“Experimental” barely begins to describe The Respect Sextet’s performance in the first concert of this season’s Harker Concert Series. The New York-based group, rendered a quintet due to the unexpected absence of trombonist James Hirschfeld, is happy to wander outside conventional jazz while maintaining a healthy respect for why those conventions exist.
One could be forgiven for wondering where the performance was going the first time drummer Ted Poor abruptly left his kit and walked backstage, cymbal in hand, at which point loud crashing and banging could be heard erupting from the adjacent room. This came at the apex of a piece (an interpretation of Mischa Mengelberg’s “K Rhino”) that included extended, plaintive squeals courtesy of trumpeter Eli Asher, sudden pauses and tempo changes, and saxophonist Josh Rutner whistling along to the melody from Asher’s trumpet.
Then came a selection from “Executive Suite,” the band’s response to the late-2000s financial crisis, which opened with Asher and Rutner trading off – first as a conversation, then as an argument – ramping up the chaos before the rest of the band swooped in. In these situations, each member of the band seems to be on his own wavelength, until suddenly they converge. An exhilarating sense of contingency courses through every dissonant piano flourish from Red Wierenga, every tap of the tiny cymbals hanging from Asher’s music stand, every series of methodically atonal fits and starts, every thud from Malcom Kirby’s bass.
Somehow it wasn’t surprising that Respect decided to end its first set with “Danny Boy.” Take a room full of people to inner space for 45 minutes, and it seems only reasonable to bring them back to earth before breaking for drinks and hors d’oeuvres.
“It’s phenomenal,” said concertgoer Steve Lassman, “just better than anything I could have expected.” Also unexpected was the generous helping of food available for the attendees. “The food was a total surprise; we didn’t know anything about it. So that was a definite plus.”
Karen Lassman said the band was “wonderful. This group is amazing. From the get go, [I] didn’t really know what to expect. I thought it would be a little more traditional, and it’s not, which is great.”
Attendee Jim Cleveland enjoyed Respect’s take on “outside jazz,” particularly Poor’s drumming, which he said was “very reminiscent of outside jazz. And then the melodies, just beautiful.”
The band returned from the intermission with “Paper Root,” perhaps its wildest departure of the night, with Poor rummaging through a stack of papers, stylistic turns and sure, why not, a mid-song break to talk about how it’s really not all that rainy in Seattle.
In a nod to a legendary jazz figure who could very well be one of their muses, the group next performed Sun Ra’s “Angels and Demons at Play,” working splendidly with the song’s 5/4 time signature as Kirby and Rutner showcased deft interplay.
Not ones to let an opportunity for a humorous moment slip by, Respect also launched into a barbershop quintet number about the inherent irony of billing themselves as a sextet while only boasting five members for the evening.
The band ended the show on a fun note, by displaying its mastery and respect for the craft in a blistering version of Fred Anderson’s “Three on Two,” letting the appreciative audience know they hadn’t forgotten about the ones who made it possible for them to explore the periphery in the first place.
The College Board recently announced that The Harker School earned the distinction this year of having the largest number of perfect scores of any school in the world. Harker had 10 students who earned perfect scores on their AP exams in spring 2013, but they earned a total of 11 perfect scores, as one student had perfect scores on two tests.
That is more than 10 percent of the total worldwide. “This is a tribute to the dedicated teachers and hardworking students at The Harker School,” said Deborah Davis, director of college readiness communications at The College Board. Samuel Lepler was the AP Economics teacher, last year, who guided these students through their studies.
The following students received perfect scores on the AP Microeconomics exam in 2013: Jennifer Dai, Kevin Duraiswamy Angela Ma, Vikram Naidu, Anisha Padwekar, Rahul Sridhar, Brandon Yang, all now seniors; Aaron Huang, Savi Joshi, now juniors; and Ashvin Swaminathan, who graduated in 2013.
Swaminathan received perfect scores on both the AP Macroeconomics and AP Microeconomics exams, the only student in the world to do so; it also makes him one of only four students in the world to earn a perfect score on two AP exams in 2013.
“We started our ‘Perfect Scorer’ campaign last fall,” said Davis, “with the students who earned perfect scores on AP exams in 2012 – with letters to each student (and) their high school principals.”
