Meet the 2022 SING! Coordinators

It’s SING! season! While the timeline for the annual schoolwide, student-run original musical production is delayed this year due to a postponement of StuySquad performances, Stuyvesant’s annual dance showcase, SING! is anticipated to happen in a hybrid model with both in-person and virtual aspects. This year’s SING! coordinators—senior Alec Shafran, junior Lianne Ohayon, and sophomore Caroline Stansberry—speak on their past experiences, goals, and expectations for SING!. Coordinators take on an administrative role in managing logistics, budgeting, hiring, and ensuring that overall logistics are on schedule.

Senior SING!: Alec Shafran

Senior SING! Coordinator Alec Shafran has participated in SING! ever since his freshman year and dreamed of doing so before he had even graduated middle school. Shafran previously served as a producer for SophFrosh SING! 2019 and coordinator for 2020 SophFrosh SING! and 2021 Junior SING!

After attending his older brother Mark Shafran’s (’18) SING! performance when Alec was in sixth grade, Shafran was enthralled and knew that SING! was something he wanted to participate in. “I was absolutely in love with it because it’s a really cool tradition and I had never seen anything like it before,” he said.

As coordinator, Shafran is inspired by the people he gets to work with in leading this production and enjoys overseeing the collaborative and creative nature of his classmates. “My favorite part of the job is working with so many talented people just because there are so many incredibly creative individuals in each grade and on a day to day basis, and during math class or English, you don’t get to experience that in its entirety,” Shafran said.

As this year’s SING! production will be hybrid, Shafran is hoping to expand opportunities to different niches which had not been necessary for an in-person production. “I definitely want to be able to give more people an opportunity to get involved in SING!. There is a huge untapped potential in the Stuy community because so many people are super talented at filmmaking, video editing [...] and a normal SING! season doesn’t really give those people the space to be creative,” Shafran said.

Shafran anticipates collaborating extensively with his slate, made up of seniors Ava Yap, Avni Garg, Elizabeth Stansberry, and Ella Krechmer, to accommodate for any COVID-19 related circumstances. “This year, I’m going to try to take into account the different opinions and creative input of all the talented people in my grade and incorporate that into whatever format SING! ends up taking,” Shafran said. “Going into it without any solid expectations and solid plans has been so far our strategy just because we know that we need to be adaptable.”

As this year will be the 50th anniversary of SING!’s inception, Shafran is optimistic for this year’s SING! to be a special one, especially in working with the other coordinators as well. “Working in tandem with Lianne and Caroline is going to make for a very unique SING!, which I think is very great for the 50th anniversary,” Shafran said.

Junior SING!: Lianne Ohayon

This year’s Junior SING! Coordinator Lianne Ohayon has had extensive experience working in musical theater, and with SING! in years past. During the summer before her freshman year at Stuyvesant, Ohayon had her first SING! experience at sleepaway camp. Later, Ohayon was a producer for SophFrosh SING! 2020 and became SophFrosh coordinator in SING! 2021.

Ohayon anticipates that these experiences will help her as the Junior SING! coordinator this year, but acknowledges that her role this year will be unlike any other because of the hybrid nature. “This year, we are working in a different way. Having had the virtual SING! experience has given us a new perspective of what we would and wouldn’t like to do,” Ohayon said. “Being able to compare the in-person and virtual SING! experience is going to help us integrate elements of both into one SING! production, which I am looking forward to doing this year.”

Ohayon also hopes, especially for the 50th anniversary of SING!, that the production is memorable. “We are working together to make the SING! monumental because, in the last few years, SING! has looked a lot different from SING! 10 years ago,” Ohayon said. “SING! is one of the largest student events at Stuy and we want it to live up to the 50th-anniversary expectations.”

Given the pandemic, Ohayon realizes the difficulties of coordinating a “monumental” production. Despite these challenges, Ohayon remains optimistic that SING! will still be a fulfilling experience. “It’s still going to be SING! and the fact that we are all invested in making the SING! season as incredible as possible,” Ohayon said. “When we are looking at how to run SING! this year, there may be some changes logistically, but it will still be the same SING! that we all know and love.”

SophFrosh SING!: Caroline Stansberry

Caroline Stansberry is this year’s SophFrosh SING! Coordinator and was previously a producer for SophFrosh SING! 2021 as a freshman. Even before entering Stuyvesant, Stansberry had already been dreaming about participating in SING!. With older siblings who both participated in SING!, Stansberry discovered her love for SING! prior to entering Stuyvesant. “My first time seeing SING! was three or four years ago and I’ve seen it every year since and I was just like it seems so fun,” Stansberry said.

Though Stansberry expressed nervousness, she feels calm in receiving support from Shafran and Ohayon. “I’m going to do my best because last year I was not in person so I’m not as familiar as past coordinators, but Alec and Lianne have been super nice and have been helping me along this process so far,” Stansberry said.

She approaches this year’s SING! season with high anticipation, as it will be her first year in person. However, she also recognizes the possibility of a hybrid option due to the Omicron variant. “Our first choice is to do it as in-person as possible, but going forward, we’re not really sure with Omicron and how policies will change regarding after-school activities,” Stansberry said. “Hopefully practices get to be in person, and performances especially get to be in person.”

As coordinator, Stansberry looks forward to participating in what she has watched and admired from a distance for a while. “SING!: it’s been a part of my life for several years now and I’m glad I finally get to be in this position,” Stansberry said. “I’m really really excited to do this year, especially after last year [was] virtual, that we get to do something in person.”