<p>Ah, all you graduates must be reminicing. And the high-schoolers too, but also looking forward to the upcoming shows. What shows did your high school do? Did you perform in any of them? Or were you a cool techie (like me!), stage hand, or theatre groupie? lol</p>
<p>I go to an all-girls school, M, so we have to perform at all-boys schools. There are two in the area- R and S. We are specially affiliated with S- they are our brother school- along with another all girls school ND.</p>
<p>03-04 season
R:
Fall Play: Up the Down Staircase (acted)
Spring Musical: Hello, Dolly!</p>
<p>S:
Fall Play: The Crucible (tried out and bombed)
Spring Musical: Les Miserables (watched and admired)</p>
<p>04-05 Season
R:
A Cry of Players (watched)
Damn Yankees</p>
<p>S:
A Midsummer Night's Dream (called back for Hermia, got Peaseblossom)
Beauty and the Beast (first high school in norCal to do it! i was stage crew, builder, and special effects)</p>
<p>I can't wait to find out what next seasons shows are</p>
<p>Theatre Geeks will one day.... RULE THE WORLD!!</p>
<p>At my D's school..the theatre kids are the cool kids. Almost everyone wants to be in the shows and trys out. Course she goes to the "arts" school so that may have an impact.
But the city where we live is ranked higher than most others for arts..much higher. There are always shows, concerts, etc etc in town..all sorts of things.
Tons of dance places, theater camps and more.
Very cool for her..though she cant wait to go to NY or LA.</p>
<p>This past year my d's school did these shows:</p>
<p>Straight Plays:
Look Homeward Angel
Rumors</p>
<p>Musicals:
A Funny Thing Happend on the way to the forum
Nunsense</p>
<p>My d only had time to do one show this year in school due to other things in the area she was performing in and was Sister Robert Ann in Nunsense. She said that was one of the best roles she has ever had! Comedic and extremely funny! That role also has some fabulous solos too! I certainly cant imagine that many schools have done that show (it ran off-broadway for years) but it is certainly something to see!</p>
<p>It was the most packed performance of any of the shows this year. Kids that came to see the show to support these 5 girls came back night after night with family and friends. It was awesome! Even the staff was coming more than once to see it! </p>
<p>Not sure what kind of line up we will have this year due to the fact that some new drama teachers are coming in. My d is performing this summer as Ariel in Footloose, so hopefully it won't be that.</p>
<p>wow, proxility, you must have a very talented school. i cant imagine les miserables being produced by a high school cast especially with parts such as jean val jean, fantine's i dreamed a dream and javert.</p>
<p>How great to see another techie here! Welcome!</p>
<p>Your theatre interest should be a great help in your school search. Do you want to continue your theatre work in college? Are you looking at LACs, universities, or arts/theatre schools? My D recently completed a very successful college hunt due to her desire to pursue a degree in sound design. She applied mostly to theatre schools and some universities with specific theatre departments. You might want to start thinking about putting together a portfolio of some of your tech work now, as it could be a great asset at certain schools when you apply.</p>
<p>Her last school production was "Much Ado About Nothing" but done outdoors in the school courtyard, with a cast of about 15. However it was set in the '30s with a backdrop of Hollywood Graumman's Chinese Theatre and a 4-piece live band performing Gershwin tunes. This was as you can imagine, an amazing but very challenging production requiring quite a tech crew, mostly trained by D herself.</p>
<p>She also loves being behind the scenes--tried acting in one show once and though it was fun, it just didn't feel right. The next night they asked her to operate the sound board for a different show and she said it felt like she was finally in her element. Let me know if I can be of any help with questions about schools or applying. Meanwhile here's a link where most working theatre geeks hang out: <a href="http://www.usitt.org%5B/url%5D">www.usitt.org</a></p>
<p>Isn't the Les Mis produced at a high school the youth version where the performers have to be under a certain age--18 or something close to that?</p>
<p>oh yea mtmommy good point, i forgot about the youth version. i just remembered that very few students would be able to perform javert's part (especially the song stars) and i dont believe many students would be able to pull of jean valjean's extraordinarily difficult role. our city has had the privilege to have had an allstar youth cast perform (at a youth theatre) the original version. i have, however, never seen the youth version but i have heard its sam with note changes. thx for bringing that up.</p>
<p>Les Miserables: School Edition is basically the same as the original version. A couple of things are in different keys, but for the most part, it's about 95% the same material. I also think all the actors need to be under 20 years old.</p>
<p>Our school did Les Mis a few years ago. Sadly D. wasnt in HS then. One of the parents told me it was better than the broadway version! LOL I had to laugh (to myself of course)</p>
<p>yeah, our school i think is pretty spoiled when it comes to the theatre arts department. we have such an amazing string of students that are able to carry the parts. our jean valjean and eponine were excellent.</p>
<p>the department chair of performing arts nagged and nagged disney to give us the rights to Beauty and the Beast for a couple of months. he even took a trip down to anaheim or the headquarters to practically beg them for it. and we got it!!</p>
<p>i was a mic wrangler. gaah. sometimes actors... just have no respect for techies. imagine being in charge of 13 $300 microphones!! lol</p>
<p>I come from a small school that produces one play a year. This year they did "Finian's Rainbow", but I was taking so many AP's I couldn't afford the time.</p>