This year, a total of 109 students worldwide earned a perfect score on an AP exam in 2013. Here is the worldwide breakdown by subject: Calculus AB – 8; Calculus BC – 11; Chemistry –1; Computer Science A – 19; Microeconomics – 33; Macroeconomics – 12; Physics C: Mechanics – 15; Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism – 8; Psychology – 2; Statistics– 2; United States Government and Politics – 2.
After a great season and two tough playoff rounds, the girls varsity volleyball team is done for the season. Please congratulate the team and coaches on an outstanding season! The team almost pushed third-ranked Menlo to a fifth game in a 21-25, 25-23, 14-25, 22-25 loss in the CCS semifinals in late November at Notre Dame-Belmont. “A special note of appreciation goes to our seniors Divya Kalidindi, Mercedes Chien, Renu Singh and Christina Wong for their outstanding play and dedication,” said Dan Molin, athletic director.
“I was most proud of the competitive fire that our girls showed to make it a match!” said Theresa “Smitty” Smith, head coach. “It’s always hard to see the season end, and it’s even harder to watch our seniors play their last high school match. However, on the positive side, we reload for next year as the majority of our team will return for yet another run at a CCS championship!”
In a CCS quarterfinal match, the Harker varsity girls volleyball team defeated Castilleja in four sets, catapulting the Eagles into the semifinals! In front of a raucous home crowd at Blackford, the Eagles rallied after dropping a tense first set to win the next three in a row. After the game, coach Theresa Smith commended her team, attributing the win to “the serve of [sophomore] Shannon Richardson, the defense of [senior] Mercedes Chien, the smart setting of [sophomore] Selin Ozcelik, and the timely hitting of [unior] Shreya Dixit, [senior] Divya Kalidindi and [sophomore] Jackie Chen.”
Kalidindi led the team with 18 kills in the game, followed by Dixit, whose 12 kills gave her more than 500 in her career, a fantastic accomplishment. Ozcelik led the team in assists with 45, and Chien led the team in digs with 25. Harker will face off against Menlo on Wed., Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Notre Dame Belmont, 1540 Ralston Ave. in Belmont. The winner of that game will play either Soquel or Notre Dame Salinas for the championship.
Harker’s Public Forum (PF) team kicked off November by winning the overall team sweepstakes award and taking home the tournament championship at the Minneapple Debate Tournament, held Nov. 1-2 at Apple Valley High School in Minnesota.
Having been successful competitors in this tournament during their years at Harker, Akshay Jagadeesh ’12 and Pranav Sharma ’13 accompanied the Harker students to the tournament.
Debating the merits of the NSA domestic surveillance program, four Harker PF teams made it to the elimination rounds of this prestigious tournament, comprising more than 100 teams from numerous states.
In the first elimination round, the bracket set juniors Andrew Jin and David Lin up to meet fellow juniors Nikhil Kishore and Vamsi Gadiraju. This automatically advanced Jin-Lin and earned both teams bids to the Tournament of Champions. Aadyot Bhatnagar and Avik Wadhwa, both grade 11, and Sorjo Banerjee and Mohnish Shah, both grade 10, also won their first rounds to earn spots in the Sweet 16 and qualifying legs to the TOC.
All three remaining Harker teams won their octofinal rounds and advanced to the Elite 8, where the bracket again pitted Harker against Harker. Bhatnagar-Wadhwa advanced over Banerjee-Shah, while Jin-Lin beat The Blake School (Minnesota), leaving two Harker teams in the top four at the tournament.
Jin-Lin faced a tough battle against last year’s national semifinalist from Hawken School (Ohio) and was ultimately defeated, while Bhatnagar-Wadhwa prevailed against a team from Trinity Prep (Florida) to advance to finals.
In a final round in front of the tournament, Bhatnagar-Wadhwa defeated Hawken on a 4-1 decision to earn the tournament title and clinch the school sweepstakes award for Harker.
At the conclusion of preliminary rounds, Bhatnagar also earned recognition as the third best individual speaker out of more than 200 competitors, while Lin was recognized as fourth overall.
In this weekends’s Bay Area Quiz Kids contest, Harker’s team of Stephanie Chen, Nikhil Dilip and Brian Tuan, all grade 12, came out victorious, with dominant performances over Hillsdale (810 – 70) and Sacred Heart (620 – 265). “Since point totals are used in determining whether a team moves on to the next round, we did need to take that into consideration in our games,” said advisor Bradley Stoll. “We weren’t trying to run up the score. Plus, if we wouldn’t have answered the questions against Hillsdale, KRON would not be able to broadcast the game, as the questions would’ve gone unanswered.” The next round and broadcast of this round have not been scheduled, but watch for announcements!
