High school theatre is back — and students are hungry to hit the stage

Rehearsals for the musical Mamma Mia started more than three years ago at Exploits Valley High. 

But it was only last week during a final run-through — with an entirely different cast belting the hit ABBA song’s hook: My, my! How can I resist ya? — that director Dawn Oldford saw it all put together.

“Our finale songs were so high energy, the kids were so enthusiastic, and it was like, ‘Oh, I’m finally seeing what has been in my mind for three years,'” the instructional resource teacher told CBC Radio.

“It’s a really, really good feeling.”

Oldford and music teacher Jennifer Clarke originally planned to debut Mamma Mia at the Grand Falls-Windsor, N.L., school in the spring of 2020. It would’ve been Oldford’s third show at the school after she helped resurrect the theatre program following a 15-year hiatus.

Then just weeks before opening night, the pandemic sent everyone home.

“We were all very hopeful that by Easter we would come back after the holiday and be ready to pick up where we left off and keep going,” Oldford said. 

“Then we realized, ‘OK, that’s not going to happen.’ And we had to cancel our show.”

Theatre was hit particularly hard by the pandemic. Auditoriums went dark and many productions were paused indefinitely — or cancelled. Even if staff and students could rehearse lines and music over a video call, packing a theatre was out of the question, in many places for years.

A mostly regular school year has changed that. Staff and students eager to get on stage have returned in numbers rivalling pre-pandemic times.

“I knew I loved musicals, but I didn’t know if I could actually act and do musicals,” said Grade 12 student Sarah Gruchy. She starred as Donna Sheridan — a lead role made famous by none other than Meryl Streep — in the school’s production held over Mother’s Day weekend.

“I’m a very emotional person…. I cry at every movie and book and everything. And so on stage, I want to make people feel how I feel when I watch shows.

“I want them to be touched by it.”

Athletics meet theatrics

Educators say there was much to be lost when school-based theatre programs evaporated because of COVID-19.

The connections that come with being part of a cast particularly suffered, both students and staff say.

The musical at Exploits Valley High drew a range of students — athletes, band members, student leaders and more — forming bonds between people who may have never crossed paths. 

“When we’re doing the musical, we’re all together as one and our different personalities come together,” said Sam Hulan, a Grade 12 student at the central Newfoundland school who was better known as a basketball and volleyball athlete before auditioning for the musical.

While he had never imagined performing in a musical, his sister pushed him to audition last year. “It’s really amazing to see all the diversity,” said Hulan, who played Sam Carmichael, Donna’s love interest played by Pierce Brosnan in the film franchise. 

Will Cunningham, a drama teacher at Regiopolis-Notre Dame Catholic High School in Kingston, Ont., says more than friendships were missed. 

“Not only were we losing the sense of community, we were losing a lot of skill-based training that we had a solid foundation [of] at this school,” he said. “We are still rebuilding that foundation of kids playing instruments and singing, and learning basic fundamentals of drama and theatre.”

Something as simple as properly wearing a microphone and not talking in the stage wings — in case that mic is still hot — got lost in lockdown.

Part of the challenge teachers face is getting theatre newcomers up to speed. Senior students typically help guide younger performers as they take to the stage. But as productions returned, entire casts were performing on a high school stage for the very first time.

‘Hungry for creativity’

While the wider theatre industry faced a steep cliff in March 2020, it’s steadily returning.

Theatre licensing agencies quickly pivoted to offering schools streaming rights to perform shows online.

“Some schools are still streaming, and that’s great if that’s what they need to do and that’s how they get the extra audience members in,” said John Prignano, director of education for MTI. The New York-based agency provides performing rights to shows designed for high school casts.

I’ve learned a lot about myself by knowing other people, and I don’t think I would have had that same experience if it wasn’t for the musical.– Sam Hulan, Grade 12 student at Exploits Valley High

Despite continued restrictions in early 2022 thanks to the Omicron coronavirus variant, schools started coming back last year. Now, Prignano says, the number of shows licensed to schools is approaching pre-pandemic numbers.

Meanwhile, Concord Theatricals, another rights company, says that licences for schools are expected to surpass 2019 figures this year.

Haley Allen says students are ready to perform again. The Vancouver-based performer — who once planned to become an occupational therapist but changed her career trajectory after being in her high school’s musical — teaches dance and movement in schools.

Some students struggle with confidence, she says. It’s a change she’s noticed post-pandemic and which she attributes, in part, to long stretches of school spent behind a screen. 

But a production she choreographed at her former Smithers, B.C., high school saw dozens of kids turn out.

“I think there was like 65 or 70 kids in this production because everyone just wanted a piece of something,” she said.

“Everyone is just, like, hungry for creativity now.”

2 shows in one year

Kingston’s Regiopolis-Notre Dame is known for its arts programs, including the annual musical. For many would-be theatre kids, the pandemic left them feeling left out.

“Honestly, we didn’t get to do anything in Grade 9. No sports, no dances, nothing,” said Grade 11 student Neshaya Wijeratne. “It was definitely sad because I have been watching the Regi musical since I was probably, like, 10 years old. I’d watched them every year with my school.”

To make up for lost time, Cunningham and music teacher Justine Lord put up two shows in 2022: High School Musical in June and The Addams Family six months later.

“We had to do a show for those Grade 12s that missed out on so many opportunities,” said Cunningham, adding a quick turnaround was needed to get back on their regular December show schedule.

Both teachers say the decision was undoubtedly challenging. Early rehearsals were held online, while later practices required students to wear masks. 

And during a February rehearsal, Cunningham sustained a severe knee injury that put him out of commission for four months, placing much of the responsibility on Lord.

“I was teaching back-to-back classes with no prep in all of May and June, and then running rehearsals until five almost every day after school. So it was very stressful,” said Lord, the music and vocal director at Regiopolis-Notre Dame.

“But again, the smiles on the kids’s faces and the experience they got out of it [was] worth it in the end.”

Wijeratne eventually got on stage in both shows — most recently playing matriarch Morticia Addams. As she looks to her final year at the school, she hopes to be a role model for future students interested in the arts.

“I think we want to inspire the next generation and just kind of leave a legacy here. I think that’d be good,” she said.

The Kingston teachers are now announcing the selection of next year’s production with a series of “elimination” videos — including one filmed in New York’s Times Square. They’re expected to announce the winning show later this month.

Here we go again

Mamma Mia is Exploits Valley High’s second show post-lockdown. They staged Footloose last year — again with some virtual and socially distanced practices. In 2021, they put up a musical revue, All Together Now, as part of a global fundraiser organized by MTI for theatre programs.

At the central Newfoundland school of 500, around 45 students took part in this year’s show.

“The enthusiasm in our school for doing musical theatre, it’s just unbelievable,” said music teacher Clarke.

For Hulan, being on stage is an “energy release” and an opportunity to show friends and family more about himself. 

“I feel like there’s different sides to me,” he said. “When you see me playing sports, you don’t see the other side, which is very goofy and very animated.”

But it’s perhaps the new friendships he’s fostered that he treasures the most.

“I’ve learned a lot about myself by knowing other people, and I don’t think I would have had that same experience if it wasn’t for the musical.”