“Would you like to escape?” reads a cursive message on a shattered phone. Below, a turquoise button with the word “YES” flashes.        

For those who click the button, an entirely new experience from Oak Park High School’s Color Guard awaits. The team is currently creating a virtual performance, with many details unrevealed. What is known can be found through their team’s Instagram, with snippets like the shattered phone and the word “YES” appearing alongside a blue “HELLO” and a video-game style “Choose Your Character” menu. Team captain and senior Shri Arulmani is thrilled to bring the experience to OPHS students and staff. 

“We’re really going all in with the vision behind it and we’re trying to make it more of an experience for the audience instead of just a recording for the show,” Arulmani said. 

According to Arulmani, the secretive show will incorporate traditional elements of Color Guard — such as spinning flags to music — with a “technological and futuristic” twist. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the team has switched to online mediums.=

“It’s been sad that we’re not able to go to competitions and that I can’t spend time in person, especially because we have a lot of new freshmen who are really enthusiastic and committed to what we’re doing,” Arulmani said. “It would be really nice to be with them in person, but I think we as a team and also our leadership are doing a really good job of doing the best we can while being online and making the show the best it can be while still being digital.” 

During the marching season, each Color Guard member filmed different parts of a routine and the videos were stitched together through editing. Arulmani believes this new experience will be far more than “just boxes on a screen.” 

Current projections slate the experience to be finished by April, but the schedule may change depending on if in-person learning returns. 

“We’re really excited and hoping to get the word out to all of Oak Park,” Arulmani said.