This fall, many middle school students departed for several exciting age-appropriate, weeklong class trips, providing hands-on learning outside the classroom. In late October, grade 6 students visited the Santa Cruz Mountains; grade 7 toured national parks around the Southwest; and grade 8 journeyed to Washington, D.C.
Below, Harker News Online takes a look at all three adventures.
Grade 6 Students Head to Mt. Cross for Action Packed Outdoor Activities
The Santa Cruz mountains provided the perfect backdrop for grade 6 students to actively bond during their class trip to Mt. Cross. A camping and retreat site located in the redwood forests, Mt. Cross provided plenty of opportunities for kayaking, bird watching, completing a ropes course, swimming, and enjoying the area’s gorgeous weather and scenic beauty.
A highlight of the trip was a visit to The Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, one of 28 such reserves established nationwide as field laboratories for scientific research and estuarine education. Following the reserve visit was an excursion to nearby Moss Landing, a quaint, historic fishing village known for its shopping, fresh seafood, fine art studios, bird and whale watching.
One night the naturalists at Mt. Cross surprised and delighted the students by leading them through a haunted house built from items on hand. That was followed by eating s’mores and sharing skits around a huge campfire.
“I had an awesome time at Mt. Cross!” recalled student Jack Hansen. “I was able to stretch my comfort zone and try new things while having fun at the same time.”
Hansen said he particularly enjoyed going kayaking and doing the ropes course. “Flying in the air (on the course) was scary at first, but later I decided it was the best part of the trip. The trip also gave me a chance to get to know my friends better, since I am new to Harker this year,” he added.
Grade 7 Students Take In Scenic and Historic Southwestern Sites
Grade 7 students started off their visit to the country’s scenic and historic national parks with a memorable visit to Arizona. There they enjoyed a jeep tour of Sedona, famous for its red rock formations and wildlife.
Next up was a visit to the Grand Canyon’s south rim, where students participated in an organized trust walk (listening to directions while walking with eyes closed) as they headed toward the rim of the canyon.
They also toured Monument Valley, known to many as “the eighth wonder of the world.” Monument Valley has been a significant place for centuries, and houses ruins that some believe belong to the mysterious Anasazi people who disappeared from the area hundreds of years ago.
This year, for the first time, the students took a brief break from hiking and sightseeing to visit the Coral Pink Sand Dunes, which is a state park in Utah. There they simply let loose, running, rolling and playing in the sand. Towards the end of the trip, the seventh graders traveled to Zion National Park to hike the Emerald Pools, Whistling Rock, and several other well-known trails.
“The national parks trip was an amazing experience, where we got to visit many different places. I’ll cherish all the fun and educational memories from this trip forever!” enthused student Shafieen Ibrahim. He noted that the blind trust walk in the Grand Canyon was a particularly “challenging and thrilling activity,” and an experience he will never forget.
Grade 8 Students Explore the Nation’s Capital During Journey to D.C.
Harker’s eldest middle schoolers have a newfound appreciation for the nation’s capital after experiencing life in Washington, D.C., firsthand on their unforgettable class trip.
Accompanied by Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, the group’s tour of the city began with a visit to the Jamestown Settlement, the first permanent English settlement in North America, and Colonial Williamsburg, an interpretation of a colonial American city. While there they visited the capitol, the court and the governor’s palace, as well as a variety of shops such as the wigmaker and the apothecary. Another highlight was participating in an interactive African-American music program held in a slave quarter, where students sang and danced alongside their guide.
On a more somber note, the group paid a visit to the Martin Luther King Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Iwo Jima U.S. Marine Corps memorials and Arlington Cemetery.
“All the chaperones were very proud of the entire grade 8 group as they were extremely respectful during our time at Arlington,” recalled Gargano. “Unbeknownst to us, a middle school group from Tamagawa (Harker’s sister school in Japan) was also visiting there and joined in our laying of the wreath ceremony,” she added.
There was also a visit to Ford’s Theater where students learned about what occurred on the day of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and were able to view the balcony where he was shot. The trip concluded with visits to, among other sites, Pamplin Park, one of America’s best preserved battlefields, the capitol building, and tours of the House of Representatives, the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court.
