Three U-46 students perform onstage at 'Hamilton'

Three Elgin High School students performed before the cast and crew of "Hamilton" and more than 1,500 students Wednesday, Dec. 13, at the CIBC Theatre in Chicago as part of the Hamilton Education Project.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History, in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation, sponsored the project, which challenges students across the nation to select a document from American history and turn it into a performance art piece.

The program provides examples of how composer and playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda used documents as a springboard for his creative process in developing "Hamilton," an American musical about the life of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.

The journey to the "Hamilton" stage at the CIBC Theatre began more than four months ago when Elgin High School social studies teachers John Devine and Heather Misner presented students with the competition as they studied the founding of America.

More than 130 Elgin High School students participated, generating more than 50 pieces of original work that were then reviewed by a panel of Elgin High School teachers and students before selecting one piece to send to the institute.

"The students in the winning group did thoughtful, original, historical research that went far beyond expectations," said Devine.

"They did a great job of combining solid historical research and creative, compelling presentation."

The institute selected the Elgin High School students' piece as one of the 10 student performances that appeared onstage in the morning preshow on Dec. 13.

Elgin high juniors Fernanda Palomar, Mollie Geron and Alexandra Sampieri played the role of Washington, Hamilton and Lafayette for their preshow performance.

As their selected piece, the students performed a rap that touched on the debate between Washington and Hamilton on the role of both free and enslaved African-Americans in the revolution. Lafayette enters the rap late with a surprise introduction of James Armistead, a Virginia slave who joined the revolution as a spy and aid to the American cause.

"It's a historically rich and informed piece of performance art that has reintroduced the founding period of American history in a dynamic and memorable manner," said Devine.

Students who participated in the project and completed a piece of original work were awarded seats to a matinee of the show through funds raised by the Gilder Lehrman Institute.

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