The School Of The Arts is plagued by a teachers' strike. Coco is upset because she wasn't chosen for the part of Desdemona in the schools musical version of ""Othello"". Once the teachers go on strike though she decides that instead of being angry, and not be apart of the production, she organizes everything so that the show can go on without Miss Grant's help. Bruno feels he needs to have Mr. Shorofsky's opinion on the music for the show because he thinks it should have a different tempo and style to it. Because of the strike he can't get Mr. Shorofsky's opinion and goes with his instinct, which turns out to be for the best. Once Leroy was cast for the part of Othello, he was having problems speaking the way the script was written. So he asks for Miss Sherwood's help to make him speak the way Shakespeare was meant to be spoken, even from someone from the Bronx.