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  • 1.  Drawing Middle school kids into the high school program

    Posted 11-06-2014 08:54
    This is my first year running the theater program and I am looking at expanding the program. so I am looking for any ideas to help boost student numbers.
    Does anyone have any great ideas on shows or skits or any idea to take to the middle school kids so they are interested in doing theatre at the high school level.

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    Charles Puetzer
    Stage manager
    Michigan City Area Schools
    Michigan City IN
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  • 2.  RE: Drawing Middle school kids into the high school program

    Posted 11-06-2014 21:04
    What I did was run a two week summer camp for our high school students, and invited our main feeder middle school to attend. It's a slower way to build a program, and it's going to take a couple of years to see the fruits, but we had a total of 35 kids (high school and middle school), and of those middle school attendees, half of them were rising into high school, and all of them told me on day one of the 2014/2015 that they switched their elective to theatre after attending the summer camp. Which was nice. This is only one idea, of course. Another LONG term plan would be to have an annual show in which yourain feeder elementary schools could be pulled from to star in your school's production; this starts them off young and by the time they reach you in high school, they will be familiar with you and how you work and hopefully happy, positive memories, and will come right back to your program as High School students. Again, I am taking this approach and it's only my second year. Last year we did 'wizard of Oz' so we could cast about 35 elementary munchkins. Trying to figure out where I could fit 30 plus elemtart kids in 'West Side Story' this year... Those are a couple of ideas to get the ball rolling. 😄 ------------------------------------------- Phillip Goodchild Valrico FL -------------------------------------------
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  • 3.  RE: Drawing Middle school kids into the high school program

    Posted 11-09-2014 19:34
    We're working on sending Thespians to the middle school classes once a quarter to start to get that personal connection.  The plan is for my kids to go and play various theatre games with them and maybe do their monologue or duo scene.  I also sent 10 free tickets to each middle school to hand out however they chose for their musical and I plan on doing that again for our next shows.

    I really love the idea of a summer camp, I just have to figure out the logistics.

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    Laura Steenson
    Theatre Director
    Reynolds High School
    Troutdale OR
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  • 4.  RE: Drawing Middle school kids into the high school program

    Posted 11-10-2014 10:16
    SOmething we do that has been a big help is a free matinee for our feeder schools. We invite our 3 feeders, during a school day, and perform our main stage show for them. After the show there is a Q&A with both the actors and the techies. I've seen a significant difference in the numbers since I began this.

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    Shira Schwartz
    Chandler Unified School District
    Chandler AZ
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  • 5.  RE: Drawing Middle school kids into the high school program

    Posted 11-10-2014 11:28
    Shira, we do the same thing.  I am a public middle school teacher, but we bus over two feeder elementary schools' fifth graders,and our own 6th graders (the cast of our musical primarily comprises 8th graders).  We've even invited the 5th graders from a neighboring parochial school (administrators can get on board when reminded that you're essentially presenting the biggest and slickest commercial for the district of the year.

    I will say that, despite this being a long tradition in our district, each year it seems a little harder to get the elementary school principals on board, but a principal-to-principal call from my boss to them usually does the trick.

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    Ryan Moore
    Ferndale MI
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  • 6.  RE: Drawing Middle school kids into the high school program

    Posted 11-11-2014 08:50
    Getting the middle school students into HS drama means playing the long game, in my opinion.  Boys, especially, have so much pressure to do sports that it's hard to keep them interested.  I do four things:  First, I have two weeks of drama camp every summer that are geared to elementary and middle school.  Many or most of my A-listers come through camp and get to know us in that way.  Second, we do previews (20-30 minutes) of our musicals at our feeder middle schools about a week before we open. Next, I attend a LOT of middle school shows, and I go up to the kids afterwards and talk with them.  And finally, I get lists from the middle school teachers of interested students (as well as my own lists from attending shows) and I send all of them a letter in the spring inviting them to the program and telling them what we're doing and how to get involved.  I always put a personalized note on the letters, and it really means a lot to them.  It took a good 2-3 years for all this effort to bear fruit, but now I have a pretty consistent stream of interested players entering the school every year.

    I sometimes wonder whether I work harder on this year's shows or on next year's and the year after, but the level of talent here has risen dramatically since I've been doing all these things.  The real hidden benefit is that I get to know these kids a lot earlier, and I have a lot of fun watching them grow.

