Like I said, there seem to be 3 major plays per year. There was one in the fall, there is one this week, and there will be a musical. They don’t do musicals every spring from what I understand.
Thanks for the clarification and I’m sorry I did not understand what you wrote in your first post about the three major plays per year.
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From what I understand, there is also a musical in the Spring this year. Students have plenty of flexibility to participate in performing arts and a sport at Deerfield. There have been students we knew in Acting 1 - who were in the school play as well as doing a sport. It also depends on your sport.
One of the reasons why Golfkiddo chose Deerfield over other schools after Revisit was because of the flexibility offered in participating in sports AND performing arts. In my kiddo’s situation, the performing arts participation was not the same term as the main sport. But, there is plenty of time for participating in the sport and a variety of EC’s. We also know many kids who do a Varsity sport and play in the orchestra or jazz band.
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DA loves a helicopter moment!
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I was wondering who was getting out of the helicopter.
I wondered if it was going to be a football superstar who I heard visited campus, and was then v confused because, on first look, I thought it was a previous president!
It seems that this is quite usual. During Parent’s weekend back in October, I watched the performances with my kid (who categorically would never get on stage unless life depended on it). My kid was pointing out the kids on stage that they knew who were in the band/orchestra/dance ensemble and commenting on which sport they did. It seems the norm for kids to play sports and also sing, dance, play music. My kid was unusual for not doing this.
And back to a question a few posts up, yes, it does seem that Deerfield has a special playful, tight, spirit on campus. I wonder if some of it is due to the fact that it’s isolated so the Student Life office makes a sincere effort to have lots going on during weekends to keep the kids busy and out of trouble.
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But isn’t SPS also isolated and all-boarding? I don’t get the same vibe from them, but they have separate strengths. When is Kathy Giles going to arrive in a helicopter? 
Yes. And HK too.
I’m sure they all have fun, maybe those schools just aren’t as good at talking about how much fun they’re having.
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@RoonilWazlib99 , when DS was at George, they had three terms. (Different schedule now, so this is by way of example.) They did two plays and one musical each year, one in each term. By design, they moved the musical from one term to the next each year so that kids with sports in one season would not be consistently shut out for their time at BS. My understanding (having a non-theater but multi-sport kid) was that doing both in one term was considered impossible. With that said, many athletes also were in one or two productions each year. Realize you are asking about DA, but you may want to know if there is a solution like this.
Orchestra happened during a slot in the day so was never a conflict for sports. Maybe @Golfgr8 or one of the others here has that scheduling info? That’s ultimately what it comes down to!
There are three terms at DA. From what I understand they rarely do musicals. My dancing kiddo is thrilled they are doing one this year and are partnering with the dance program. They don’t have all the details yet but currently she does academic dance as well as dance for her EC. If this musical happens as they are planning, she would switch her EC to theater to participate, but still have academic dance and be able to attend dance after school when it doesn’t conflict.
Some theater teachers seem to think they are too hoity toity to do something as plebian as musicals. Ditto with English teachers teaching drama. Such a shame, since the kids (and the audience) loves them.
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A talented Deerfield student who has been involved in theatre landed a big role in the movie being filmed “The Holdovers”……
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The video up a few responses ago was cool, now my kid wants to apply to Deerfield. Maybe next year….
@skieurope Thank goodness this wasn’t the case at George because I was one of folks who really loved these productions!
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Has anyone stayed at Days Inn in Greenfield? I booked it for my husband when he goes to pick up kiddo for Spring break. I booked non-refundable before reading reviews. Not expecting anything fancy but after reading the reviews am scared!!! Thinking of just cutting our losses, it sounds horrible 
Hello @AnonMomof2 -
I’m sorry but I have no knowledge of that hotel. I have stayed at Hampton Inn and that was fine.
I hear the Red Roof Inn isn’t that great. There are a couple B&B’s in the Hadley area or south of Deerfield. We have better luck with the hotels on Russell Street or Hadley (Rt 9). They have been clean.
Yes, we have stayed at some decent places in Hadley, and a cute Inn. My husband stayed at Red Roof and said it was disgusting. I went ahead and booked the cute Inn we have used before (they don’t seem to price gouge on popular dates), and will lose the $. Lesson learned, but the reviews of the Days Inn were too scary.
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Friendly reminders @ lodging if your student is attending Deerfield.
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Make your reservations far in advance - it is never too early if it is within the same calendar year. Check the school calendar for important dates (revisit, drop off/move in, parents weekend, spring weekend, pick up, graduation). Some hotels will open up reservations almost a year in advance. There were a couple of times when parents weekend fell on the same weekend as homecoming or a big football game at UMass. So, there were thousands of people chasing after the same hotels. This also happens with graduation.
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We have tried to make reservations more than a year in advance at the Deerfield Inn and there were no rooms!
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If you are OOS and flying in, make your car reservations far in advance, if possible.
Tacking onto this. One thing that I had a hard time finding on the calendar (maybe it has since been added), is what time kids have to be out of the dorm and when they can check back in after breaks. If it says break begins at noon they generally have to be out by 7:30pm, but they are flexible especially if you are International and will allow remaining overnight with request.
Yes, and we really would not recommend it unless there are no other half-decent options - and we are not all that picky when we are in semi-rural areas. The Courtyard by Marriott in Amherst is actually fine, but it is 10 minutes further.
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