Dallas/Plano area high schools with strong theatre programs/ maybe moving....

College Majors Musical Theater Major
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<p>I posted this in Theater/Drama also. Sorry kinda long! </p>

<p>I'm hoping for some advice/thoughts/tips regarding my daughter and a situation we may find ourselves in soon. (My first post, couldn't find anything close to answer my questions, so here I go... I may post versions elsewhere on CC... sorry so long)</p>

<p>DD is currently a junior. Husband's company is offering very generous incentives to move to Plano, TX area. We don't have to go but, financially, it would be kind of dumb not to go. (living in SoCal currently) There's a chance we could put it off until after her graduation but, more likely we'd need to take the offer and go after this school year. So, we are considering having her move before senior year! (Eek!) Theatre is her love past/present/future so we've said that if we could all agree on going next year, we would find her the best school with the best theatre program and do whatever we could to get her into it and likely base our home decision on that school. (Her school now has a decent program but not stellar so an amazing school with great theatre would be incentive for her to make the decision) So, some of my questions are:</p>

<p>Could some of you recommend high schools in the North Dallas/Plano/Frisco/Mckinney areas that have strong theatre programs? We are also looking for strong academics - she's an AP/Honors student.</p>

<p>Do you think my daughter would have a chance at getting into classes/productions as a new kid and a new senior? (She often gets leads at school and in community theatre here)</p>

<p>What would this move, at this critical point in her high school career, actually be like and how would it affect her preparation for and applying for college? Any first hand experience out there? She wants to major in theatre/acting in college so, there are all the crazy apps/auditions/LOR's/ to consider.</p>

<p>Any thoughts on how to somewhat smoothly make that transition and get her involved in a new school and program?</p>

<p>Again, we may be able to wait to move until after she graduates... should know that from the company within a couple months. My DH thinks it might be good for her to go next year, make friends, make the area feel like home so that when she comes home from college she won't feel like a visitor and will have connections/people to hang out with, etc. That's one way to look at it.</p>

<p>I appreciate any input!</p>

<p>Thank you to all of you who have shared information on CC. I've poured through posts on here for probably close to 2 years and have learned so much.</p>

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<p>Texas has wonderful high schools with fantastic performing arts programs, and very well-organized state theatre festivals, early college auditions, fabulous state universities with great college programs, etc. Through Mary Anna Dennard’s coaching groups, I’ve been amazed at the talent that comes out of that state. PM me and I can put you in touch with some moms from the area who can give you info. Some of them may even chime in here ;)</p>

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<p>Have you looked at the website for the Booker T. Washington School for Performing Arts? <a href=“Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts / Booker T. Washington High Scho”>www.dallasisd.org/bookert</a></p>

<p>They have a great performing arts program and might work if your husband is willing to commute.</p>

<p>Another thing to think about is the size of the high schools in the Plano area. They are the largest in Texas which is saying something. I think the class size is around 1500.</p>

<p>Does she want to go to state flagship school in TX? If so, class rank is really important and it is really hard to break into the top 7 - 10% if you don’t have a lot of AP classes. On the flip side, the big high schools offer so many AP classes so she would have a lot of choices. </p>

<p>Here is a website that shows the nominees for the local version of the Jimmy awards and might give you some insight into which schools feed into that system. <a href=“http://www.dallassummermusicals.org/HSMA-Nominations.shtm”>http://www.dallassummermusicals.org/HSMA-Nominations.shtm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Good luck with the move! </p>

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<p>Booker T is amazing; and their showcase is attended by reps from all the top college programs. </p>

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<p>You did not mention Ft. Worth? – we are not from Texas but met many students who were from Ft. Worth when working with Mary Anna Dennard (Moo) who is based out of Dallas. I know at least 3 kids in Moo Crew my daughter’s year went to the Ft. worth Academy of Fine Arts for high school. 2 of them are now at Texas State and 1 is at Rider. Another of their FWAFA classmates who was not in Moo Crew is now in MT at OCU. So that’s at least 4 people from one class at that relatively small arts school who were accepted to some strong programs. Might be worth a look.</p>

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<p>Here are the schools from the area that you are interested in that advanced beyond their District or were District alternates in the Texas UIL One Act Play contest last year (this is a very big deal in Texas and it is very competitive):</p>

<p>4A Schools
Carrollton: Creekview
Carrollton: Newman Smith
Dallas: Highland Park
The Colony
Frisco: Heritage
Prosper
McKinney North
Lucas: Lovejoy
Denison</p>

