recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
HEY LA, HEY LA

"Hey La, Hey La" is the seventeenth episode of Season 5.

## Synopsis

While schmoozing with art-world bigwigs during the pre-Gala cocktail hour, Jonathan finds himself confronted by a handsome and somewhat frantic stranger named Jerry Clyde who seeks Bonnie. A chance meeting with Dove, the event's florist, leads Jenna and Talia to rethink their plans for a small wedding. Colin and Violet decide to undergo aversion therapy with renowned therapist Laurel Weinberg, who also happens to be Esther and Hannah's mother, Carole's yoga buddy, and author of the popular teen health book, "That Came Out Of There (And That's Totally OK!)", when one of their children reveals that she wants her birthday party at the Sloth Exhibit at the local zoo. Meanwhile, back in Massachusetts, Maya and Leo enlist Donna Bing, alumni liaison Hannah and computer science teacher Rocky Gillespie in a search for answers (regarding Maggie's disappearance, the mysterious student, and whether the two are connected), and Vera seeks out a happier alumnus to deliver a speech to the burnt-out students after the Rania Alizadeh disaster.
I WRITE SIMS, NOT TRAGEDIES

"I Write Sims, Not Tragedies" is the second episode of Season 9.

## Synopsis

With only a couple of weeks to go before the start of the new school year, Vera puts the pressure on Talia to help her choose an acceptable substitute for Talia's maternity leave. There are two problems: Talia wants to hold off as long as possible on the maternity leave and she's also, in her words, "outrageously busy" on a secret project she's working on with Michelle. With both Michelle and Talia tight-lipped on the project, Vera asks Rocky to do a little spy work and it is revealed that Michelle's publishers are breathing down her back for a follow-up to her book and she is looking to Talia's extremely elaborate Sims neighborhood for inspiration. Meanwhile, when the Old Farmer's Almanac predicts a calm autumn, the theater faculty decide to move the first fall production outside after deciding to stage "Songs from Down There," a musical version of The Vagina Monologues.
CLIMB EV'RY MOUNTAIN

"Climb Ev'ry Mountain" is the third episode of Season 4.

## Synopsis

With classes canceled for the annual Mountain Day/Class Dinner, Leo and Maya decide to give Ellen the day off and she decides to accompany Talia, Jenna, Cliff, Jillian, Michelle, Violet, Colin and Paul up Mount Monadnock with the senior class. Halfway up the mountain, one of the frailer never-sees-the-sunlight-type seniors suffers an ankle injury, and while the rest of the group continues their trek, Jillian and Ellen stay with the girl. Awkwardness ensues when they try to engage her in conversation to distract her from the pain and discover that she is Alysson-Clare Shannon, author of "Arts of Seduction," a project which, had the film version come to fruition, would have involved Ellen acting out scenes based on a fictionalized version of Jillian's love life as imagined by a then-14-year-old author. Back at The Academy, Robert takes his wheelchair basketball league on a tour of the now-accessible tunnels and proudly boasts that his daughter was responsible for getting them up to code.  Later, a plot involving a fairly epic and potentially dangerous prank is uncovered and Vera forbids the boys involved from participating in Colin's fall Shakespeare show, which actually works out well as Carole has convinced Colin to stage "The Tampest," an all-female production of "The Tempest."
REVIVING OPHELIA

"Reviving Ophelia" is the twenty-first episode of Season 9.

## Synopsis

Ophelia returns to The Academy with some good news: she has found buyers for Roger's condo and she, secret pie genius Suzanne, and new bestie Alice are moving to Brooklyn to open the "Ellen's Stardust Diner" of bakeries under the Wonderwall name. While Suzanne's departure is news to Vera, Suzanne already has the perfect replacement lined up: a very flattered and totally delighted Bonnie. With Bonnie set to be taking on more administrative duties in her new role, a space opens up for another voice teacher and the students petition for beloved substitute Cora to be given the position. Marissa's elective on safe foraging leads one of her students to find a new species of berry, which is of dubious edibility but is a major scientific discovery nonetheless. Meanwhile, with Colin, Jillian and Mira in full control of "Urinetown," Leo, Maya and Daniel find themselves looking for something to do and decide that their parting gift to the student body will be a gender-swapped but otherwise accurate-to-the-final-detail recreation of an iconic dance number from a hit '90s movie right in the middle of the upcoming prom.
Charlie mi ha morso il dito

In a break from traditional full-length narratives, "Charlie mi ha morso il dito" is a two-hour block of operatic vignettes, created by Bonita Alcott and inspired by viral YouTube videos.

While the eponymous vignette touches audiences with its relatable tale of sibling rivalry and provocation, other scenes (among them an aria consisting only of the word "FENTON!" over and over) leave viewers scratching their heads.

The premise of the project horrifies the board of trustees and while they continue to allow Bonnie creative control, she decides to hand the next two years of directorial duties to her cousin Cora (with the blessing of department head Suzanne Klein) to get them off her back, returning as opera director in 2020 with the production of "The Brown Note."
DON'T STOP ME NOW

"Don't Stop Me Now" is the fourteenth episode of Season 2.

