Multi-talent show in the Artists Theater honors LBHS tradition

By LBHS’s Brush and Palette Staff

On April 7, Laguna Beach High School’s (LBHS) Brush and Palette will host a multi-talent show fundraiser in the Artists Theater, including performances by Lily Gabora, Sam Mendoza, Aaron Poe, Amanda Nguyen, Thomas “Chase” Benson, Tomoko Davis, this year’s “Battle of the Bands” winners Elijah Furar, Lucas Durand, Arend Hekma and Benjamin Dawson, and more. The show begins at 7 p.m. with doors opening at 6:30 p.m.

In the tradition of “The Shap Show,” which ran for an impressive 29 years in the theater, the proceeds from this year’s fundraiser will support the Class of 2023 Grad Night. To the delight of local alumni and veteran LBHS staff, retired math teacher Gary Shapiro, “The Shap Show’s” central figure, will also take the stage in support of this year’s seniors.

Click on photo for a larger image

Submitted photo

Gary “Shap” Shapiro

“Two intelligent, business-savvy students from the Class of 1989 – Tim Hobin and Eric Weeks – conceived of a show, starring me, in the theater to raise funds for their class,” said Shapiro. “I named it ‘No Suits Allowed’ because I had recently been kicked out of a fancy country club for wearing jeans. Ha!”

The following year, the Grad Night committee contacted “Shap” to do another show, and “No Suits Allowed #2” was born. Slowly over the years, the show became student-centered and sometime in the early 2000s, “No Suits Allowed” became “The Shap Show,” a highly anticipated annual event that would come to raise more than $100,000 in support of the Safe-and-Sober Grad Nights of nearly three decades of seniors. 

Although Brush and Palette hosted performances in the Artists Theater prior to the pandemic, this is the first year that the Journalism class has aimed to unify the community by donating the night’s proceeds to the seniors’ Grad Night. The hope is to pack the house with students, family, staff and alumni, as well as with members of the general Laguna Beach community.

“Music is a source of life, of being. It does not matter the genre,” said Shapiro. “If you are into music, then you are connected to the soul of the world.”

General admission is $10 (with pre-sale tickets available for $5 in Mr. Brusky’s Journalism class). To purchase tickets online, visit https://lbhs.booktix.com.

The Artists Theater at Laguna Beach High School is located at 625 Park Ave, Laguna Beach.