Monte Vista Drama

Drama Club Executive Board

PRESIDENT - Sara Comstock

Focusing on community building, shows, and other projects

VP External -Michael Cahn

Focusing building the program and strengthening our place in the community!

VP Internal - Bree Ligon

Focusing on productions classes and show based needs

Secretary - Jolie Cesio

Focusing on supporting all programs. Specific jobs include: minutes, programs, and calendar

Treasurer - Sierra Popst; Caitlin O’Melia

Focusing on budget, fundraising, and box office

PR/Marketing - Kinley Park

Focusing on building our digital brand and marketing all aspects of the Drama program

Drama Club Board

Thespian Troupe President/Drama Club: Mandy Tatum

Focusing on building the drama club and expanding our use of the Thespian Program.

Creative Director: Mia Ransdell

Focusing on creating a cohesive vision between all areas of productions.

Dramaturg: Robert Plattner

Focusing on providing the cast and crew with vital knowledge, research, and interpretation about the theatrical work in question so that they are—in turn—better equipped to do their jobs.

Program Projects (Haunted House, Scene Nights, 24 hr) - Isabella Low, Micah Garcia, Makena Eggiman, Lily Peartree

Focusing on Drama Program Projects to support classes, club, and school

Improv Troupe: Hayden Long

Focusing on leading and building Improv Club

As I talked about during class all year, I want to start structuring our program more like an actual theatre company in order to avoid heaping all of the responsibilities onto a few people. Each of these positions will have more specifically defined roles and should make us more efficient! Interested in reading scripts and helping to select shows? Reach out to Connor or Sara. There will be info about this in the next day or two!

Directors hate this time of year, because they know before the list is posted and the e-mails are sent out, that hearts are about to be broken.

They know that puffy-eyed students who feel rejected will be showing up at their door. 

 Yup, directors hate this time of year.

Today, my hope is to speak to students and parents about this subject, and give them a bit of perspective that might be helpful.

When a student is not put in a group, it is almost always because of the data received from auditions, or because of observations over an entire previous year of working with that person.

It could be a question of tone or projection.

It could be a question of pitch control (singing flat or sharp).

It could be related to the student's grades, versus the time demands of the shows.

It could be a lot of things, and NONE of it personal.

Students, one of the reasons I hate posting results, is that I love how much this means to you. I care about each and every student, and Iwant you to feel empowered, successful, loved, appreciated, and integral. The LAST thing I want to do is knock you down or disappoint you. And yet, in the world of auditions......there is simply no other way to do it.

-not everybody can make it. Varsity sports have cuts. Choir and Dance have cuts. We have cuts.

-the argument of "he/she has paid their dues" is completely irrelevant, as the audition data isn't measuring that

-age cannot be the biggest concern, as in "they've waited their turn, now they should automatically be allowed in". If seniority....or the most seniority....was that big of a factor, then shouldn't we let the oldest living person in the USA be president? After all......they waited their turn longer than anyone else.

I want to speak to students who are disappointed by audition results with a few thoughts. First, YOU are better at something than anybody else in your school......everybody truly excels at something! Secondly, you cannot tie your worth as a person to the result of the audition....you are unique, special, vital, and the most important person on earth to somebody! Third, life is full of competition, and auditions are a microcosm of preparation for that.....competitions for jobs and careers, university placement, athletics, etc. Fourth, I LOVE to see when students use disappointing audition results as "fuel for their fire", and work on their skill development for the next year.

People need to understand that this time of year absolutely keeps directors up at night with worry. They worry about disappointing students they love, letting down people with great expectations, angering parents, and being questioned by those who simply don't know very much about the true evaluation of criteria within the process. My hope is that students and parents reading this will realize none of this diminishes the value or preciousness of the student. I am always wiling to discuss your auditions however they went, but it should be approached as, "what should I work on?" vs "why didn't I get what I want?" PLEASE WAIT 48 HOURS BEFORE REACHING OUT! Trust me! It is better to give yourself some time to think about what you want to focus on. I'll be around next week and am happy to chat!

Congratulations to ALL OF YOU on your auditions and finishing the school year strong! You give my life and this program so much energy and life. Thank you!

Stage Crafts/Theatre Production

Oliver Wynnne

Seth Jones

Nick Carranza

Savannah Hunt

Kat Lindsay

Ella Galde

Erin Yang

Mary Holton

Aryn Seidenverg

Chloe Phelps

Maci Stemmons

Nicole Wong

Ryan Funk

Kat Macias

Emily Gase

Caede Davis

Avery Helfer

Logan Beck

Jolie Cesio

Sara Comstock

Makena Eggiman

Sam Funk

Mia Garcia

Chelsea Gemmer

Lukas Threlkeld

Amelia Liptak

Caitlin O’Melia

Milly Paulsey

Lily Peartree

Sierra Popst

Mia Ransdell

Kirby Tingley

Ruby Toombs

Madeline Wiener

Play Production

Ivy terranova

Isabella Low

Keira Negrete

Bree Ligon

Eleni Dimtrakos

Ella Hamilton

Kate Campbell

Megan Zhang

Amanda Tatum

Kinley Park

Michael Cahn

Taylor Cartago

Robert Plattner

**Drama IV/Productions** 

**Please see Mr. Connor for further details!**

Hayden Long
Tay Burgess

Drama III

(partial list)

Sreesha Bose

Emily Garner

Angelina Duong

Michael Carranza

Andrew Clark

Ellie Ramos

**DRAMA III/Stage Crafts**

**Please see Mr. Connor for further details!**

Adi Hylen

Ema Lisinac

Jianna Chang

Madeline Palmer

I apologize if your name was omitted from the list. I'm sure it was just an accident on my part. If you don't see your name here, email me and we'll get it straitened out!