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    Allan Dodson
    Tucker GA
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  • 7.  RE: Drawing Middle school kids into the high school program

    Posted 12-03-2014 08:37
    I am a middle school director whose goal has been the same thing. I have found a couple of ways that have helped take my troupe from 6 to 8 to over 30 in each show. The first thing that we have done is invite all of one grade from the elementary schools in our county to one of our shows, typically our spring musical. My kids are excused from a full day of school because we have to do two performances that day. The county arts coordinator pays for the busing from her budget. In the past, in return for doing the show the county also paid the royalities for that show. This year they cut her budget signifigantly, so we had a local business sponsor both shows. I also provide the teachers of the class attending with some resources they can use in their classroom.
    I also try to schedule our musical close to "Read Across America" day, and as a community service project my students go to our feeder schools and read to each class. We have done this in costume, which is way more exciting for the elementary's, and in just our show t-shirt. We are also fortunate that one of our feeder schools is attached to our middle school, and they do a huge assembly in the morning that day. If we have a number ready then we will perform it for the kids too. We also try to tie in what books we read with the show that we are doing. Last year with "Into the Woods, Jr" the kids read a fairy tale, "Suessical, Jr." they of course read a Dr. Suess story. This year, we are doing "Aladdin, Jr" so we will see if we can find some on thier level.
    The other thing that has built lots of excitement and is starting to pay off is doing shows with large casts and including the little brothers and sisters of those in the cast.
    I hope you can put some of these to work for your program.
    Break a leg!

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    Douglas Parks
    Parkersburg WV
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  • 8.  RE: Drawing Middle school kids into the high school program

    Posted 12-02-2014 16:46
    In addition to the above responses, I would recommend utilizing your high school students as leaders or mentors toward the middle school students. If you're creating a camp or a one day workshop, ask your high school students to lead an exercise or small group. If you're producing a student matinee, try to schedule a post show discussion where the students are able to take part. If you stress the responsibility and privilege of their leadership, the high school students will certainly take ownership of their role and act maturely. The middle school students will be more inclined to naturally desire to get involved after seeing from the older students how "cool" theatre can be. And on that note, I'm sure your high school students have creative ideas, especially if they attended that middle school. 

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    Jackie Kranenburg
    The Theatre School at DePaul
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  • 9.  RE: Drawing Middle school kids into the high school program

    Posted 12-03-2014 21:18
    Charles, I feel your pain. I really sweat this one every year, since the bulk of my classes are beginning theatre, and they are populated primarily by freshmen.

    I take a day off from school every January and accompany the counselors to our three feeder schools. I go armed with tools of the trade and pitch my program to the eighth graders. I have all of ten minutes to convince 85-100 kids to take theatre their freshman year, so I do a real dog and pony show and indulge myself shamelessly. I sweeten the pot by doing a make up demonstration: I get an eighth grade volunteer and do a basic old age makeup on half the student's face. Lo and behold, that student ALWAYS signs up for theatre.

    Our major feeder school always sends short one-acts to our district showcase of theatrical talent at the end of January. It's a thrill for those kids, who get to perform in an 800-seat house. The thespians take them under their wings and make sure their every need is met. 
    The middle school "stage manager" gets to sit in the booth and call those one-acts. 


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    Nancy Bernhard
    Salinas CA
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  • 10.  RE: Drawing Middle school kids into the high school program

    Posted 12-04-2014 10:07
    Hello-

    Great wisdom being shared by all here I would like to add to.  I am a middle school theater teacher and my school feeds into a LARGE high school.  There are many strategies you can use.  Our program at our middle school is full inclusion, which means we regularly have upwards of 100 students involved in any of our 3 productions (all extra curricular).  We have built this through student matinees (5th and 6th graders from 6 elementary schools are able to see our musical each year), and working to connect with students throughout the school, and through community organizing and partnerships with the local community theater.
      
    There are several ways to capitalize on middle school programs, and extend into the High School.  We often have the high school director come speak to our students towards the end of the year so that when they arrive at the high school there is a familiar face, and it is a chance to pump them up and get them excited while making them feel welcomed.  Additionally, we incorporate high school interns into our program to bridge the gap.  Our interns often are in Dance, Lighting Design, Sound Design, Set Building, and Assistant Directing.  Our middle schoolers look up to these student interns.  Meanwhile the interns are sharing what they are doing at the high school level which gets our students interested and excited.  Between shows we have a group of high schoolers come in and lead an improv session usually for 3-4 weeks which also connects our middle schoolers to the High School.

    One thing we have not implemented yet but will in the future, is to create a theater pathway for our students.  One thing that I want to help students with is to get them on track to continue to do theater when they transition to high school.  Some of my students need extra support to ensure they don't get lost in our large high school.  For example, we have a high concentration of refugee students, and I am able to recruit them through community organizing work I do, but when they move on to our high school, it is harder to get them connected.  I believe if I aligned more with the staff at our high school and we in essence became a 7-12 theater team rather than two separate teams (7-8)(9-12) we would be able to better create a theater pipeline for our students and keep them accounted for.

    Long message, but I think you bring up a great topic, and I am glad you are interested in building your high school program, and you see the importance of what is being cultivated at the middle school level.  

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    Tom Krueger
    Minneapolis MN
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