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Overcast Sonja Rose Bogolubov brings North Shore know-how to Tisch arts school
Sea Cliff native films at her alma mater
Sonja Rise Bogolubov, a 2020 graduate of North Shore High School, used the skills learned in the school’s arts department to film her own movie.
The arts are often relegated to the background in American academia, but Bogolubov brought them to the forefront, using them as an important creative outlet, a source of inspiration and a career path.
Bogolubov, said she always loved the arts, and was involved in the district’s various art programs from a young age. The Sea Cliff native took advantage of the music and photography courses while attending North Shore, as well as acting in school plays in her freshman and sophomore years.
“I’ve always had a big commitment to the arts,” Bogolubov said. “North Shore really nurtured every aspect of my career.”
During high school, Bogolubov became more interested in the behind-the-scenes work of theater and filmmaking. In her junior and senior years she ran the lighting department for the school plays, as well as for community concerts and other events.
In the months leading up to graduation, however, Bogolubov still wasn’t sure if she wanted to commit to a career in the arts, and she initially decided to go to New York University as an economics major. Quickly realizing that her passions lay elsewhere, Bogolubov transferred to NYU’s Tisch School of Arts, where she now majors in film and television.
Bogolubov credits the North Shore School District’s wide-ranging arts programs for giving her the opportunity to pursue her artistic passion after high school, and with making the transition to film relatively easy.
Jason Domingo, the high school’s orchestra director and music teacher, worked with Bogolubov in theater tech, and said he was unsurprised by her continued commitment to the arts.
Domingo emphasized the multi-faceted experience that Bogolubov received at North Shore, from her time acting to playing the violin to lighting, as well as the undeniable talent and passion she has for the work.
“What happens in that space with us is that students become more autonomous because of the nature of the work and the culture of the theater and the arts here at North Shore,” Domingo said. “She has that attention to detail on top of the hunger to make great art, and it’s incredibly inspiring to see.”
When Bogolubov was assigned the task of making a short film as a school assignment earlier this year, she knew the perfect spot to shoot it. “The Contest,” a thriller about a photography contest, was filmed over three days at various locations at North Shore High School during the same week as the debut of the school play, “Urinetown.”
While filming “The Contest,” Bogolubov bumped into two of her teachers from her time as a North Shore Viking — Domingo and Mike Kleba, the former director of theater. Kleba mentioned how amazing it was to see one of his former pupils continuing to use the skills they developed at North Shore.
He also emphasized the importance of teaching the arts in general, not as a sideshow to more “traditional” academic pursuits like math or reading, but as an important field in its own right. Kleba asserted that the arts are one of the district’s greatest strengths and that it opens up a wide range of opportunities for its students, both in the professional and extracurricular worlds.
“Instead of inviting students to just master a curriculum of content and material, in the arts the most important thing is studying yourself and the world around you,” Kleba said. “And that is just endlessly useful in the workplace, in family life, or just out in the world in general.”
Chris Zublionis, superintendent of schools for the district, added that much of the work to build North Shore’s arts programs into the powerhouse they are today stems from the energy and drive of the late Ed Melnick, the former long-time superintendent at North Shore
“Ed just made sure to continue to provide, and ask the board to provide the resources for, a stellar arts program,” Zublionis said. “He was also responsible for hiring so many of our teachers in the finer performing arts, so he really just nurtured it and turned it into the great tradition we have today.”