## Synopsis

When a media-darling celebrity jokingly endorses "Arts of Seduction" on The Tonight Show, money-hungry producers rush a film version into production to entice her into playing the lead. With the book and film script having been written under a pseudonym and Winter Lake Academy never being outright named as the setting, Vera's not too concerned about potential backlash...that is until audition notices for the film go up on Backstage.com and she overhears students planning to blow off classes and performances to try out. She forbids the student body from attending the open calls, which blows up in her face when an angry student blogs about it and the headmistress of Harble Academy Kathleen Dearborn publicly shames her for "actively discouraging talented students from pursuing their dreams" during a televised interview at the SAG Awards. Jillian's show completes a successful run and her cast takes the show, its valuable lessons, and a cast-wide case of head lice on the road. Meanwhile, Maya is anxious to get back to work (baby in tow) after less than two weeks of parenthood, and Harry has to make the heartbreaking decision to retire Julianne from the show circuit two weeks before Westminster when she comes down with a serious illness.
ELLA, ELLA, ELLA, EH EH EH

"Ella, Ella, Ella, Eh Eh Eh" is the twenty-second episode of Season 8.

## Synopsis

Colin, Daniel and Mira have had it with senior Ella Davis, temperamental star of "Julia!", who insists on ditching all of her theater classes and half of her academic ones to rehearse on the main stage despite the production being outside. With a spot waiting for her at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and a four-octave range, Ella wields a tremendous amount of power in the theater department social circle and her co-stars are beginning to follow her lead to the detriment of their grades. While Miss Davis certainly takes her methods to the extreme, it is the faculty who learns a lesson when Winter Lake is hit with a week of torrential rainstorms and Ella is the only one completely comfortable adapting the blocking and choreography to the makeshift performance space. Meanwhile, Shaquarius poses an interesting question to the administration, and Cliff prepares his resignation as dorm parent (but not as guidance counselor).
Jerry Clyde

Jerry Clyde is the husband of Bonita Alcott.

At the beginning of the series he is missing and presumed dead. Bonnie attempts to move on and enters into a relationship with Jonathan Bates, going almost as far as "marrying" him, but does not make the union legal as she has not given up hope he is alive.

Shortly before his disappearance, Jerry learned that not only was he adopted but that he had an identical twin brother who was adopted out to a different family. What begins as a ten day "business trip" to track his brother down by himself lasted several years as he searched. When he located his brother Thomas, it was revealed that Thomas was dying and that he had a young daughter named Marley who was in the custody of his adoptive parents. Jerry donated a kidney to Thomas, but it didn't take and Thomas died. Jerry adopted Thomas's identity and took custody of Marley. When Marley got old enough to ask more questions about her family situation, Jerry decided it was time that she knew the truth. While she took the complicated story well, her reaction prompted Jerry to seek Bonnie out and right the wrongs of his past.

Despite the fact that she could probably do better than a man who took off for years without so much as a phone call and scared the living shit out of her, Bonnie and Jerry reunite. After straightening a few identity issues out with the government, they formally adopt Marley as their own.
SOUPED UP

"Souped Up" is the tenth episode of Season 7.

## Synopsis

After a number of awkward near-confrontations, pacifist Ellen implores her bosses Leo and Maya to forgive Dave for his show-threatening protest stunt. The three decide that a group project would help them mend fences, and Cliff suggests a popular holiday activity: volunteering at a soup kitchen. When the project seems too ambitious for three people (and the four tiny children belonging to two of those three people), Dave suggests that they turn it into an opportunity for students to receive extra credit through community service. The idea pleases many of Leo and Maya's theater students whose long rehearsal hours prevented them from giving back to the community during the fall. Things become complicated when the only day convenient for both students and faculty is the press night of Talia's ballet. With a significant number of seats reserved each night for students, Talia is concerned that the empty seats the box office is forbidden to give away will reflect poorly on the public's confidence in the show and jeopardize her chances at staging the sequel in the future. Meanwhile, a concerned parent confides in Bonnie that she doesn't believe Winter Lake is bringing in enough successful musicians/composers/conductors for master classes and Bonnie makes the search her winter break project.
Donna Bing

Donna Bing is a "scandler," that is, to say, a scandal handler. She is the level-headed go-between, part PR person, part P.I. and part diplomat. She is hired by Vera on many occasions to keep The Academy's name in the paper for all the good reasons and none of the bad ones.

No amount of "campus crazy" is too much for Donna, and she survives on the adrenaline.
I USED TO THINK MAYBE YOU LOVED ME (NOW BABY I'M SURE)

"I Used To Think Maybe You Loved Me (Now Baby I'm Sure" is the eleventh episode of Season 2.

## Synopsis

With classes over until January, Jonathan whisks Bonnie away to New York, where he takes her to the final performance of a Broadway show and proposes to her in Rockefeller Center. When for the rest of the weekend Jonathan spends more time talking about the show in every minute detail than about his dreams for their future together, Bonnie begins to think back to when they were introduced and wonders if he's really after her or her family fortune. She asks for some alone time and heads to the prettiest church she can find, seeking guidance and wondering if she's settling too soon because she's afraid of being alone. When she finds no answers, she seeks the advice of a homeless man outside who tells her that "if he's into the same weird sh\*\* you're into and he treats you good, he's a keeper," and then demands a hundred dollars. Jenna brings Talia to Minnesota to meet her family, and it's a total disaster. They don't care about Talia's gender or race, but they refuse to accept anyone who won't attempt a square dance. Meanwhile, Colin and Violet take their kids Christmas caroling and Leo and Maya find a series of underground tunnels connecting the dormitories that they're not sure even Vera knows about.
Victoria Fry

Victoria Fry is the daughter of Robert Fry and Valerie French-Fry, and the eventual step-daughter of Jillian Jordan (via Robert) and Jayna Berger (via Valerie). She is a dance student in the class of 2017.

