Grade 3 Presents 'Nefertiti' - The Egyptian Play

On November 17 and 18, 2016, third grade teachers Sam Hamlin and Anne Babcock along with teaching assistant Lara Lofdahl directed their students in Nefertiti, a contemporary musical in the style of the Broadway hit, Hamilton. The musical was written by Babcock, Hamlin, and Lofdahl, with music composed and performed by Hamlin. The third grade "Egyptian play" is a Shore tradition stretching back some 30 years.

Dazzling in their authentic ancient Egyptian attire, this year's third graders rapped their way through the story of Nefertiti, an Egyptian queen and the Great Royal Wife of Akhenaten, an Egyptian Pharaoh. As the students explained in this complex, research-based tale, Nefertiti and her husband were known for a religious revolution, in which they worshiped one god only, Aten. Alive during what may have been the wealthiest period of Egyptian history, Nefertiti is believe by some scholars to have ruled on her own briefly after her husband's death, and before the accession of Tutankhamun. This claim, like the unknown location of Nefertiti's tomb, remains a matter of heated debate, as the musical makes clear. Watch the video below.


The Egyptian play, as it's come to be known by all, ties closely with the third grade curriculum's focus on ancient Egypt. The Egyptian costumes and props are reused year after year, and the rest of the time many serve as decorations in the third grade classrooms. Another staple of the play, says Hamlin, is the "Egyptian Cheer." 

"It's something I learned from a coworker at a camp before I came to Shore. It seemed like an appropriate way to celebrate once the play was done, and so every year since, we've always worked the Cheer in somewhere. Now there are an awful lot of Shore grads who start clapping their thighs when they year, 'Let's have another Egyptian Cheer...'"

According to Hamlin, "This year, like every year, students began the process of preparing for the Egyptian play by announcing how little they wanted the spotlight. But by the final performance, we heard from everyone, 'When are we going to do another play?'"

Every third grader is featured in one way or another in the performance, with major roles being played collectively by several students in rotation. "We stress that it is not the number of lines that makes an actor a star," explains Babcock. "It’s what they do with the lines they have that makes this play special year after year."

Indeed, with such a large number of students impressing the audience through lengthy solo or ensemble pieces—all performed in modern hip-hop style—this year's edition of the Egyptian play was certainly far greater than the sum of its parts.

Adding extra impact to Nefertiti was the inclusion of Larry and Cathy Griffin as characters in a framing narrative. The musical begins and ends with students channeling "Cathy" and "Larry," whom we encounter wandering New York's Broadway, hoping to see Lin-Manual Miranda's sold-out hit Hamilton. But unable to get tickets, they end up seeing the Egyptian play instead. As the character of Larry Griffin admits in the musical's final lines, it's fortunate for all of us that they did.