70th-Anniversary Celebration

MacDermid Hall

The 70th Anniversary Celebration will coincide with the opening of MacDermid Hall. The new dormitory and classroom space was largely made possible by the generous donation of Donald MacDermid '61. 

The new building will feature 27 double student rooms, 2 faculty apartments, common room, and 4 classrooms.

→ Learn more about MacDermid Hall and Music Center 

MCF: What a Life! is an original musical by Todd Fletcher that premiered in 2000 in celebration of TASIS Founder M. Crist Fleming’s 90th birthday. It was later performed in 2011, in 2016 as the centerpiece of the School’s 60th-anniversary celebrations, and in 2017 by the TASIS High School Theater Program.

The special performance for the 70th-anniversary celebration will be directed by Mikey Rosenbaum, with musical direction provided by Erika Cramp and Eugene Villanueva serving as the vocal instructor. The cast and crew will be composed of current and former TASIS students as well as many professional actors and musicians who have an association with the School.

The show will be performed in the TASIS Palestra at 19:15 on Saturday, August 22, and at 11:30 on Sunday, August 23.

Synopsis
Geoffrey, a young graduate student in education, interviews Mrs. Fleming for his dissertation. He asks her how one goes about creating a school. Mrs. Fleming gives him her recipe, and reflects on episodes from her life as his questions bring them to mind. 

As a child in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, the young Mary Crist daydreams of traveling the world and having adventures. As she grows up, visits to the Soviet Union and Italy fuel this determination, although she gives up her earlier plan of being an opera singer after hearing a classmate, Anne Belmont, sing brilliantly. Mary graduates from Radcliffe and goes on to travel Europe in the company of other young ladies. The journey is marked by problems at the borders, many admirers, and even more flat tires!

Back in the US, Mary Crist marries Mr. Fleming and has three children. Before long, she founds a children’s program called Frog Hollow and hits on the idea of doing a program in Switzerland called Frog Hollow’s Swiss Holiday. The first season is extremely difficult and is capped by one of her young charges, Ronny, falling very ill with polio. Mrs. Fleming decides not to repeat the Swiss program, but Ronny’s positive outlook gives her strength and she changes her mind. 

She rents Villa Verbanella—a beautiful property in Ticino—and is inspired to found a year-round school instead of just a summer program. The school is a success, and she seeks bank loans to be able to expand. The bankers do not share her conviction, however, and only her perseverance allows her to find the financial backing necessary.

TASIS continues to grow and evolve, but Mrs. Fleming hits a setback with her next venture, the short-lived Fleming College. Matters come to head in a board meeting. Her next venture—to open an American school in England—is greeted with skepticism by virtually everyone, but she goes ahead all the same and proves them all wrong.

Geoffrey is stunned at the rich story she has told him. Mrs. Fleming assures him that it wasn’t all plain sailing: there were mistakes and failures along the way, too. She wonders whether her students have at least embraced part of her passion and conviction; Geoffrey assures her that she has changed the lives of thousands, and extracts of letters from former students confirm this. Mrs. Fleming is reflective for a moment, then snaps into action. There’s so much to do—no time to stand still!