HIGH SCHOOLS GET CREATIVE WITH SPRING MUSICALS
“Let’s put on a show!” — any way that they could
While high school theater was profoundly affected by the continuation of the coronavirus pandemic during the 2020-21 school year, student thespians and their adult advisers met the challenge with creativity.
A few were able to offer only minimal or no theater, but many others rehearsed virtually, presenting their shows online. Some were livestreams, as with Niskayuna High School's "The Lost Boy" early this month and, coming up from May 21 to 23, Northville Central School's "Little Women." In contrast, members of the Dionysians drama club at Voorheesville High School had an unusual and difficult task for those accustomed to performing onstage with others: All shot their performances for the chosen spring musical, "The Drowsy Chaperone," individually in front of a green screen. A Clifton Park company,
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Specialized Audio Visual Inc., edited the footage into a complete show, and it was available for viewing online for 11 days in early to mid-april.
Other area drama clubs have the opportunity to perform before small audiences, including Columbia High School's Columbia Players in East Greenbush, with 75 to 100 family members expected to be attendance in early June for "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," put together in five weeks and featuring nine seniors. It will not be streamed. Gloversville High School's drama group, called the Scitimard Club — the name is "dramatics" spelled backwards — is doing both live and online, performing "The Little Mermaid Jr." last weekend before a small audience and streaming it on May 16.
"There was going to be no show at all, which was so disappointing for senior year," said Brigid Mack, a cast member in Columbia High's production of "Spelling Bee." Mack, 18, will be attending the Conservatory of Music at Suny-purchase in the fall as a voice major.
"When we found out a couple of weeks ago that we'd actually be able to do it, I got super excited," said Mack. "It's so great to be doing the show with all of my favorite friends."
Because of a budget crisis in September, the entire academic year at Schenectady public schools has been virtual. In the past, Schenectady High's Blue Roses Theatre Company had an ambitious schedule, producing plays in November and February, a spring musical with a 40- to 50-member cast and one or two spring plays written and/or directed by students. Last year's spring musical,
"Urinetown," managed two of it four planned performances before the school was shut down in mid-march.
So far in 2020-21, Blue Roses did 10 very short plays from the collection "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind," rehearsed and filmed via video chat and streamed at the end of February, and a sketch-comedy podcast called "Saturday Morning (Not) Live." Students are developing an original work about life in Schenectady during the pandemic that will be streamed at the end of the school year by Proctors Collaborative Media.
"The success of a theater program (isn't) measured by the number and quality of productions," SHS theater teacher and Blue Roses adviser Leia Depeche said via email.
Because many theater professionals have been unemployed for nearly 14 months, Depeche was able to organize
more than a dozen virtual workshops for her students, with guests including professional actors, directors, voice teachers, designers, writers and filmmakers from around the country.
"The students have made valuable connections with people in the industry and have a better understanding of the kinds of opportunities that exist in professional theater," Depeche said, adding, "In terms of creating meaningful learning opportunities for students, which is the goal of any educational theater program, I would say this has been one of the most successful years for my program."
After months of auditions, rehearsals and other work and planning, the spring 2020 musical at Gloversville High School, "Footloose," was scheduled to open on March 13 last year. The drama club received word only 24 hours in advance that the school would shut down that day, according to Jennifer Flynn, an English teacher who is the club's adviser and music director of the district's middle and high school productions.
"Footloose" was rescheduled several times, but when an in-person return for the end of the last school year proved impossible, video from dress rehearsals was posted on Facebook.
"It was a true heartbreak for our students and production team," Flynn said via email.
The district's students have had a hybrid or remote option for learning this year. The high school drama club rehearsed online and streamed a play in the fall, middle-schoolers did two murder-mystery improvs via Zoom, and both schools' young performers came together for "The Little Mermaid Jr." About 40 students from middle and high school participated this year, Flynn said, down from a combined 100 in past years
When the district OK'D a joint middlehigh production of "Little Mermaid" over the winter, live performance was not yet an option. But restrictions eased, and approval for a minimal crowd, mostly of family members, came two weeks ago. Flynn told her students in person.
"They cheered. There was a big celebration," she said.
Continuing some form of drama education and performance despite the pandemic was at least as much about trying to normalize the year for students as it was about them having a chance to be in the spotlight, according to Flynn.
"This was for their mental health, giving them something to look forward to and feeling of belonging," said Flynn. "Now that they'll be able to perform live, there's a different, even stronger kind of drive."