By Ande Jacobson

Senior year of high school is often fraught with decisions. For the academically inclined, this is the year when students make a series of decisions that have a monumental impact on the rest of their lives. It’s the year when they have to decide which colleges they’ll apply to (if indeed they are planning to go straight from high school to college). Later when the acceptances start rolling in, they have to decide which college they’ll attend. For many of these students, these college related decisions overtake their world. They visit campuses. They talk with friends, family, school advisors, current college students, faculty, and admissions staff, and they try to make the decision that is best for them given what they know about their interests at that time. They also still continue to attend their high school classes through their senior year, maintaining their academic performance that got them to this point in their lives. They may also have part time jobs that require their attention. They have familial responsibilities. For those students seeking an arts related college program, they may also have to audition or submit portfolios for consideration as part of the application process. In short, they are busier than they have ever been. For Val Zvinyatskovsky, this was only part of what occupied his time through his senior year of high school. In addition to his studies, campus visits, and holding down several arts-related jobs across performance, tech, and teaching, he also put his thoughts into a musical production as the composer, lyricist, librettist, and director. Barely a week after his high school graduation, he debuted his new one-act musical, The Right: A Gameshow Musical, in a special one night presentation, a video of which is available for all interested viewers. Continue reading →