Fourteen at the beginning of the series, she is enrolled at Winter Lake High School. While she's doing fine academically, Robert worries that she is not getting to shine artistically. She is a gifted ballerina and Robert believes that she would fit in better at The Academy.

She eventually transfers to The Academy as a sophomore. Highlights from her time at The Academy include hallucinating mole people after a toxic mold infestation, successfully petitioning the school to make its secret underground tunnels more accessible to people with physical disabilities, getting shot in the spleen with an arrow (although technically that happened over the summer) and getting recruited by the Austin Ballet.

While an unfortunate injury ends her dream of performing at a professional level, her level of devotion to both her craft and The Academy itself leads her to a promising career opportunity for the future.
A MID-AUTUMN NIGHT'S DREAM

"A Mid-Autumn Night's Dream" is the seventh episode of Season 1.

## Synopsis

Roger's grandma Pat breaks out of her assisted living facility and shows up at his doorstep, complaining that she isn't being mentally stimulated enough and she feels herself slipping away. He apologizes for not visiting more often and takes her and Jillian out to a nice dinner and then to the Shakespeare play Colin is directing. Mid-meal, Jillian gets a call from her mother about experimental brain surgery that could possibly return her to the person she was before her accident. Knowing that he too was once in an accident, Jillian attempts to pick Robert's brain over coffee about whether or not she should undergo the procedure. Pat, on her way back to her facility, spies them and begins to think there is something a bit fishy about her grandson's "relationship."
Salvatore Pepitone

Salvatore "Sal" Pepitone is a theater student in the class of 2023.

As a sophomore, he is cast in Daniel Sonnenschein's experimental musical "Take This Broken Wing" in the supporting role of "Warren The Owl."

A massive fan of actor Daniel Day-Lewis, Sal is a HUGE proponent of the Method school of acting and insists on living as an owl for the entire rehearsal process and run of the show. While his roommate is thrilled to have a room to himself while Warren sleeps in the trees, his habits of coughing out pellets at lunch and not bathing are disturbing to other students and the school is forced to find ways to address his behavior without interrupting his creative process.
SOME 'SPLAININ' TO DO

"Some 'Splainin' To Do" is the fourth episode of Season 6.

## Synopsis

Jerry attempts to continue his relationship with Bonnie where they left off at the time of his disappearance. While her feelings for him run deep and were enough to prevent her from going through the full process of marriage with Jonathan, she still has a number of unanswered questions (if he didn't die, then who was in the casket at "his" funeral?). Maya and Leo get roped into teaching Mira's students the "Tango Maureen," a number they'd performed themselves as juniors. Lucy reaches out to her advisor Robert about switching majors from creative writing to theater, but he and Vera are hesitant to approve the switch when they find out why. Meanwhile, the Sherman Eight delight in corrupting the Sommers Seven as Cliff continues to research cult deprogramming, while Athena and Marissa impress Esther with their idea for a semester-long unit on condiments and Colin makes a shocking announcement about his fall production.
Vai a lucidare il tuo cappello di carta stagnola!

"Vai a lucidare il tuo cappello di carta stagnola!" is an opera co-written by Bonnie and Cora Alcott and translated from English to Italian by Bonnie.

The opera tells the story of a family split apart by conspiracy theories. The father believes aliens are reading his mind, the oldest child believes God is sending him messages by appearing in his tortillas, the middle child believes that her two favorite boy band members are in love and that she is the chosen one who can decode all the secret hints they "send" to their fans, the youngest child swears "the cat knows something," and the mother has to deal with all of them.

Ironically enough, the production of this opera actually precedes any sort of conspiracy-theory-related shenanigans and police action, happening several months before the incident at "Death of a Salesman."
Maya Song

Maya Song is (for all but the final episode of the series) a member of the Theater Department faculty at Winter Lake Academy for the Arts. She and her husband Leo are both members of the Winter Lake Academy class of 2004 and received further theater training as undergraduates at NYU. After graduation, but before returning to The Academy as faculty, she and Leo traveled the U.S. and Canada in a revival tour of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," in which she played the role of Marcy Park.

Over the course of the series, she becomes the mother to four daughters: Annie, twins Molly and Tess, and Catherine, who is called Kate. Maya herself is a twin; her sister Maggie was also a theater student at The Academy but left the school (and Maya's life) under mysterious circumstances in the spring of their junior year.

Like her husband, she appears far younger than she actually is, a fact that tends to confuse long-time faculty members who taught while Maya herself was a student. She is far more outgoing than her husband and makes much more of an attempt to engage with others, while he is more content to just hang out with her.