“I really enjoyed every part of the trip. Luckily, the government re-opened before we came, so we were able to visit all the planned stops on our itinerary. My favorite part was being a part of the wreath-laying ceremony because it was a once in a lifetime opportunity .… I learned so much about the history of our country,” recalled trip participant Megan Huynh.
A Fun Filled Week for Those Students Who Remained on Campus
Middle school students who were unable to attend the class trips were treated to lesson plans which ensured that they, too, had an exceptional week. Among the offerings for them were classes in current events and practical economics and finance, world cuisine, chemistry, engineering, and literary interpretations for the stage.
In the current events and economics offering students learned fundamentals such as inflation and deflation, interest, investing, taxation, and a “wealth” of other “valuable” resources. In the cooking class students brought out their inner chefs as they traveled the globe, studying cultures and foods of different countries. In chemistry, they were led through the “reactionary” world of chemistry by making slime, candy chromatography, Mentos and soda. Meanwhile, the engineering course allowed students to imagine themselves as the CFO or lead architect in charge of a huge construction project, designing, building and testing a toothpick bridge. Finally, in the literary offering students were able to take a classic literary piece and see it transformed into live theater.
“We had another successful trip week under our belts. It was an exciting and safe week for all the students, whether they stayed on campus or attended one of the class trips,” said Cindy Ellis, middle school head.
Harker runner Corey Gonzales, grade 11, won the Division 4 CCS Championships on Saturday, blazing through 2.95 miles in 15 minutes and 34 seconds to fend off 87 other runners. Gonzales and four others ran a speedy 5:00 first mile. The field narrowed to three during the second mile when Gonzales pushed ahead with a series of short bursts. Going into the third mile, Gonzales ratcheted up the pace, sprinted up “Cardiac Hill,” opened up a 30-meter lead and pulled away, winning by four seconds. One veteran coached called his performance “one of the best competitive races I have ever seen run at Crystal Springs.”
Freshman Niki Iyer also qualified for the state meet, finishing third with a time of 18:01. One of Niki’s idols, Anna Maxwell of San Lorenzo Valley, sprung out to an early lead, en route to a 16:53 mark, the fifth-fastest time in the course’s history. Iyer wisely let Maxwell go and ran a swift first mile to take second place early on. Immediately before the 2-mile mark, Valerie Morrison of Scotts Valley caught up with Iyer, making this the first race of the year where a runner caught Iyer from behind. Iyer drew even with Morrison, and the two remained neck and neck until the final 600 meters, when Morrison pulled ahead. Iyer still beat a number of other top 10 state-ranked runners, and her first mile time, 5:34, would have won the league track 1600m race. Senior Claudia Tischler also competed in the race, finishing in 20th place with a 20:01.
Iyer and Gonzales will compete in the California Cross Country State Championships on Saturday, Nov. 30 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Last week Harker scored with two cross country league champs and sent a solid contingent to the NBA. That’s right, the United Spirit Association sent Harker’s varsity and junior varsity dancers to perform at halftime during the Sacramento Kings game against the Portland Trail Blazers. Let’s get to it!
Cross Country:
Junior Corey Gonzales and freshman phenom Niki Iyer both became league champs when they won their races at the league championship cross country race last Friday at Crystal Springs. Senior Claudia Tischler, who placed 10th, will join Gonzales and Iyer in competing in the CCS Championships Saturday, also at Crystal Springs. Gonzales and Iyer are widely considered to be contenders for the state meet.
Volleyball
The girls varsity volleyball team enters the CCS tournament ranked fourth in its division after losing to Menlo and then defeating Mercy San Francisco in its final game of the year to end the season and celebrate its senior night in style. The team travels to Carmel tonight for its first-round match-up. If the girls win, they will return home to host a quarterfinal match at Blackford on Saturday night.
The JV team, meanwhile, became league champs! The team ended its year with a 9-1 record in league play and a 22-5 record overall.
