Dominion high school’s theater department has brought students a way to express themselves on stage and in production for years. However, next year it will not be available in the schedule as all theater classes have been canceled according to Dr. Brewer, Dominion Counseling, and Theater Director Mrs. Young.

The average class at Dominion needs about fifteen students to sign up in order for it to be in the schedule. For the 2018-2019 school year, 9 students signed up for Theater I, 2 for theater II, 3 for Theater III, 5 for Theater IV, 11 in Technical Theater I, 4 in Technical Theater II, and 3 in Introduction to Theater Arts Dual Enrollment.

Dominion will still put on plays and musicals “just like we always have, those things are extracurricular activities. The technical theater classes have certainly helped our productions be successful, however the technical theater class is something that’s fairly new and we used to produce shows without having a technical theater class anyway,” Dr. Brewer said. “We’ll continue to probably produce two shows a year. As far as I’m concerned Blank Slate will continue [to have their show] as it did in the past, and the most invisible parts of the theater program [the behind the scenes crew] will continue to grow and be vibrant.”

The exact number of shows that will be put on next year is still unclear. “A lot of things are still up in the air right now and I don’t think we will know the answer until the Fall. I know that their will be at least one but beyond that it’s unclear” said Ms Nguyen, head of the music department at Dominion.

“I will be teaching full time, a combination of English and Personal Finance classes.” Mrs. Young said.  

“The school counselors are beginning to meet with the students who originally chose Theater to discuss what they would like to choose as their electives,” said Ms. Smith, the director of school counseling at Dominion.

Young said, “this will be a very huge blow to our very successful but very small program. It makes me sad for the immediate future of the department, especially after working very hard for 10 years to grow it and make it successful.”

“We are going to continue to offer those theater arts classes every year and if it grows again and students want to take those classes we would be happy to offer them,” Brewer said.

“There is an overemphasis on high school students taking college level classes and this adds to their stress and prevents them from pursuing passions (like the arts), where they develop self-confidence, expression, and a small community within a school with a growing population. I wish that more people considered Theater Arts as an elective, so that they would feel the benefit of the program,” Young said.

The department will continue as extracurricular activities and of course “the show will go on,” Brewer said.