She is the daughter of the loving but invasive Richard and Anita Song.
Jewperheroes

"Jewperheroes," written by Jason Robert Brown and directed by Colin Andrews, is the story of a Brooklyn yeshiva accidentally treated with radioactive superpower-generating chemicals. It is staged in episode 6.22, and eventually transfers to Broadway (albeit with a completely different cast, including The Academy's very own teacher Daniel Sonnenschein in the lead role of Gordon Goldfarb, Super Mensch).
THE THINGS THAT YOU KNOW BUT FORGET

"The Things That You Know But Forget" is the ninth episode of Season 9.

## Synopsis

Vera and Harry throw a Thanksgiving dinner for themselves and a few of their friends and family, but carefully-laid plans quickly go down the tubes when a still-hysterically-grieving Ophelia accidentally trips Vera, sending the turkey flying across the room and into the pug enclosure where Harry's seven remaining pugs devour it in a matter of seconds. Not about to let his sister's guests starve, Vera's visiting brother Dev offers to pick up takeout and he heads off with fellow guest Paul, who simply needs a break from Ophelia's wailing, in search of an adequate replacement for Thanksgiving dinner. Later, with Ophelia still too distraught to deal with Roger's unfinished business, Cliff and Michelle take it upon themselves to clean up his condo and get important items into storage until Ophelia can figure out what to do with them. In the process, they find some very interesting reading material.
SOONER OR LETA

"Sooner or Leta" is the nineteenth episode of Season 1.

## Synopsis

Leta Little, a senior living in Maya and Leo's dorm, comes to Maya with big news: she's been asked to join the touring cast of Mean Girls: The Musical with an eventual Broadway option if the show is a success. Doing so would mean she would be originating a role in a potential hit, which is a rare opportunity, but she would have to defer her college education. Maya's on Team College until Leta reveals she would be playing Janis Ian, at which point Maya switches teams. Leta's thrilled, especially because her summer-camp boyfriend has been cast as Kevin Gnapoor, but Leta's parents are furious. Maya points out that the school of Leta's choice wasn't even that great and having a national tour on her résumé will open up more doors for her to continue her education later on in life. Anyone can apply to college, but one can only play sixteen for so many years. Meanwhile, after being bored to tears by her own production of "Madame Butterfly," Bonnie decides to do research into lesser-known operas.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO HOME BUT YOU CAN'T STAY HERE

"You Don't Have To Go Home But You Can't Stay Here" is the seventh episode of Season 9.

## Synopsis

Just as things are starting to get back to normal at The Academy, three visitors arrive on campus: Jillian, Robert and Victoria. After Victoria is booted from her lifeguard position after discovering to be in possession of ecstasy, Robert's initial reaction is to send his daughter to her mother in Western Massachusetts to get herself together but Jillian advises against it. Having bonded with the young woman, Jillian leaves her job in solidarity with Victoria and decides to return to the only place she has ever really felt welcome with her occasional lapses into Celine and Liza: The Academy. While the writing department is over the moon to have the real Robert (and not just the robot Robert which continues to be the victim of vandalism), Jillian's return isn't as well-received as Isobel now fears her position is in jeopardy. Meanwhile, the ketchup packets Colin plans to use for the stabbing scene in his play get replaced with mustard packets by a prankster on opening night, and Talia insists on powering through "Nutcracker" auditions despite being in active labor.
MAMA MAY HAVE

"Mama May Have" is the fifteenth episode of Season 9.

## Synopsis

Maya begins acting very strange. While her giddiness refreshes her students (drained from the dramatic improv musical and their math teacher's demise) and charms Bridget and Daniel, who have now roped her into their Prancercise practice, Leo and Vera are frightened and concerned she might have dipped into Roger's old medication to cope with the stresses of being a busy teacher, director and mother-of-four. The truth, however, is far more innocent and much more exciting: she has won the lottery, and she has won it big time. While Heath is thrilled that his fiancé's friend is a Powerball Jackpot winner and is dying to do a story on her, Cliff begs him to reconsider, believing that positioning himself and Heath as heroes protecting Maya and her family from the media blitz might influence her to help pay for their upcoming wedding. Meanwhile, Bonnie sets up meetings between Marley and Rabbi Steve to make sure she's really serious about converting, while the Culinary Arts students stage a mutiny against the curriculum because everything they make tastes horrible.
BREATH OF A SALESMAN

"Breath Of A Salesman" is the seventh episode of Season 7.

## Synopsis

Despite Shakespeare being more "his thing," Colin stages an Arthur Miller production for the second year in a row, a choice praised by the more contemporary-leaning audiences and student body alike. While the drama on stage is electric and both the acting and directing is praised as the most exciting thing to happen to Winter Lake in years, the atmosphere offstage is tense and Colin finds himself enlisting Cliff in teaching his students a lesson on tact when the production's Willy begins receiving anonymous "gifts" of breath mints and none of the actors he kisses during the production admit to planting the items. Rocky and Hannah discover a serious security threat surrounding the production and are torn on how to succeed without giving "the bad guys" what they want. Meanwhile, when a local stuffed animal company goes belly-up, JJ buys up their surplus material without giving it much thought and attempts to convince Talia to stage a ballet version of the Muppet Christmas Carol to recoup the money.
Rania Alizadeh

Rania Alizadeh is a stand-up comedian and a member of the Winter Lake Academy for the Arts class of 1997. She is approached by Robert Fry and the Caldwell girls to perform at an assembly in honor of Cerebral Palsy Awareness month. Like Hailey and Bailey, Rania has cerebral palsy, and Vera is delighted the girls have a role model and is even more proud for them to have a role model who is an Academy alum. At the same time, Vera is aware that Rania's experience at The Academy was not a particularly positive one and is hesitant to let her speak about her years at the school.
START SPREADING THE NEWS

"Start Spreading The News" is the thirteenth episode of Season 7.

