reputation as they skillfully handled the many changes that this year's play, The Teahouse of the August Moon, brOught. Among these changes was the addition of a perfor- mance in school for selected English students, the use of more choreography and costumes. a bigger cast. and the inclusion of Elston's first animal actor, Sassafrass, the goat. For the actor who participated in the play. with its many Japanese lines and characters. Teahouse proved to be a challenging yet rewarding experience. For the audiences who attended the performances, Teahouse was another one of the enioyable plays that Elston has presented over the years. r rama at Elston, like our school itself is changing. Teahouse Serves AIex Reichl checks Rob Burnham's psychological condition. Mark Jones sets the mood for the play.

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.mes have changed, or so we are told. Things aren't what they use to be. Even in a brief period of time one thing seems to be certain. things are always changing. In the Forties, the American people were living with a war - the Second World War. Fear of the unknown was in the people's hearts. Shortages. rationing. Civil Defense jobs, air raid drills and the dread of receiving the latest fatality lists had become a twenty-four hour habit. The combined trama of the war and the recent Great Depression took it's toils on lives, emotions and asperations. Somehow the war ended. the American people were now striving to restart their lives. With the beginning of the Fifties, one of America's calmest eras had begun. AlthOugh there were numerous problems Such as the Cold War and the Korean Conflict, it was an era when everything was going to be okay. There was hope. It was a time of Romance and the American Dream. falling in love. getting married and living happily ever after taking Sunday afternoon drives. Suddenly something happened. The calm era ended. The Sixities had been born. It was now the time of Johnson's Great Society. The American attitude had changed. The poor were recognized and Federal programs were started. Martin Luther King, President John Kenndey and brother Robert were assassinated. Man placed his foot on the Moon, One giant step for Mankind. Suddenly Our young men were being poured into Vietnam. It was a time of anxiety. Blacks would no longer tolerate being second-class citizens. People began to speak out. College campuses became the scene of violence as students demanded the end of the Vietnam conflict. The radical movement began to grow. Time passed; elections came. Richard Nixon was elected President. Vietnam eventually ended and with it an era. College campuses became peaceful yet our nation now had new worries. Communist expansion in Asia, rising inflation. high unemployment and crime rates demanded more and more of Our attention. Suddenly there was Watergate. Nixon resigned in disgrace, but America peacefully passed the test. Gerald Ford was sworn in and reconstruction began. Jimmy Carter came to the White House with the promise that things will be better. Now as the plans for the next era lay on the drawing board. only time will do the telling.