City Spotlights Staff Blog | Week 6 | Brenden McHenry

The last week of 2026 City Spotlights flew by, same as the whole summer. We came off the high of Statehouse Day, Flashmob Day, and four straight days of Workshop Tour and landed, gratefully, at the Shubert for the final push.

Week six is always my favorite. It's when months of hard work finally come together into one show: songs, dances, and scenes locking into place, backed by the Shubert's phenomenal stage crew. As always, they had the stage set, mics live, and lights up before we even walked in Monday morning, and the Teen Leaders got straight to work.

Monday through Wednesday, we watched them sharpen everything: scenes, entrances, exits, choreography, all of it. By Wednesday's final run-through, I felt more confident than I ever have at this point in the program. As the audience filed in that night, dozens of CSLP alumni among them, I had a feeling we were about to see one of the most impactful, high-energy showcases of my eight summers here. The Teens didn't just meet that expectation. They blew past it. Every number got shout-outs, cheers, full-volume applause. I couldn't have been prouder to watch it all come together.

The final days of the week and program were all about the bonds and relationships created along the way. We closed out with a few final circles: reflecting, debriefing, shouting out the work that got us here. After weeks of relentless, high-octane effort, we finally got to simply celebrate together. Commencement on Friday brought the usual tears and cheers, new friendships and hard goodbyes.

Another phenomenal summer in the books.