Thursday, October 1, 2026
A troupe of students from Nassau BOCES Long Island High School for the Arts displayed their acting chops during a performance of the Tim Burton film “Big Fish,” at the Jerusalem Avenue Elementary School in North Bellmore.
The professional-grade production, which served as a notable first for many of the young actors, was performed on Jan. 27 and 28. Both nights featured lively audiences who were able to get tickets for $12.10 each.
BOCES is an alternative education program for young people who want to begin training for their careers as soon as possible. Performing “Big Fish,” the fantasy-drama and 1998 novel turned Broadway classic, allowed students to collaborate with Broadway professionals and career sound designers.
The story of “Big Fish” follows the troubled relationship of Edward Bloom, a traveling salesman known to tell tall tales, and his pragmatic son, Will. The story shifts between Edward coming to terms with his mortality and Will coming to appreciate the truth behind his father’s fantastical stories.
Cora Jones, 17, of Freeport, played Amos Calloway, a circus ringmaster and werewolf in the fantastical world in which the story takes place. Going through the rigorous rehearsal process was an incredible experience, Jones expressed.
“It's really fast-paced, and we get to work at a professional speed,” she said. “It feels like what we're doing is really important, and like we're working at the (professional) level.”
While producing the musical, traditional classroom activities were worked into the process.
“We had to do a character analysis and write a paper about our character and our character's impact on the plot line, things we don't really get to work on at our home school,” Jones explained.
The goal is to prepare students to enter competitive colleges and fields with years of training to support them. Chris Brick, a teacher in BOCES’ performing arts department and director of “Big Fish,” supervised the production.
“It's a more truncated version of the musical that people saw on Broadway,” he said. “The film and the musical are both really beautiful stories. It's a story about family, it's a story about finding who you are.”
Two, 30-person teams of students performed “Big Fish,” each with more than 30 student members from cast to crew. The LIHSA production is designed to focus heavily on storytelling in the absence of Broadway embellishments.
“That was kind of the concept going into this for me, was how do we make this feel big without it being big? How do we tell this really gigantic story through minimal design, which has been a challenge?” Brick said. “It's been really, really great to work with kids in the process.”
Student auditions for the musical began in September, leading into five-hour rehearsals after school each week, where students worked on set design, line readings and choreography.
“A lot of our students are going to college or going right into work, starting auditioning right after high school,” Brick said. “Our goal is to give them that professional experience so that they know what's expected of them when they graduate from high school.”
In addition to Jones, two other LIHSA students, Jackson Reiser, of Lynbrook, and Marilena Castoro, of Smithtown, both 17, were excited to put class theory into practice.
Reiser, who was cast as Edward Bloom, one of the leading roles, celebrated the team’s accomplishments.
“I feel very proud of how it's come together and how hard everyone works, and how we come together to make things work,” he said. “Coming to LIHSA, I just feel like I've grown so much, and I've learned so much … I feel like I'm closer to where I want to be as a performer.”
Castoro played Sandra Bloom, also a central role. “It's a really beautiful story … the music is just like, wonderful, and it's like, just great to just get a chance to work on it all,” she said. “I've always struggled a little bit with insecurity, but coming here, I feel more confident in myself, and I'm growing into the person that I'm supposed to be.”
LIHSA Principal Lindsay Rogan celebrated the student performances, stating, “This is just one of the many opportunities that is offered to students at Long Island High School for the Arts. The school provides students an opportunity to study at a pre-college and pre-conservatory level when they are still in high school.”
For more information, visit LongIslandHighSchoolForTheArts.org or follow @lihsaofficial on Instagram.