<p>My d's h.s did not have ANY drama productions this year. If it's nmot realted to football, you can forget it. The middle school that feeds into the H.s. does excellent dramam productions...go figure. My d's h.s. did one production last year, The Fantasticks, in which my d was Luisa (her junior year). Many of you are so fortunate to be a part of strong drama programs in H.S. All I can say is thank goodness for community theater!!</p>
<p>Our high school does one drama and one musical each year and they are very good. The middle school and elementary school also put on musicals. A middle schooler is allowed to audition for the high school dramas and musicals and my D did in middle school and was always in the high school productions. </p>
<p>The dramas she did in the high school were A Midsummer Night's Dream (Hermia) and A Curious Savage (Mrs. Savage). She did not do the HS dramas while she was in high school though. I know they did Our Town, Importance of Being Earnest and The Miracle Worker. She also did the high school musicals since she was in seventh grade. Those were Cabaret (Kit Kat Girl), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Narrator), Into the Woods (Little Red Riding Hood), The Wizard of Oz (Dorothy), and Oklahoma (cast and rehearsed as Ado Annie but was severely injured prior to the performance and her understudy did the role). </p>
<p>I definitely think high schoolers can do challenging musicals. I have seen many done at Stagedoor Manor. I saw Les Mis there and it was fantastic and the leads were wonderful and most are now going onto selective BFA theater programs. They do some sophisticated shows like Nine, Sweeney Todd, Carrie, Hair, Cabaret, Chicago, The Laramie Project, Romeo and Juliet, and so on. I've seen all those and MUCH more done there by youth and the level of the performances and production have been top notch. They don't just stick with kiddie fare. I would not be surprised either if they do Beauty and the Beast this summer. Having once been a teacher myself, I have always maintained that you should set high standards for kids and they will rise to the challenge. I'm not a theater person AT ALL and I once directed the full musical production of Peter Pan with grades 1-4, not a kiddie version. I think they did an outstanding job. At Stagedoor, as an example, the youngest kids do not put on "junior" productions but rather the full scale musicals. </p>
<p>My D's high school does 3 shows a year a one act. a musical and a full length play. They have done Babes In Arms (ensemble),Little Shop of Horrors (voice of the plant), South Pacific(Nellie). Other shows include Much Ado About Nothing. Every Seventeen Minutes the Crowd Goes Crazy, Story Theater, Up the Down Staircase, Desk Set, and the King Stag</p>
<p>My S's school has a terrific drama department. They do a play in the fall and a musical in the spring. He transferred after doing his freshman year at our local high school. Of course that was the spring that his current school did Les Mis (he has never let us forget that one!!). We had seen the national tour of Les Mis in October and a parent shared their video of the school's April performance. It was absolutely incredible and the same show, all students in all the roles. The young woman who played Fantine was a sophomore.</p>
<p>My S's school's past performances have been:
02-03: The Grapes of Wrath, Les Mis
03-04: The Little Prince, Fiddler on the Roof
04-05: The Crucible, Anything Goes</p>
<p>Next year will be interesting as most of this year's graduating thespians were young women. My S is one of 7 young men all class of '06. There are only two young women in the class of '06 with much "main" stage experience, so we'll see what the director comes up with. He has an incredible knack of finding shows that fit and show his students at their best and he casts each part with talent ranking higher than "seniority". I think that's one of the keys to successful high school shows....connecting the show to the actors talents with a director that nurtures professionalism and inspires folks. There's also alot to be said for getting the chance to perform in a "dream" role or show to motivate a performer!</p>
<p>My school does one musical and one drama each year</p>
<p>Freshman year: The Laramie Project and Oliver
Sophmore year: You Can't Take it With You and Into the Woods
Junior year: Metamorphisis, L'il Abner</p>
<p>I have only participated in one of them as it was not exactly a fun experience. That's why that article weeks ago about that school in Indiana made me very disapointed not to be in a school where theater was really valued. I'm sure college will be better! :-)</p>
<p>You guys are making me all jealous!!! Our high school doesn't do musicals, but our community theater does a big summer musical. The last four were Annie get Your Gun, Joseph, South Pacifc and the King and I.</p>
<p>well, my school has a fall musical, peer ed theater (which is written and directed by students), spring play, and one-acts (written and directed by students)</p>
<p>02-03
fall musical:Animal Farm (I didn't see it)
spring play:Measure for Measure</p>
<p>03-04
fall musical: Triumph of Love (I only saw it because I had to be in Peer Ed Theater due to being in Peer Resource :( but it was fun)
spring play:Blood Wedding</p>
<p>04-05
fall musical Into the Woods (finally got to be in it! I was LRR)
spring play:Farenheit 451 (didn't get to see it)</p>
<p>What a great collection of shows everyone has done! My S's high school line-up in his four years:</p>
<p>Freshman - Dancing at Lughnasa
Lend Me a Tenor
Bye Bye Birdie</p>
<p>Soph - Into the Woods
Merry WIves of Windsor
Ragtime (Full version - not the school version)</p>
<p>Junior - Arsenic and Old Lace
Footloose</p>
<p>Senior - Pirates of Penzance
The Foreigner
The Music Man </p>
<p>He had an amazing time (he was in all except Lughnasa - his only crew experience). The productions were unbelieveable especially considering it is a small high school of only 350 kids!</p>