<p>5A Schools
Colleyville: Heritage
Carrollton: Turner
Rockwall
Mesquite: Horn
Lakeview: Centennial
Rowlett
South Garland
Plano Sr.
McKinney Boyd
McKinney
Dallas: Lake Highlands
Richardson: Pearce
Dallas: White</p>

<p>You can view the complete brackets here for 4A and 5A:</p>

<p><a href=“2013-2014 High School One-Act Play Advancers - 5A — University Interscholastic League (UIL)”>http://www.uiltexas.org/theatre/advancers/2013-2014-one-act-play-advancers-5a&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“2013-2014 High School One-Act Play Advancers - 4A — University Interscholastic League (UIL)”>http://www.uiltexas.org/theatre/advancers/2013-2014-one-act-play-advancers-4a&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>These results may indicate a solid theatre program, although you should investigate further to see what their staff level, curriculum, and musical theatre programs look like, but most of these schools probably have at least 2 theatre teachers.</p>

<p>The PA schools in Texas do not participate in the UIL OAP contest: Booker T (Dallas), HSPVA (Houston), McCallum (Austin), NE SOA (San Antonio), etc.</p>

<p>It is a 1 hour drive with no traffic from Plano to the FWAFA (located on the SW side of FW).</p>

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<p>Thank you all for so much great info so quickly!
I had done a little bit of research and had come across some of the schools mentioned. One of the first things I did was check out the schools that went to the area awards that feed into the Jimmy’s. :)</p>

<p>We’re pretty flexible on exact location but, probably will stay basically north of Dallas. I would be willing to drive her a distance for a school year, if that’s something that is necessary for the right school. I’m under the impression that the enrollment in the public high schools is based on where you live. So, we’d have to consider that unless we look at a magnet type school. (Booker T Washington?) I’ve read a lot of posts about Mary Anna Dennard but never realized that she’s out of Dallas. That’s a plus! As far as college, she doesn’t think she wants to go to school in TX… but, then again, we don’t live there yet. </p>

<p>BTW, what does UIL stand for? I’ve seen that referenced recently and haven’t looked into what it is. Sounds like a big deal! </p>

<p>Still wondering how this would all work out moving into a new school as a senior. :/</p>

<p>I’ve kinda figured out from lurking a lot on CC that the Musical Theatre folks are much more active/quick to respond than the Theatre/Drama. :wink: </p>

<p>I’m sure I’ll be on here asking more questions soon! Thanks!</p>

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<p>UIL = University Interscholastic League. The UIL is the governing body for all public school competition in Texas, it was started under the auspices of the University of Texas at Austin.</p>

<p>Texas is divided into many, many different and independent school districts - most of them will proudly note this in their name: DISD = Dallas Independent School District. There are dozens of districts in the Dallas area. You can only cross district lines by going through a request for transfer process that may go all the way to the Superintendent of Schools for approval and you may have to pay tuition. In our area it is something on the order of $6,000 to attend an out-of-district Magnet program (the PA schools are all Magnet programs). Charter schools may be a little different. You can usually cross district lines relatively easily if you are a school district employee.</p>

<p>Within a district, you usually have to attend your zoned school unless you go through a request for transfer process. The large urban districts have admission-by-application magnet programs, like Booker T., that permit you to move easily between schools within the district (as long as you get admitted under the magnet program). The PA magnet school programs are typically very competitive for admission and usually admit primarily in the Freshman year, although they may have slots open in later years due to attrition. For our PA HS, it is rare for a rising senior transfer to be admitted (in four years I have never seen it happen).</p>

<p>It is not unheard of for people to rent a cheap apartment in the district or school zone that they want to attend and use that as their address in order to get their kid into a particularly sought-after school, even though they do not reside there, especially for some very-high-performing urban schools (whether in sports or academics or both). Sometimes they use the address of a relative.</p>

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<p>By the way, a UIL “District” is not necessarily the same as a “School District” (ISD). The terms are synonymous in some cases, not in others. Some ISD’s with lots of high schools will span more than one UIL District (usually the large urban districts), and some UIL Districts are composed of several one-high-school ISD’s (usually the rural UIL Districts). </p>

<p>School districts are also not necessarily consistent in how they size their schools, there are ISD’s with UIL 4A and UIL 5A schools, for example.</p>

<p>And, UIL has now added a 6A classification and has shifted everything around for this year…(a long-time 4A school in our area is now, suddenly, a 6A school - big collective gulp for them competitively).</p>

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<p>I think you will find that some of the high schools in Plano, TX crank out more National Merit Scholars (by volume) than most high schools in the country. Now is that because there are 5,000 kids in the school? - no idea… but by sheer numbers I think they are often at the top. They must be doing something right academically.</p>

