St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin, TX was the first to take on the Anonymo/us Project as “Ships” (for friend- relation- and Three talented seniors in the filmmaking program, Nina Mewborne, Susanna Joffe, and Rachel Schlessinger, acted as student leaders for the project. Working closely with Chloe Sharples, the group identified relevant topics and issues facing their high school community and composed a survey with prompts such as “write a note to someone that you will miss when you move away from home” and “describe a moment when you showed yourself love/compassion” and questions like “what are accepted behaviors of other genders that you wish were more acceptable for your gender identification?” The survey was sent out to the entire student body and collected anonymous responses from about 40% of the high school.
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Praise for “Ships”
“Seeing the thoughts and experiences of your fellow classmates on stage makes you realize that everyone around you is authentically, wholly human, and that inspires more kindness towards one another.” – Student
“Ships has made me more empathetic and connected to the members of SSTX” – Student
“...it was the most beautiful thing I have ever produced and some of the most fun, educational, and emotional times I have ever had. It truly was the peak of my high school experience.” – Student Director
“[It was] much more emotionally sophisticated than I expected” – Parent
“I was surprised by how strongly the audience reacted to many of the scenes. Looking up after a monologue to see tears in people's eyes was a sign that what we were saying was really powerful and that the audience was really listening.” – Cast Member
“Following SHIPS, there was so much discussion about healthy relationships, sexuality, body image, and so many of the other difficult topics SHIPS brought up. People couldn't stop talking about it, and I think that it's so important for a high school community to be able to openly talk about such difficult topics.” – Student
“[After the show,] we talked about Ships in its entirety. Some of the material was even surprising to our children. It is easy to assume that you know what a person’s experience is. It was wonderful for them to understand that their assumptions were not always correct.” – Parent
“[Ships] was very genuine. Relatable to everyone no matter what. And touching.” – Student
“Growing up is simultaneously the most beautiful and terrible process and talking about it through this medium was truly what art should be.” – Student
