The Evolution of Lagniappe-Potpourri - FAQ
Starting in 2025-2026, New Trier's Lagniappe-Potpourri student leadership board will produce the Freshman-Sophomore Musical, preserving its tradition of creative student leadership and providing authentic opportunities in the arts unlike those offered in other high schools. Students will produce, direct, choreograph, design, build, and perform a book musical, while other sketch comedy, composing, and creative outlets remain available through Performing Arts classes and extracurricular programs.
This web page is designed to answer questions we have received from alumni, families, and students about the next phase of Lagniappe-Potpourri.
A brief overview of Fine and Performing Arts at New Trier High School:
New Trier High School has a long and proud history of supporting the Fine and Performing Arts in both its curriculum and in extracurricular opportunities for students. From its founding in 1901, New Trier has offered numerous ways for students to explore their interests in music, dance, theatre, and different visual arts media. Those opportunities have grown as New Trier built on its traditions with innovation, evolving from the small orchestra and single play that the new high school boasted at the turn of the 20th century into the broad, deep, and extensive curriculum and extracurricular program students experience today.
Each year, the Fine and Performing Arts faculty and staff use their deep knowledge of their fields to create new and exciting classes and programs. In music, New Trier students can participate in more than 20 ensembles including choirs, orchestras, wind ensembles, and jazz ensembles while also having the ability to take cutting-edge courses in music production, music theory, and improvisation. Theatre students hone their skills in a four year sequence of acting, directing, and technical design classes along with extracurricular plays, musicals, and improv comedy opportunities. In the visual arts, course offerings range from drawing, painting, and sculpture to glass art, comic art and animation, and digital photography. Dance students advance through different styles and techniques and can join ensembles to perform on stage including during a Dance Day open to all styles and levels of dancers.
In recent years, in addition to expanding its Arts offerings, New Trier also has created facilities for its artists to create and perform using state-of-the-art spaces and tools. The 2017 West Side Addition to the Winnetka Campus includes large specialized rooms for music classes, a new black box theatre and intimate proscenium theatre for performances and classes, scene and light shops to design and build engaging stage environments, a new art gallery, and art rooms filled with technology and natural light.
Throughout its history, New Trier has been and continues to remain a lighthouse school for the Arts. This commitment to the Arts includes a commitment to innovation and providing the best possible experience for students. As classes and programs have evolved over the decades, so have performances and extracurricular activities. That includes traditions such as the Winter Music Festival, which now offers two unique concerts and hands-on community activities, the tripling of Directing Project participants, and the addition of specialized mentors for Lagniappe-Potpourri.
What is the history of Lagniappe-Potpourri?
Lagniappe began in 1939 as a fundraiser for the boys’ service club Tri-Ship. Over the years it evolved several times, from the original talent show to a book musical into a show lampooning New Trier through sketch comedy, songs, and dance numbers. When New Trier became two schools in the 1960s, New Trier East continued Lagniappe and New Trier West produced a sister production called Potpourri. After the two schools combined in 1981, the show became known as Lagniappe-Potpourri. Lagniappe-Potpourri has continued to evolve along with each group of student participants and our community. In every iteration, however, students have consistently shared that they value opportunities to work across grades, develop and demonstrate peer leadership, deepen their responsibility within our performance season, and practice their craft.
What is the future of Lagniappe-Potpourri?
After many years of discussion and planning, the 2025-2026 Lagniappe-Potpourri Student Leadership Board will be charged with the production of the Freshman-Sophomore Musical. Students will continue to direct, conduct, choreograph, design, and build a musical in collaboration with an adult team of mentors, just as they have done with previous Lagniappe-Potpourri shows. For example, imagine "Lagniappe-Potpourri Presents Seussical."
This evolution honors the tradition of Lagniappe-Potpourri in supporting student creative leadership in the Arts. It is a unique opportunity for students to help lead a book musical from start to finish, and is similar to college programs like Northwestern’s Dolphin Show and the University of Michigan’s Musket. This will help New Trier students stand out among high school students across the country and truly explore career connections and a potential future in the Arts.
Why are you making this change?
The Performing Arts Division has observed changes in the Lagniappe-Potpourri student experience in recent years. Fewer students were applying for leadership positions, and adults were taking on roles that had previously been reserved for students. Fewer actors, dancers, and singers were auditioning for the show, fewer students were writing sketches and songs, fewer musicians were able to commit to the pit band, and fewer students were joining stage crew sessions. At the same time, audience numbers have declined to 50% of what they were 10 years ago. Other plays and musicals in the season were not experiencing the same kind of decline. Performing Arts leaders worked with administrators to consider ways to adjust the production and also honor the core values of Lagniappe-Potpourri.
Earlier this school year, administrators and Performing Arts leaders met with Performing Arts students three times to discuss what they found most valuable in their extracurricular experiences, including Lagniappe. Students echoed the feedback from past groups and identified community building and leadership as common themes. They also identified a number of reasons for declining participation, including how busy students’ schedules were and the difficulty of balancing different obligations along with school and, for seniors, college applications in the first semester. The redirection of the Lagniappe-Potpourri Student Leadership Board is an innovative way to continue the tradition of a student-led production and provide a more authentic experience to students.
What else did you consider when making your decision?
The top consideration was creating an authentic and positive leadership experience for students. The Lagniappe-Potpourri Student Leadership Board will make New Trier a lighthouse school in this area, and we hope it will reinvigorate student interest in the production’s leadership. This solution offers the opportunity for the school to evolve, supporting New Trier’s ongoing balance between tradition and innovation in Academics, Athletics, Activities, and Performing Arts.
What about students interested in sketch comedy?
We understand that the one opportunity missing in the redesign of the Lagniappe-Potpourri Student Leadership Board is writing and performing sketch comedy and original songs. Theatre classes will continue to create and showcase student-written sketches, plays, and songs in a more flexible and iterative format. We have met several times with Performing Arts students about their desired experiences, and we are collaborating with them to talk about additional opportunities to further develop their skills in the after school program.
I heard New Trier was making this change because it didn’t want students writing satire. Is that true?
In a word, no. We encourage students to write satire in different classes and clubs, and we enjoy a good-natured ribbing of New Trier as much as anyone. The main reason for this evolution, as stated above, was creating the best possible student experience through real-world leadership opportunities for students in the Arts.
I heard New Trier was making this change because it was cutting funding and staffing for the Arts. Is that true?
No. In fact, New Trier’s investment in the arts has grown in recent years, including through the creation of state-of-the-art facilities and programs to encourage students to explore their interest in artistic pursuits.
What’s next?
The Performing Arts Division will share a timeline and expectations for next year’s Lagniappe-Potpourri at the end of February with the intention of beginning the production process in the spring. We are excited to see the level of interest in this opportunity and to create this real-world experience for students. In the next school year, we will observe and improve the process, truly empowering students to be leaders in this next incarnation of Lagniappe-Potpourri.