What’s Red and Gold and Never All Over?

Charlotte Ovando approached the principal at her daughter’s school with a slightly wild idea. What if the whole school got involved in a theatrical competition?

The students could be divided into two teams, one red, one gold, for the school’s colors. Costumes, set designs, choreography, musical selections--every stitch and idea--would come from the students. All the students.

It’s 27 years later, and Red and Gold, as it’s simply and eloquently known, is no longer just the year’s big production at the all-girls Rosary High School in Fullerton. The tradition is now ensconced as part of the school’s soul.

Mothers who did Red and Gold at the private Catholic high school are now watching their daughters enjoy the same experience. Rosary alumnae from across the country plan return visits to their native Orange County each year to be here for Red and Gold weekend.

“Red and Gold is why I have chosen to remain at Rosary,” Katie Strass, a junior, told me when I visited the school this week. “It’s something you want to do all four years. My sister is a freshman, and I’m excited for her because this is her first Red and Gold.”

This is Red and Gold weekend, with three performances at the Servite High School Auditorium in Anaheim. (The all-boys Servite is the “brother” school to Rosary.) I’m not plugging it to sell tickets. The Friday and Saturday night performances in the 987-seat auditorium were sold out long ago. The handful of tickets left for Saturday’s matinee will be gone by today.

Almost all high schools have theatrical productions. But nothing like this. Rosary has 685 students. The number participating in Red and Gold: 685.

Activities director Shawna Pautsch, the faculty advisor for this endeavor, explained to me how it’s organized each year:

Students are chosen at random for either the Red team or the Gold team. There is also a White team, a group of five student leaders who oversee it all. Despite the random selection, some girls delight in winding up Red all four years, or Gold each time.

The White team picks a theme. This year it’s “To Be Continued.” The Red and Gold teams interpret it in their own musical production.

Captains are chosen to perform a variety of duties for each side. No more than half the 685 students end up in front of the audience. The others design sets or costumes, or handle production duties.

Planning begins about October, but for six intense weeks preceding Red and Gold weekend, the school shaves a few minutes off each class so it can provide 45 minutes daily for the girls to tend to their duties for the big show.

A group of judges will evaluate the two teams at all three performances. Usually Red wins for some categories, Gold for others, before an overall winning side is announced Saturday night.

“There can sometimes be disappointment at losing,” said Principal Trudy Mazzarella, who’s been at the school in a variety of posts for 17 years. “But it never lasts. The girls become such good friends in the whole process, it overcomes that.”

As I toured the school, the spirit for this event was evident. The whole place is plastered with banners. (“Totally Red,” “We’re Bold, We’re Gold.”)

No one is forced to participate, but everyone does. Bernadette Castillo, a senior, who is on the White team along with Strass, told me it’s exciting for her because “you get to know girls from different classes, and discover people’s hidden talents.”

The printed program for the weekend is nearly 50 pages thick. Most of that is ads taken out by the students’ parents. I couldn’t get through it without feeling a golf ball in my throat.

“Kelly, you’re our dancing star. Have fun in your first Red and Gold. We love you.”

“Katie, you really embody the spirit of Red and Gold. We are all so very proud of you.”

“Lacey, you’re the best. Just keep on smiling and forget the rest. ‘Cause win or lose, one thing’s for sure. The memories you make will always endure.”

Katie Strass said it best perhaps: “Red and Gold tugs at the heart.”

Writer’s Block: I met some delightful people at the Garden Grove Historical Society this week. Writer Toby Young was there to encourage members to preserve their own histories of Orange County, and those of their families.

Member Jack Johnson, who’s from just across the line in Anaheim, said something that hit me square between the eyes: “Every time I sit down to write about my life, I never can get past writing about my father.”

It’s a little disappointing in the historical meetings I’ve attended around Orange County that, at age 50, I’m often the youngest person in the room. It would be great to see some college students show up and take an interest. Or maybe someone from City Hall.

Moon Dancing: Travel & Leisure magazine held a contest, with a $5,000 first prize, asking readers to describe their fantasy vacations. Cheryl Meeks of Orange didn’t win, but she got honorable mention. Her fantasy is well worth repeating here.

She wrote, in part: “The winds have treated us to days of smooth sailing through aquamarine seas. We have gathered our meals from the sea, enjoying the fishing and diving as much as we did the eating. One night we danced under the moon to the melody of waves rolling ashore and palms rustling--a chorus carried on a scented breeze of plumeria, tuberose and ginger.”

Where do we sign up?

Wrap-Up: I tracked down Charlotte Ovando, who lives in Fullerton, to ask if she ever dreamed her wild idea for Red and Gold would spawn something so deeply entrenched in the school’s identity.

“Never,” she said. “The school has taken my idea and turned it into something that’s just wonderful, so highly professional.”

Ovando was quick to point out that it wasn’t an original idea. Her high school in Long Island had something similar, which it called Red and Blue. She brought it up at Rosary, she said, because she wasn’t pleased with what she saw there.

“There was such complete lack of enthusiasm at the school,” she said. “The pretty girls and the athletes and the scholars did well, but there was nothing for the rest of the girls.”

The first year she suggested it, she got turned down. Too big, she was told. But she brought it up again the next year, and the school agreed to find a suitable site to try it. The idea blossomed.

“I think it’s just tragic to go through high school without any memories,” Ovando told me. “Every time I drive by the school at Red and Gold time, it makes me so happy to see such unity. That’s what I’d hope to accomplish in the beginning.”