## Synopsis

Emily's exposé goes viral when the Carey Liles News tumblr posts a link to her scathing takedown of the actor prompted by his transphobic slur against Emily's beloved advisor. The student body is divided in their support; half believe Carey can do no wrong and thus believe their classmate is either lying or the actor's comment is no big deal, while the other half wants him removed from any project that portrays or mentions The Academy in any capacity. When threats against Emily and leaks of her personal information appear from outside sources, Vera (another witness to Carey's insensitive remarks) is torn as to whether to publicly address them or to hire her "scandler" to clean up the mess. Complicating things further is the fact that the worst offender is Lena, the mother of Emily's chemistry lab partner/kinda-girlfriend Capri, who has gone back on her promise to address her behavior. Isobel discovers that one of her "teams" for the student playwriting project has been secretly rehearsing a piece other than the one she chose, but nobody is willing to tell her what the subject matter of the alternate play is. Meanwhile, hours before CNN descends on the Winter Lake campus to do a piece on "Robot Robert," Michelle discovers that a student has drawn a very detailed penis on the robot in permanent marker.
THERE'S NO I IN TEAM

"There's No I In Team" is the ninth episode of Season 4.

## Synopsis

After finally achieving success in getting Victoria to apply to several colleges as a backup plan for her ballet dreams, the reality sets in for Robert that his only child will soon be off on her own, leaving him with nobody but Jillian, whose health issues become more pressing by the minute. He insists that she travel with him to Western Massachusetts to celebrate Thanksgiving with his ex and her new wife, but she insists on returning to Cape Cod with her art student buddies. Meanwhile, when Vera suggests that Leo retain the Musical Theater 1 students while Maya takes on Jillian's classes during her absence, the couple bristles at the idea, stating that their success (and abnormally high student retention rate) stems from their work as a team. Ellen offers her services, and after seeing Ellen's impressive résumé, Vera is eager to take her on. Leo and Maya are thrilled to have another former classmate join the faculty, but soon realize that Vera's gain is their loss: they are suddenly without a nanny. They reluctantly agree to split the classes until they can either find a new nanny or Vera can find a replacement for Jillian. As a consolation, Leo and Maya invite Ellen to Thanksgiving dinner at Maya's parents' house, where all is well until Maya's trainwreck of an aunt recognizes Ellen from her favorite tabloid and hounds her with inappropriate questions.
Creative Writing Department

The Creative Writing Department is the second-newest department at Winter Lake Academy for the Arts and is one of the smaller departments. It is run by Michelle Hall.

The fields of study in The Academy's Creative Writing Department are fiction and poetry. Creative non-fiction is handled through the English department, a department in which some of the teachers (including Robert Fry and Holly Barrett) pull double duty. A playwriting unit was considered but not enough creative writing students showed interest, so it was set up as an elective in the Theater Department instead.
Maxwell Putnam

Maxwell Putnam is a theater student in the class of 2022.

He is a former child star, known for his role as cheeky Brandon on the FOX comedy "We're Officially Out Of Ideas." He transfers to Winter Lake Academy for the Arts in the middle of his freshman year. He wins the role of Gordon Goldfarb, Super Mensch in the world premiere of "Jewperheroes," a role that will later be played on Broadway by theater teacher Daniel Sonnenschein.

While Maxwell is fairly easy-going and willing to take direction, his manager/agent/stepdad attempts to completely overhaul the production of "Jewperheroes" to tailor it completely to Maxwell rather than let the young man learn how to be part of a team.

Despite looking nothing like Tommy Bauman, he will be played by Tommy in the "E! Unauthorized Story" of "We're Officially Out Of Ideas."
WUH WUH WUH WUH

"Wuh Wuh Wuh Wuh" is the fifth episode of Season 5.

## Synopsis

When Mira and Jillian's vastly-different teaching styles put them at odds and threaten their working relationship to the point at which they're not sure they can co-direct a show, Jonathan forces the women to work it out by sending them on a business trip together to do dramaturgical research for the spring musical "You're Not The Father, Charlie Brown." Vera hires Esther's substitute, Marissa Gilmore-Santiago, vice president of 'Wich Please, a chain of panini restaurants. Upon her 26th birthday, Marissa sold her share of the company to a cousin and embarked on a study of molecular gastronomy in which she now apparently feels she is well-versed enough to educate teenagers on the matter. Meanwhile, when the fire department of Winter Lake is gifted with an authentic World War 2 air-raid siren, they choose the opening night of "Child of Destiny" to test it, much to Leo and Maya's chagrin.
The Weinberg Family

## Hannah Weinberg

Hannah Weinberg is Esther Shapiro's youngest sister. Slightly aimless after college, she eventually returns to Winter Lake to save money and attempt to get a job at The Academy. With Esther's help, she manages to land a job in admissions and alumni relations despite being notorious for her Tumblr full of marijuana recipes.

