Saint Mary's School News

Saint Mary’s Theatre is proud to present Decision Height, Friday-Saturday, Oct. 25-26, 2019, nightly at 7 p.m., in historic Eliza Battle Pittman Auditorium. From the winner of the 2013 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, comes a story about friendship and the complex though essential role of women in wartime.

Virginia Hascall has left her home and fiancée to become a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) and do her part to help defeat the Axis powers in the Second World War. Through triumph and tragedy, she and her sisters in flight suits learn as much about themselves as they do about airplanes. As the war rages over there, the women form a sisterhood that cannot be broken, and Virginia must make a decision that will change her life forever. With a cast of nine vibrant female characters, Decision Height offers a look into an underrecognized subset of American heroes and revises history into herstory.

According to Jone Johnson Lewis of ThoughtCo.com, "In the United States, women pilots were trained to fly non-combat missions in order to free male pilots for combat missions. They ferried planes from the manufacturing plants to military bases, and ended up doing much more — including flying new aircraft such as the B-29, to prove to male pilots that these were not as difficult to fly as the men thought!"

The play’s promotional poster features Saint Mary’s alumna Caro Bosca Bayley ‘41C, who was a highly decorated WASP during World War II and award-winning aviator. Ms. Bayley is not a character in the play but is an outstanding real-life representation of the heroic Women Airforce Service Pilots and Saint Mary’s alumnae role model for today’s students.

Saint Mary’s theatre program offers opportunities to study acting, explore dramatic literature, read and analyze scripts, write and produce original works, perform in classrooms and the Raleigh community, and become familiar with the history of theatre. Through our tech classes, students serve as designers and crew heads in the main stage productions.

Open to all students at Saint Mary’s are opportunities to be involved as production company members, stage managers, actors, and crew members for scenic painting, costume, hair, make-up, props, lighting and sound. Each year, students create on-campus productions that include a full-length play in the fall, one-act plays, and the musical in the winter.

Come out to Pittman Auditorium and enjoy live theatre presented by our talented students!