Football
The JV football team upped its record to 5-1 after a thrilling, one-point squeaker of a win over North Salinas High, 20-19, at Davis Field on Saturday. In the win, Harker leapt out to a 13-0 lead after quarterback Keanu Forbes, grade 11, threw two touchdown passes to Nikhil Ramgiri, grade 10. North Salinas then scored 19 unanswered points, jumping out to a six-point lead until late in the fourth quarter when a clutch 27-yard reception by freshman receiver Nicolas Bean kept Harker’s hopes alive and set up a 39-yard touchdown catch by sophomore Johnathon Keller. Keller snagged the pass from a scrambling Forbes and sprinted it into the endzone, tying the game up at 19-19. Kicker Alyssa Amick, grade 11, avenged an earlier blocked kick with an extra point to give Harker the win. All told, Forbes threw for 248 yards and three touchdowns, and freshman Will Park ran for 38 yards. The final game of the season is on Saturday at 11am against Leigh High School at Davis Field. All students in attendance can enter into a free raffle to win prizes.
Water Polo
The boys varsity team went 2-1 in its season-ending tournament, trumping Cupertino and Santa Clara. The girls, meanwhile, lost a heartbreaker in double overtime against Wilcox in the league tournament, finally falling by a score of 11-9. Delaney Martin, grade 11, Jackie Shen, and Anushka Das all scored two goals in the loss. Anna Levine, grade 12, Lea Daran, and Yazmin Narin added goals as well. Helena Dworak, grade 10, played a tremendous game in the cage with 13 saves, including three saves in one-on-one’s in overtime.
And …
Harker’s varsity and JV dancers performed during the halftime show at a Nov. 9 NBA game between the Sacramento Kings and the Portland Trail Blazers. Their performance was sponsored by the United Spirit Association, whose instructors taught the material to the students the day of the game. The dancers had a great experience performing at the professional game at Sleep Train Arena.
Coming Up:
Today, the girls varsity volleyball team hits the road to play Carmel High School at 7 p.m. in a first-round CCS match-up.
On Saturday, junior varsity football wraps up its season with an 11 a.m. game against Leigh High School at Davis Field, with prizes available in a free raffle for fans in attendance. At noon, three of Harker’s runners — Corey Gonzales, Niki Iyer, and Claudia Tischler — compete in the CCS Cross Country Championships. If the girls varsity volleyball team wins tonight, it will return home on Saturday night to host a quarterfinal match at Blackford at 7 p.m.
“Where I come from, there was a war that lasted so long, people forgot what they were fighting for,” says Anon, the titular character in Naomi Iizuka’s “Anon(ymous),” the 2013 fall play for the Harker Conservatory. Lost in the United States, Anon is an undocumented refugee without a name, searching for his mother. She’s trapped at a run-down sweatshop, wooed by its slimy owner, whom she has promised to marry once she completes a shroud for her presumed-dead child.
Chosen because it features an incredibly diverse cast of characters and a political spirit ripped from the headlines, “Anon(ymous)” is a 21st century retelling of Homer’s “Odyssey,” the epic familiar to all students at Harker’s upper school. In place of Odysseus is Anon, who wanders across America, from the beach house of a wealthy congressman where he has washed ashore to the kitchen of a drunken, one-eyed cannibal with an operatic songbird. Along the way, he frolics in the ocean with a goddess, races through sewage tunnels past afflicted drug addicts, and crashes a vehicle of trafficked people. His adventures are told in a theatrical style that borrows from traditions all across the world: a Bollywood dance number welcomes Anon to a friendly Indian restaurant, and Balinese shadow puppetry conveys a flashback of Anon and his mother.
The production is replete with these ultra-theatrical moments. In one instance, enormous hoops suggest an underground system of tunnels that Anon and a companion bolt through like a maze. Undulating teal cloths form frothy ocean waves, into which Anon and his goddess dive, only to resurface elsewhere in the current to share a watery kiss.
All the while, the audience is ever-present. Director Jeff Draper has split his audience in two, on either side of a long runway, facing each other. Reflecting the blue light which beams down onto the runway, a sea of the audience’s eerie, aquamarine faces is a constant presence behind Anon, implicated witnesses to his exhausting journey.
When we first meet Anon, he is with the spoiled and ebullient daughter of a smug congressman and his yoga-obsessed trophy wife, who, despite an anti-foreigner attitude, have taken Anon into their home, offering him food and shelter. The sugar-high, smartphone-clad daughter, played with side-splitting comic aplomb by Shenel Ekici, grade 12, has taken a fierce fascination with Anon. Indeed, how could she not? As she is keen to announce, “Exotic is very in right now.” But Anon, feeling himself a novelty, very far away from his real home and real family, is unmoved and out of place. When a beautiful goddess who reminds him of his roots emerges from the ocean, he is all too relieved to leave the shelter he has been granted on the beach and join the goddess in the abyss of the waters.