She had a college fling with Dove Barr, who was a few years ahead of her in college. Towards the end of the series, she marries computer science teacher Rocky Gillespie.

## Laurel and Henry Weinberg

Laurel and Henry Weinberg are the parents of Esther Shapiro, Aviva Weinberg and Hannah Weinberg. Henry is a dentist, and Laurel is a renowned therapist (as well as art teacher Carole's yoga buddy) and author of the popular teen health book "That Came Out Of There, And That's Totally OK!"

## Aviva Weinberg

Aviva Weinberg is the middle daughter of Laurel and Henry Weinberg. One of many in The Academy's long-standing history of runaways, Aviva dropped out of The New School to become a performance artist called Woot Dollop Woot Dollop Echo, and does shows where people gyrate half-clothed on a pile of raisin bagels while a Peruvian dude in a kilt made of Super Mario bedsheets plays 'The District Sleeps Alone Tonight' on the pan-pipes. Assuming her parents would be horrified, she has been avoiding them ever since. She adopts several different identities upon her visit to Winter Lake to see her sisters and nephew so she can evade her parents.
Robert Fry

Robert Fry is the hotshot English (and later, Creative Writing) teacher with, as his daughter states it, "a total boner for Shakespeare." He is of Passamaquoddy Native American descent.

At the beginning of the series, he is amicably divorced from first wife Valerie French-Fry and he raises their teenage daughter Victoria alone while Valerie finds herself in a lesbian colony in Western Massachusetts.

His hobbies include playing the same song on the guitar over and over and over again, card games and wheelchair basketball. He thinks that Roger Butts is a huge pain.

While not the most "eccentric" member of the faculty, he becomes notable for being the only faculty member to spend any significant amount of time being accompanied by a live toucan and the only faculty member to be temporarily replaced by a high-tech (and oft vandalized) robot, "creatively" named Ro-bert.

He dates Jillian Jordan throughout the series and eventually marries her in the beginning of Season 8.
ANYWAY, HERE'S WONDERWALL

"Anyway, Here's Wonderwall" is the eighteenth episode of Season 2.

## Synopsis

After criticism that not enough student work is being shown, Vera gives "cookie class," now an evening elective, control of the dessert table at the pre-show dinner for the Gala, being held this year in Boston. In attendance are socialites Alice and Athena Rockwell, the mother-daughter team responsible for the famous Wonderwall Bakery, with outposts in Boston, London and Winter Lake. When the Rockwells learn of Talia and Jenna's special connection to Wonderwall (it was the site of their first date), they make a tempting offer. Meanwhile, Leo and Maya blow off the Gala to celebrate their second wedding anniversary, sticking Cliff with babysitting duty, and Michelle deals with the repercussions of Ambien-fueled online shopping.
YES, AND?

"Yes, And?" is the fourteenth episode of Season 9.

## Synopsis

Aviva descends on Winter Lake with her dancers to get fitted for JJ's designs, reconnect with her sisters and meet her nephew Ethan, who is now three years old. Still fearing her parents' wrath (or worse, disappointment) fifteen years after "wronging" them, she adopts multiple disguises throughout her week on campus to avoid facing Henry and Laurel. While the students are amused to see the stranger pop up "Where's Waldo?"-style all over campus, first as "that weird Russian visual artist who coughs a lot," then as "the snarky janitor who pins people's lost-and-found objects up on the wall and writes museum-style descriptions next to them," then as "the Winter Dance DJ who plays nothing but Sergio Mendez's 'Magalenha' over and over," Hannah and Esther are not amused. The improvised musicals are a smash hit, captivating audiences night after night and impressing the trustees so much they extend the show for another week of performances. Thrilled with the success of the project, all four directors encourage their casts to "go all out" for the final night...with disastrous results. The "damage" from the comedic musical is minimal, limited to a ten minute jazz riff on different words for the male genitalia, one bloodied shirt from a miscalculated pratfall, and an inability to get through the curtain call without a giggle fit after the lead actor realizes someone in the front row has their fly open. It's in the dramatic musical where the you-know-what hits the fan, where the audience-prompted word "now" opens a can of worms nobody expected.
SEE HOW LONG OUR SWAN SONG CAN LAST

"See How Long Our Swan Song Can Last" is the first episode of Season 9.

