What made you decide to leave the theater department?
I’m not just leaving the theater department, it’s leaving teaching. It’s getting more and more difficult to help students follow policies and rules. With the diminished support of parents, and just what’s happening in the country with education, I feel like I can’t ethically be a part of it anymore.
What changes have you made over your nine years at Dominion?
I added a winter play. I added the one act play competition that we had done before my predecessor had done but I brought back, I added two festivals for theater. There were no classes when it took over and I have two classes now. And I added a banquet where we honor everybody’s accomplishments for the year.
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced?
When I first took over, everything was broken, the lights, the sound, we didn’t have mics that worked. We didn’t have the tools we needed to build the sets. And so over the course of these six years, I replaced, worked around, and got us to a point where everything can work. There’s still some [things to improve,], it’d be nice to have LED lights. And hopefully the county will do that. But we’ve got everything working now so we can have really quality shows.
What has been the most memorable part of leading the theater department?
Just working with kids. Because I don’t cut anybody, you never know. There’s always, you know, three or four kids who come into the program, each show that they are more than I thought they would be at auditions. And they rise to the occasion. And I just like watching them grow, especially over the four years.
How do you hope to inspire more people to join theater?
By having these quality productions, Spreading the word that the class is not only fun, but they learn about theater.
How are you feeling about Brothers Grimm being your last fall play?
It’s sad. I’m glad it’s a comedy because it helps me laugh instead of cry every night. But yeah, it’s sad.
How are you managing the large number of new cast members and tech workers for Brothers Grimm?
Well, sadly, I think I kept forgetting I had so many new kids because they were doing so well. But I’m remembering to go back and talk about the policies and procedures and the expectations of Titan theater that we’ve built over the six years and making sure that they adhere to those things so that we can have quality shows.
What else do you have in store for us for the rest of the year?
So the winter play is going to be fun. We’re not just doing a radio play, which is what we usually do. We’re doing a one act radio play. So we can still do the full effects that I love. But we’re also bringing back a play I wrote in 1999 called ‘I Am An American.’ It’s a cabaret style show where we tell stories from America and we sing songs from America and we talk about what America really is and not just the negative news that we hear all the time.
Is there anything you would like to say to Titan Theatre members, both current members and former members?
You’ve made my life richer. And I love you for that.