That launches Anon into his adventure across the United States. A storm separates him from the goddess, and when we meet him again, he is scavenging for food in the garbage outside of an Indian restaurant. Once again, he is offered shelter, and the goddess revisits him to egg on his memory of the cataclysmic event that parted Anon from his mother: the two had fled their war-torn country on a boat, which was torn asunder by a storm at sea. That’s right, even in a year without Shakespeare, Harker gets a play where a shipwreck breaks apart a family.
Next thing we know, Anon is in the underground tunnels, racing with a new friend, Paco, from immigration police. The two escape on a boxcar and finally find themselves searching for work when they encounter the one-eyed butcher Mr. Zyclo, the updated cyclops equivalent, rendered with delicious sophistication by Damon Aitken, grade 12, whose every word drips with intoxicated erudition. Mr. Zyclo’s culinary sensibilities call for a special ingredient for his sausages: people. The butcher takes Paco’s life first, then comes for Anon, who escapes when Zyclo’s captive bird exacts revenge against her master, tearing out his remaining eye.
Anon slips away, hitching a ride in a dusty, worn-out truck. He’s mid-journey when he comes to a startling realization: the back of the truck is filled with people, trafficked against their will. The conditions are hot, too hot, and Anon fears the captives will suffocate. In what is intended as a heroic gesture, Anon grabs the wheel. His efforts backfire in devastating fashion when Anon crashes the truck. In this moment, the theater is filled with the cacophony of the crash, and an eerie soundtrack backs a chorus of the refugees, spilling out. They tell us their names, their backgrounds, and that they have now died.
This tragedy is unsettling and poignant. In a play of hardships, the sudden deaths of these nameless victims – at Anon’s unintended hand, no less – hits home the hardest. For every Anon whose story will end joyfully, there is a chorus of refugees whose odysseys do not end in tearful family reunions, who never escape their twisting roads of peril except with a final moment of pain. Our fictional Anon is not alone; he is one of many, with names, with faces, with lost families. And our innocent hero now has blood on his hands.
Anon’s story does end happily. He finds his mother, whose sweatshop is across town from the Indian restaurant. This is a story, after all, and serendipity intervenes. Anon’s mother is reluctant to believe he is who he says he is, that her child could possibly have survived, until a song from his childhood begins to put her mind at ease and open her up to the miracle of their reuniting. It is a powerful, and theatrical, conclusion to this swift and swirling epic, which packs a lot of ground into a crackling hour and 30 minutes.
The largest cheers are reserved for spectacular comedic turns from two of the plays’ thickly-accented characters: the jovial proprietor of the Indian restaurant and the snakelike, sleazy, Slavic sweatshop manager. Sophomore Rishabh Chandra’s Ali, the restaurateur, is a delight, boisterous and full of warmth. The sweatshop manager and suitor to Anon’s mother, named Yuri Mackus and played by Jeton Manuel Gutierrez-Bujari, grade 11, is a consummate schmoozer, sweet-talking his guests even as he dismisses concerns about the work environment he has created. When these actors work their magic, it is hard not to crack a smile. Both charm their audience with outsized portrayals, balancing out the oppressive odds facing Anon.
Indeed, for all of the serious matters which challenge Anon, “Anon(ymous)” is a very fun piece. It is a joyful, spirited adventure where harsh reality and mythical fantasy collide. As Anon, Vishal Vaidya, grade 11,carries the play on his shoulders. He is more than up to the task, imbuing the role with dignity, grace and bravery. The production is full of moments that wow, from the gorgeous, elegaic song that begins the play to the shooting of a silhouetted soldier, from the first moment a sparkling blue butterfly puppet constructed in the Balinese wayang kulit style interacts with one of the shadowed actors to the full-cast, show-stopping Bollywood dance number. All of the show’s incidental music was composed by Harker students for this production. The Harker Conservatory does a beautiful job in weaving together disparate elements and many worlds to breathe life into an amazing journey, scoring a stirring triumph with Naomi Iizuka’s “Anon(ymous).”