## Synopsis

After forgetting to remove himself from The Academy's dorm parent Google Group, Cliff experiences regret over his resignation as his colleagues rejoice in learning that some of their favorite students have been placed with them.  The Shermans expand Haven Farm's retail operation and ask to terminate their contract with the Culinary Arts department, which forces them to scramble for another location. While initially the house acquired for "Fireworks Over Ithaca" appears promising after the Luces bring it up to code, the kitchen is too small for the growing number of budding cooks and the Massachusetts Board of Health continues to prevent the students from using the cafeteria kitchen for their lessons. Harry offers a temporary solution with his state-of-the-art setup, but Vera worries the students will test their creations out on the living vacuums that swarm underfoot (their pugs) and with the constant stream of scandals, out-of-control parents, faculty in-fighting and whatever's going on with Roger, the last thing she wants to deal with is poo. Meanwhile, on vacation with the Bentleys again, Bonnie helps Shaquarius draft his proposal to use student musicians for theater department pieces rather than hiring professionals.
Rocky Gillespie

Rocky Gillespie is the computer science teacher. While computer science isn't technically a class per se, Rocky is the teacher that gives the students lectures on how to properly cite internet sources, how to protect one's computer from viruses and why someone shouldn't use the Creative Writing Department computers to download tentacle porn.

They are a big fan of spy movies and fancy themselves quite the hacker. They are romantically involved with Hannah Weinberg and marry her towards the end of the series.

Rocky was assigned female at birth but presents as masculine, identifies as genderqueer and uses they/them pronouns.
JILLIAN WITH A J

"Jillian with a J" is the third episode of Season 3.

## Synopsis

School is back in session, and although Leo and Maya offer to direct the fall musical, "Karma's A Trip: The Untold Story of NLT," to let Jillian continue to recuperate from her brain surgery, she insists the show must go on. While the operation initially seems to have proven successful, Jillian begins to experience momentary blackouts, from which she emerges talking and moving like Liza Minnelli for up to four hours at a time. Bonnie and Michelle make plans for a radio show. Rehearsal space issues force the members of "Surprise Package" to prepare for their show at the Lithgow Montessori School Fall PTA Auction separately, which does wonders for Maya and Leo's marriage after the latter proves freakishly talented in the belly dance component of the performance but makes things awkward for Colin, whose sister Nicola is staying in his only spare room to save money while on a business trip to the States. Meanwhile, Victoria suffers residual pain from her arrow mishap.
STARK RAVING MAD

"Stark Raving Mad" is the sixteenth episode of Season 5.

## Synopsis

In light of their several botched attempts, Jenna and Talia decide to ditch the big proposal plans and head off to the Winter Lake City Hall to research a marriage license, while Michelle registers to vote. While at City Hall, Michelle looks up her friends' marriage records to see if any of them have funny middle names or are lying about their age and makes a startling discovery: Bonnie and Jonathan are not legally married. When confronted, Jonathan admits that he didn't research the process and never got down to the particulars, and since Bonnie never pressed him on the issue, he never felt the need. Bonnie privately makes an even more startling confession: new clues into her first husband's disappearance have her more convinced than ever that he is alive and trying to reach her. Meanwhile, a Hollywood director scouting for locations deems the Changs' home as perfect to shoot her Lifetime drama and offers them quite a bit of money to temporarily relocate. Vera offers her guest rooms to the family, and while young Emily takes quite quickly to the household's pugs and immediately decides she wants to become a veterinarian (to the dismay of her parents, who had hoped the quick-witted middle schooler would want to go into advertising), Vera finds herself clashing with Paul and Tracy over their pants-optional home life.
CRISCO INFERNO

"Crisco Inferno" is the fourteenth episode of Season 6.

## Synopsis

In lieu of a cast party, the cast of "Fireworks Over Ithaca" holds an open house at their performance space on closing night. Originally designed as a mocktail party and an alternative to the traditionally more raucous Winter Dance, things immediately go ass-over-teakettle when Maya discovers that her stage manager has given some of his more rowdy friends access to the building's widows' walk and is staging a Crisco-wrestling tournament. After a disappointing semester in which all of her students submitted final projects consisting of only slight variations on pickle relish, Marissa becomes obsessed with proving that a new condiment can be created and stays awake for five days straight working in her tiny home test kitchen. While her erratic behavior goes un-noticed by the school's more eccentric faculty members Roger and Jillian, Marissa's Culinary Arts coworkers are alarmed. Meanwhile, Colin goes on a search for a dialect coach when a famous composer offers his newest musical "Jewperheroes", the story of a Brooklyn yeshiva accidentally treated with radioactive superpower-generating chemicals, to The Academy for a spring production.
THE BOOK OF MORON

"The Book Of Moron" is the nineteenth episode of Season 6.

## Synopsis

Tensions run high in the theater department after a casting decision blows up in Colin's face. Diminutive senior Tommy Bauman appeared to be the shoo-in for the role of Gordon Goldfarb, Super Mensch in the Spring Production "Jewperheroes," but was passed over for freshman transfer and former child star Maxwell Putnam, known for his role as cheeky Brandon on the FOX comedy "We're Officially Out Of Ideas." While Maxwell isn't terrible in the role (though not as good as Tommy would have been), his agent/manager/stepdad is a constant thorn in Colin's side, constantly offering ideas for rewrites and trying to convince the director "the show's just too ethnic for Maxwell," to the point where Colin is almost ready to have his set crew remake the set for "Romeow and Julie's Pet" just to have a balcony from which to throw the man. After disappointing sales of her first full-length novel, Michelle is furious to discover that one of her college classmates has landed a six-book deal for a series of books based on imaginary conversations between famous historical leaders and the author's ferret. Meanwhile, Jenna's hippie twin brother Liam decides to crash on her couch and scandalizes the Winter Lake community by showing up to Cora's opera in a loincloth.
POSH, GINGER, BABY, SPORTY, SCARY AND PUMPKIN

"Posh, Ginger, Baby, Sporty, Scary and Pumpkin" is the ninth episode of Season 8.

