By David Rogers. November 22, 2011. BLOWING ROCK -- I went to my first "wax museum" on Monday, and future visits to ANY wax museum will have a lot to live up to -- anywhere, anytime, whether Madame Tussauds in New York or Washington, D.C., at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, or the Hollywood (California) Wax Museum of my youth (that I never patronized) -- because the Blowing Rock School "8th Grade Wax Museum" was incredibly special.

With the "museum" set up on the auditorium stage, in the band and music classrooms, and in the hallways in between, my tour was a circuitous route through the lives of some of world history's most colorful and impactful characters.

In explaining the instructional value of the 8th Grade Wax Museum, Janet Orr, the 8th grade language arts teacher in charge of the event told Blowing Rock News, "This is an event that has taken place at Blowing Rock School for more than 15 years. It is done through the 8th grade language arts in partnership with the 8th grade social studies program, which is taught by Terri Hodges.

"This is something the kids look forward to," Orr reported. "When they start 8th grade, one of the first things they want to know is who they can be for the Wax Museum.  To pick a character, they have to read a book, so there has to be a biography or autobiography. We decided this year that the characters have to have been born before 1942, so they have to study characters that they are not already familiar with.  We do research on different people, and look at the books that the library has, either here at school or at the County library.

"We talk about who in the class looks like somebody," Orr continued " For instance, the girl taking on the role of Natalie Wood, looks like her.  It was a no-brainer. The student never even knew that this person (Natalie Wood) existed.  So she read books about her.  And then to find out recently that the case is being reopened and that the cause of death may have actually been the result of a murder, well  after all these years it  is just so coincidental.  As they are reading the biography(s), they take notes, then they have to write a paper. From the paper, we go through and edit, taking out some things, and they basically have to memorize the character's whole life story.  We stress that it is important that they have a creaative opening.  When the teachers come through, they do the whole thing, but when the little kids come through, they just do the creative opening and then talk to them."

As a museum visitor walks in and amongst the characters, they are statuesque, as if frozen in time.  Push the little blue button somewhere on their person or on one of their props, though, and each one catapults you into the life and world of their respective characters.  Yes, this is one of those moments that we, as an older generation, realize that the world is going to be OK in these young people's capable and passionate hands, hearts, and minds.

Every single one of these students deserves high marks for their research and creativity.  If given the opportunity, we will encourage many of them to participate in Ensemble Stage's theatre camps, because several of these young men and women could well be future actors.  It's hard to pick a favorite with all of them being so good -- but mine were Annie Oakley (for creativity and presentation) and Mark Twain (for resemblance and costuming). Of course, these are just one humble reporter's choices. Other folks were sure to pick favorites of their own!

The list of characters, presumably the year born, and the student actors (and a few comments):

• "Cleopatra" (B.C.) -- Liana Alger
• "Mulan" (500 B.C.) -- Heather Ostwalt (Wonderful, convincing passion about the character, very diligent research in telling the story)
• "Joan of Arc" (1412) -- Hannah Brown
• "Pochahontas" (1596) -- Isabella Metts
• "Sequoyah" (1760) -- Evin Dunlap
• "Abraham Lincoln" (1809) -- Anthony Piasecny
• "Ulysses S. Grant" (1822) -- Jericho Coffey
• "Clara Barton" (1821) -- Mariesa Triplett
• "Mark Twain" (1835) -- Powell Glidewell (Outstanding costuming and staging)
• "Doc Holliday" (1851) -- John Leppard
• "Annie Oakley" (1860) -- Erin Tobin (With that mischievous glint in her eye, I just knew this was Annie Oakley incarnate)
• "Henry Ford" (1863) -- Evan Kearse
• "Laura Ingalls Wilder" (1867) -- Kayla Windelspecht (Looking into those eyes, I saw a mixture of innocence, hardship, and human love.  Surely I was on the set of "Little House on the Prairie" visiting with Melissa Gilbert -- and I looked around for Michael Landon)
• "Marie Curie" (1867) -- Marissa Hamrick
• "Winston Churchill" (1873) -- Nick Novacek
• "Harry Houdini" (1874) -- Joel Grambow
• "Helen Keller" (1880) -- Conor Clyburn
• "J.R.R. Tolkien" (1892) -- Ryan Schlecht (A look inside the twisted genius that created Lord of the Rings)
• "Amelia Earhart" (1898) -- Molly Gilleskie 
• "John Wayne" (1907) -- Willis Ellis (Opening with, "Well howdy, pilgrim" caught the attention of any true John Wayne fan)
• "Katherine Hepburn" (1907) -- Rachel Harmon
• "John F. Kennedy" (1917) -- Noah Clark
• "Grace Kelly" (1929) -- Camille Ward (Even without looking at the ID board, you had to know this was the Princess of Monaco)
• "Anne Frank" (1929) -- Emma Knapp
• "Arnold Palmer" (1929) -- Spencer Hamrick
• "Audrey Hepburn" (1929) -- Lucy Edy (The cigarette holder was so reminiscent of Audrey -- just don't take up smoking yourself!)
• "Clint Eastwood" (1930) -- Hunter Clough
• "James Dean" (1931) -- Zach Valet
• "Dean Smith" (1931) -- Levi Wilcox (saying that Dean Smith was the greatest basketball coach in history is OK in NC, but don't try to get away with that in CA, where John Wooden has a few fans!)
• "Elizabeth Taylor" (1932) -- Lacy Holder
• "Julie Andrews" (1935) -- Olivia Reese
• "Lorreta Lynn" (1935) -- Claire Hickey
• "Natalie Wood" (1938) -- Olivia Grimm (yep, a dead ringer)
• "Jim Hensen" (1936) -- Stephen Graham (who can't love the creator of Kermit, Miss Piggy and the Muppets?)
• "Jerry West" (1938) -- Hunter Templeton
• "Evel Knievel (1938) -- Caleb Bryson (great animation)
• "John Lennon" (1940) -- Dristen Trate (after Mark Twain, my favorite male character -- and the piano playing was a plus!)
• "Jack Nicklaus" (1940) -- Thomas Hicks
• "Tammy Wynette" (1942) -- Callie Bolick
• "George Lucas" (1942) -- Nathan Powell (May the force be with you!)

Here are 54 captured moments, arranged in nine slide shows of six images each:

 

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