<p>I checked in with a friend in Frisco (who has current rising senior daughter and a junior son) and another friend with kids in McKinney. Got a reference about Booker T but also a sense that the public HSs in either location also do a good job with theatre. </p>

<p>I also faced the same dilemma about being moved to Plano (18 years ago… my company’s HQ was there) for my work and didn’t go but I have friends who were already there as well as those who did move and they subsequently had started families and have kids who are probably around the same age as yours at this point that appear to be thriving in high school (or they only post the good stuff in facebook.).;-)</p>

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<p>We just moved from the Plano area last year (well, Richardson) where our kids did K-12 and were highly involved in theatre. I would recommend Plano West or Allen HS for theatre. Both schools have enormous budgets and have wonderful productions. Quite frankly all of the suburbs along the 75 corridor (Richardson, Plano, Allen, McKinney) have strong schools and good theatre programs. Booker T is a fine school and my kids had many friends who attended, but if is primarily known for dance and instrumental music. I’m not sure that it would be worth the hassle to go for theatre if you are in Plano which has such strong theatre in the public HS. </p>

<p>PM me if you have questions about particular schools. My kids both performed around Dallas professionally and in community theatre since the age of 8 so we know many, many people. One graduated in 2010 and is a MT college grad and the other graduated in 2013 and is a voice performance major.</p>

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<p>The Plano schools are very large and divided into HS/Sr. HS. So for example, Plano Senior High will be junior/senior only. Many of the schools in Frisco are relatively new (under 10 years old) with growing programs and room for opportunity. In Richardson, Richardson HS is technically the Arts Magnet school. However, I think the program to beat in Richardson is at JJ Pearce. They have an amazing history and the talent pool is phenonmenal. People move to the area to participate in Pearce Theatre–check out their website. The community support is also excellent–as it is at Lake Highlands HS. Your daughter will be academically challenged at any of the schools in this area.</p>

<p>Breaking through as a new senior will be a challenge anywhere. Best of luck!</p>

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<p>Moving as a senior has a lot of drawbacks too: class rank, the difficulty in breaking into an already established group with whom the teachers are familiar, selection of classes based upon criteria that might not mesh with what your D already has… Unless she is hoping to attend college in Texas, in which case the state residency would be an advantage, would there be a possibility of you and your D remaining where you are so that she can finish her senior year and have your husband get an apt in Texas and “commute” a couple of times each month? Bottom line: What does SHE really want?</p>

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<p>Thanks again for all the help! It is now sounding very likely that we can do the move after she graduates high school. That will still be a bit of a crazy time and and will have different sorts of challenges/stress… but I think it will be much better. We could still go before her senior year if she were to decide she really wants to “blow this taco stand” and head to Dallas/Plano for her last year of high school. :wink: Not really seeing that happening. Cheers!</p>

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<p>I moved my senior year of high school and it was near impossible to get into anything - sports, orchestra, drama at the top level. Yes, I could participate, but couldn’t be the star. I left high school in January and went back to start college in the town I had lived in (where all my friends were still in h.s.). My kids moved during their sophomore year (twice!) It was hard but they had time to find their spots. One was in theater, the other in sports, and the sports one found her place much faster. One of the kids on the team had just been injured, so DD took her place on the varsity team even though it wasn’t DD’s preferred position, and the next year she went back to her regular position as one of the middies had graduated (thus she didn’t ‘replace’ anyone even though she was a better player). Theater DD missed the audition for the spring play, and did only have minor roles in things for the rest of her years there. Drama teacher definitely had favorites, and DD wasn’t one of them. I don’t know if it would have been different if she’d been there all 4 years, but I think so. While the drama teacher had auditions, most of the roles were pre-cast when the play was selected, at least in the director’s mind.</p>

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<p>There are two kids from Booker T in my daughter’s class (2016) at Otterbein (It might be three kids, I can’t remember for sure where the third person I’m thinking of is from - she may be from South Texas.). BTW, the two kids that I know for sure got in for Acting . . . they both are great actors, by the way, and were their freshman year. </p>

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<p>My D is a Senior at Plano East. They have wonderful fine arts programs, both theatre and choir. We have been very happy with her opportunities there. I will tell you that auditions for the advanced groups like the Theatre Major Studies and Show Choirs are in the spring for the following school year. If you want any specific information about Plano East, feel free to contact me.</p>

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<p>Thank you, MominNorthTexas. We have been assured that we don’t have to make the move until after our D graduates, so that takes some stress off of us. I did read some about Plano East and it sounds like a great program and facilities. :)</p>