## Synopsis

When parent-teacher conferences alert the administration to the exhaustion level of The Academy's students, Vera decides something needs to be done. Unable to modify the student workload without criticism from competitors, she offers the students a number of relaxation techniques (including a yoga class taught by master yogi Daniel) but ultimately settles on caffeine as the solution, installing a small coffee bar in the school store in the center of campus. With supply, however, comes demand and Vera has second thoughts after long-time school store manager Rita's decision to offer pumpkin spice lattes lands her in the hospital in the resulting stampede. A planned pre-Thanksgiving-recess concert by alt-rock band Damp Sandwich (class of 2002) is pre-empted by a lecture on decorum. Meanwhile, quiet Thanksgiving plans for Jenna and Talia are upended when Liam returns to Winter Lake after completing "Duck Me In The Park" with no further work lined up, while panicked (and still-grounded) juniors Emily and Julie approach Dave about staging a revolt since their disciplinary status prevents them from doing activities that will look good on college applications.
Tracy Chang

Tracy Chang is the school nurse at Winter Lake Academy for the Arts. She is the wife of Paul Chang and the mother of Emily Chang.

Unlike Cliff, who takes a "we're all young and dumb once" approach to students' wild behavior as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, Tracy is regularly horrified by the activities in which her students engage.
Carole Stone

Carole Stone is the head of the Visual Art Department. A kindly, slightly "woo woo" lady in her early fifties, she is perhaps the biggest cheerleader for interdisciplinary collaboration and is desperate for the Theater Department to collaborate with her on her claymation musical "Clay Miserables."

She has an interest in costume design and often collaborates with JJ on theater department productions, but a lot of her designs look like vaginas for some reason.
LOGISTIC-AL MUSIC-AL NIGHTMARE

"Logistic-Al Music-Al Nightmare" is the fourth episode of Season 4.

## Synopsis

Well into the rehearsal process for Jillian's Weird-Al-themed jukebox musical "Damn Yankovic," the students are having a fantastic time and are responding brilliantly to the student choreographer (hired after Jillian's doctor tells her to take it easy when her headaches return) but as the opening date approaches, Jillian worries that the production might be violating some kind of copyright law. Roger seeks Michelle's advice on public speaking as he prepares to give a talk about honesty to the student body. When man drama and work commitments force Treble to leave "Surprise Package," the group holds auditions to fill his space. After two nights of dismal showings and lackluster candidates, a frontrunner finally makes an impression. Hassan Sharuk is young, fit, has a full head of hair, has all the right moves and is every bit the "sensitive artist" stereotype needed to balance out the geek-chic remainder of the group. The problem? He's still a student at the Academy, and very publically so, having been written up several times over the past few years in The Boston Globe for his beautiful murals. Although Hassan's parents think the idea is hilarious, Vera thinks the choice is less so. Meanwhile, Vera and Charles go public with Charles' grandfather's proposal: a two week trip to London funded by Mr. Chatsworth, to take place during Spring Break, in which ten students, chosen via an essay contest with preference given to students of theater and creative writing, would see a different performance each weeknight, with the days devoted to sightseeing and master classes to broaden students' horizons beyond traditional American drama.
THE MANNY NAMED DAN

"The Manny Named Dan" is the twenty-first episode of Season 7.

## Synopsis

Daniel officially takes over Talia's dorm parent position, becoming Cliff's new roommate and Leo and Maya's temporary new "manny." While the children take well to their new caretaker, Cliff is less than enthused about his toe-tapping, ballad-belting, rich-tenored roommate who doesn't abide by the "leaving my work at work" philosophy previous roommate Cora had, especially when it is discovered that Daniel musically narrates EVERYTHING he does, including his yoga practice, his taxes and his bowel movements, a bad habit he picked up at NYU and hasn't let go of twelve years after graduating. Unconvinced by Violet's research, the students boycott the student-catered prom and Athena makes a desperate attempt to the Music Department to extend an olive branch so her students' work won’t be in vain.
HALLOWEDDING

"Hallowedding" is the sixth episode of Season 6.

## Synopsis

As Talia and Jenna enter into wedded bliss, their reception devolves into drama city when florist Dove reconnects with college fling Hannah, who is now in a committed relationship with Rocky, while Dove's brother Heath fumes over off-again boyfriend Cliff's decision to bring Chip as his date to the nuptials despite having his own hot date, Treble, for whom Athena still pines (phew!) Talia's star student Victoria puts the pressure on her father to propose to Jillian, but Robert doesn't want to steal the brides' thunder. Later, Talia stuns the dance department with another shocking proposal: canceling the annual production of The Nutcracker in favor of a ballet version of A Christmas Carol. Meanwhile, months after their home was used as a movie set, Paul and Tracy continue to find bizarre objects left over from the shoot and they begin to wonder exactly what kind of movie was being filmed there, while the Caldwell sisters, now seniors, discover that Cookie likes wearing clothes and decide to create a line of greeting cards featuring her image to help them pay for college.