Hamilton Education Program brings 2,700 Arizona students to ASU Gammage

“Hamilton” isn’t just the biggest Broadway blockbuster in a generation, it also might be the best advertisement for the American Dream, and for studying the nation’s history, that pop culture has ever produced.

The proof was on display Friday, Feb. 23, as 2,700 whooping, hollering teenagers from around Arizona converged on Tempe’s ASU Gammage for the culmination of the Hamilton Education Program — also known by its hashtag nickname #EduHam. They were treated to performances by their peers, a Q&A with touring cast members and a full run of the show at the heavily subsidized price of $10 per ticket.

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The program, which began with the original Broadway production in New York, brings a “Hamilton”-inspired curriculum about America’s founding into Title 1 schools, which serve disproportionately low-income students. Participants dig into primary documents from the revolutionary period and write and perform songs, skits and poems based on their research.

Nationally, the program is underwritten by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and in Arizona, most of the cost of the tickets was covered by the Bob and Renee Parsons Foundation (that’s GoDaddy money) and the Abbett Family Foundation.

“Hamilton’s” hip-hop portrait of the founding fathers is “one of the things that made me really like going to history class,” said #EduHam participant Jeremy Artates, a freshman at ASU Preparatory Academy in Phoenix.

Earlier this month, the 14-year-old and project partner Riley Thacker were working on their script for a skit about the Boston Massacre, an imagined interrogation of British army officer Thomas Preston. Like many of the student creations, it explored a piece of history that isn’t addressed in the musical.

ASU Prep senior Brian Calo, 18, for example, was planning a rap that addressed the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, a crackdown on immigration that resonates with contemporary debates — and resonates with Calo as an immigrant from the Philippines who has been living in the U.S. for a decade.

Ultimately, though, his number about the Bill of Rights was as patriotic as could be:

“Without the right to a gun, we’d be holding our hands up / Without the right to our speech, how will we shout when their time’s up? / Without the Bill of Rights, would there be any improvements / To give gays, blacks and women the power to make a movement?”

Ultimately, 14 performances (by 20 students) were chosen for the Gammage stage on Friday, with enthusiastic introductions from cast members Dorcas Leung and Yvette Lu. Khaelan Crank of Casa Grande Union High School sang her song about Phillis Wheatley, the first published African-American poet, ending a powerhouse vocal performance with a demure curtsey.

Devon White of Desert Edge High got cheers from his peers as he stripped off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves to rap about the Whiskey Rebellion. And Michael Bernard and Vincent Gomez of McClintock High got a chorus of “You go” for their spoken-word piece about gay founding fathers titled “Why Y’all Actin’ Brand New?”: “Can you hear us now? Can you feel us now? Good.”

After the student showcase, cast members fielded questions about everything, from the costume design of the show to how they handle criticism of their acting before an afternoon performance to a packed house that was undoubtedly the loudest, most enthusiastic audience of the show’s Tempe run.

Reach the reporter at kerry.lengel@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4896. Follow him at facebook.com/LengelOnTheater and twitter.com/KerryLengel.

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