APR
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Growing Your Teen Theatre Program through Children’s Theatre

By Angie Bin 

Angie Bin is the Fort Scott High School theatre director.  She has taught college- and high school-level theatre for 23 years and has directed and designed over 50 high school and community theatre plays and musicals.  She has a Master’s Degree in Communication and Theatre, and has studied theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the International Thespian Festival, in addition to teaching workshops for the KS State Thespian Festival.  She directs an annual Tiger Drama Camp, middle school Drama Club, and holiday children’s shows in addition to the numerous high school productions. 

Want to build and sustain your high school drama program?  One of the best ways to grow your program for the long term is to reach out to the elementary and middle school children in your community and nurture their love for theatre.

How do you do this?  During the school year, make sure your feeder schools have a chance to come see a school-day performance of your production.  If field trips to the high school are not feasible, perhaps you can find an appropriate small-cast show for young audiences, written for touring, that you and a few high school actors can take to your feeder schools.  The royalty fees for these shows can be as low as $40, and often times, each school’s PTA is willing to pay for it to help the school meet the National Theatre Standards.  Whether the younger students come to the high school or you take the show to them, they learn appropriate audience behavior, have the chance to watch and evaluate a live performance, and develop a love of live theatre that helps assure your job security for years to come!

Giving younger students a chance to perform is an even better way of developing that love of theatre, so consider leading a youth drama camp this summer.  Not only is it a great way to introduce theatre to children in your town, your high school student actors can help you.  They will love directing, designing, and coaching younger student actors while keeping their own skills fresh and growing!  And again, the enthusiasm you build through a drama camp ensures you will have a thriving high school program for years to come.

I know starting a summer drama camp for kids sounds like a big undertaking, but it might be simpler than you think.  You’d be amazed what you can do in as few as two weeks, either with a half-day or a full-day camp.  (They can bring their own lunches each day so you don’t have that as an expense.)  And remember, you’ll hopefully have at least a few of your high school students there to help!  Camp enrollment should include instructions on how you want them to come prepared for auditions, so you can do that your first morning of camp.

Keeping the focus more on “process” than “production,” Pioneer Drama Service has a wide selection of 30-60 minute shows to choose from that have flexible-sized casts that allow for incredibly simple costuming (maybe just a production t-shirt with the addition of hats, props, etc.)  and minimal sets.

Starting a camp for the first time can be daunting, but the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development offers these two tips that assist with supervising the camp as a whole:

1. Establish routines that guide your group.  For instance, start camp each morning by doing a warm-up, first doing individual movement activities then moving to partner, then group ones.  Make sure you end the day with a cool-down activity and set goals for the next day.
2. Have a recognizable item or sound to signify switches between activities or that the students need to listen (sound, bell, drum, etc.).  Often a line from the show can act as a great call-back and signal to listen.

In terms of rehearsing your show once you have it cast, divide your actors into groups of children who are often on stage together.  Especially during auditions and the first few days of rehearsal, include frequent rotations for these groups to other stations so you can work with smaller groups at a time on stage.  Other stations beyond time on stage can be led by your high school assistants and include:

• Music/Choreography
• Crafts, including making needed props and backdrops
• Publicity, making a program, posters, etc.
• Theatre games to work on characterization, stage presence, vocal quality, etc.

Another way to build enthusiasm for your high school program is to sponsor an extra-curricular club during all or part of the school year for elementary or especially middle schools that do not have a theatre class.  By doing so, you’ll have higher enrollment numbers in your drama club with students who have already started developing their skills and are ready to audition as freshmen.  You’ll also increase your audience size for your high school shows!

Again, your high school students will probably love helping you work with younger students.  Club commitment can be as simple as meeting one day a week after school for 45 minutes or an hour.  High school students can be instrumental in planning these meetings and teaching theatre skills.  Begin the year with the basics and let the interests and focus of the group guide you.  A possible structure for these meetings could look like this:

• Full-group warm-ups
• Teaching a game or skill
• Breaking into small groups to practice it
• Full group games
• Reflection or a presentation of scenes

Now is your chance to create opportunities for younger students in your community to become a part of a theatre family through summer theatre camps or extra-curricular clubs.  Children love to play and you can turn their playtime into chances for them to become a star and help your own students in the process.  Hopefully these suggestions and tips will help build your high school program and lead to better and more adequately trained actors for the future!