Wednesday, September 09, 2015
Deadline Approaching for 2015 High School Theatre Honors Program!
Stage Directions: “The High School Theatre Honors Program commends the excellent work that happens on a daily basis in high school theatres across the country,” said Jacob Coakley, editor of Stage Directions magazine. “And this submission process is how we hear about them. I encourage everyone to let us know about the great high school theatre teachers, programs, schools and volunteers near them!”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
It's encouraging to see high school theater celebrated in such a context. Although winning a competition or an award is never the name of the game, one can appreciate the merits of such an endeavor. Raising awareness for non-professional theater is an opportunity to share the various learning experiences that theater can provide, such as team-building, leadership, sociability, acceptance of others and their unique talents, and most importantly, confidence in oneself. Who may go on to pursue theater is irrelevant and those who merely experience a taste either in school or their communities will walk away with incredible memories and important lessons learned that can be applied in countless situations. What is highlighted in this article is the importance of teaching high-school theater, for no matter how important theater is in isolation, only a teacher can breath life into this dynamic area of the arts.
Support of high school theater is so important because good theater programs at the secondary education level are crucial to forming the next generation of theater artists. The local regional theater in my area, the Paper Mill Playhouse, hosts their Rising Star Awards each year for high school productions across New Jersey, and I was fortunate enough to win a scholarship from them in my senior year. Even just being considered or nominated for these awards is a huge honor because it demonstrates to the kids involved that high-quality theater can be produced without a great deal of money or fancy production elements, and that what it really takes is dedication, hard work, and the support of a good program. If my high school's theater hadn't been so involved and dedicated towards helping the kids in our school produce high-quality shows, I probably would never have considered a career in the theater.
Post a Comment