Jason with cast and crew during Ken Ludwig’s The Three Musketeers, their 2016 chapter select performance.
One of the main goals for our Theatre Education Community is to help theatre students and professionals from all over connect and identify with each other in order to build resources and support the theatre education field. We shine a spotlight on a different member every other week by conducting a simple interview.
Our next spotlight is Jason Robert LeClair, the drama teacher and troupe director at Beacon Charter High School for the Arts in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, home to Thespian Troupe 7444. Jason is highly involved in EdTA/ITS at the state and national level, taking advantage of every opportunity to further the education of his students. Their latest endeavor is a variety of activities to support Theatre In Our Schools month.
How is your troupe/school celebrating TIOS?
We have quite a few things planned for TIOS. First, we are doing video interviews with Thespians and placing them on social media. We’re also gathering positive stories about Thespians’ theatre experiences, publishing those on social media and sending them to our US Senators and Congressmen, and well as our state legislature.
We will be having a performance showcase at our weekly full school assembly and we are having two guest artists in class and afterschool. We’re also redesigning our call board and the entryway of our blackbox.
We are planning to cap off the month with our Thespian Induction and Season reveal party. The Induction will feature performances by new inductees and a “Knighting” of our honorary Thespian (our school mascot is a knight). This will be followed by the announcement of our shows and theme for the 2018/2019 season.
Why did you choose to participate in TIOS?
Our troupe is growing. The Thespians involved are getting more and more interested in what ITS has to offer. As we progress in our membership, we are growing toward the point of working not only in our school, but regionally. This year’s musical, Aida, is in collaboration with Troupe 1995 (Cumberland High School). In that spirit, it seemed like a great year to start really spreading the importance of what we do in school theatre.
The four C’s (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity) are embedded in theatre. These 21st century skills are what students need to be ready for post-secondary life. Making sure that all schools have access to theatre arts is crucial to the development of our culture as a whole. Without the participation (or at least the option to participate) in theatre, we are depriving students of opportunities in the future to be collaborators, creators, communicators, and critical thinkers.
Lastly, our season this year is themed” Civil Rights and Social Justice.” I firmly believe that the best way to teach a child empathy is through this art form. I think we have a duty as theatre educators to awaken and foster the humanity of the students, helping them understand empathy and kindness.
What does a typical day look like for you?
In a word - long. But I’m privileged to be working in my art 12 - 16 hours a day. I’ll get to school around 7:30 AM. I teach four classes of theatre. Being in an arts charter school, the students pick a “major.” So I teach an eight semester tiered curriculum. After school at 2:35, there are typically meetings, etc. Followed by rehearsals. If I have an extra-long day it is because I am building a set for another school/theatre after rehearsals are over at 6 or 8PM. On the rare days I do not have anything after school, I love the time I get to spend with my family or work on my art.
Tell us about the best day of your career.
I have a lot of these! They all surround the same thing - being reminded of why I do this.
I think perhaps one of the most profound was in 2011. We had just finished a show at a local theatre prior to taking it on to a one-act competition. After bows, the seniors decided to honor me and the other theatre teacher at the time. Many students have written me many things and said many meaningful quotes about how I may have affected them. However, I will never be more humble than hearing a student I have had for four years say, “Every morning I get up, get ready for school, say goodbye to my dad, and when I get to school, say hi to my other dad, Mr. LeClair.” Even as I type this, I’m tearing up. We affect these students so tremendously as teacher/director/mentor/coach, it is a humbling experience sometimes to understand how much responsibility we really have to help these students discover themselves and embrace the outside world.
Do you have any tips for new theatre teachers?
Delegate, delegate, delegate! I made the mistake in my first theatre teaching job to try and do everything myself. Even at 24, I was burning out within the year. I was in charge of tech and design, as well as teaching three classes (which I had to design). Once you get past your first year, you’ll be able to build on your mistakes and successes. It’s just like a show, you’ve got to make it through the dress rehearsal and opening night before you feel truly comfortable in the role and know how an audience may react.
Tell us about the moment that made you decide to get involved in theatre.
My junior high was starting a drama club. It was the first one at the school and I decided to give it a whirl. My seventh grade English teacher was the director. I remember we did a show our first year called Horror High. It was a fun murder mystery show and I played the bumbling, clumsy maintenance man. I don’t remember any lines, but I do recall that I threw myself over a couch in one scene. I guess that started my interest in stage combat as well (apart from watching The Princess Bride repeatedly).
What is unique about your program?
We are a public charter school that is statewide. What that means is that any resident of the state can put in an application to come here. There is no audition/portfolio process for entry, it is pure lottery. So, I never know what sort of talent I may get. Some years are tech heavy, others, musical theatre people, still more frequently, students who have absolutely no experience in theatre, or wanted one of our other two majors and “got stuck” in theatre. What works for us with this is that we can better encourage collaboration and help all of our student artists grow with each other. With the eight semester tiered curriculum, and having it class specific; Freshman Introduction - Senior Project, it helps to grow theatre artists in a way that mimics a college major. The Thespian troupe and our shows are all extracurricular and any major can participate. This opens up a whole new sea of possibilities. In this spring’s musical, we have sixty of the 230 students at the school involved.
Everyone has at least one good theatre story. Tell us yours!
In my high school theatre program, I was cast in the musical version of Charlotte’s Web as Wilber the Pig. We didn’t have a theatre, so we used the school’s chapel. My father and I used wood paneling to block out the stained glass on the mezzanine above the performance space and built the rest of the scenic elements. The reason I mention this is because leading up to the main deck was a concrete set of stairs with linoleum and metal bumpers. On my last show, as I was running in, trying to escape the farmer, I tripped and landed my knee square into the metal. I could feel myself bleeding (insert stuck pig joke here). I spent the next 20 minutes that I was onstage, including my solo, blocking the wound from the children in the front row of this matinee audience. Suffice to say, it taught me just how much “the show must go on.”
Name something on your bucket list.
To stand in The Globe Theatre and take it all in. Maybe even perform a soliloquy.
Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of theatre?
Yes, I am a visual artist. I started life as an illustration major in college. Whenever possible, I try to take time to draw, usually fantasy illustration. I actually wrote a novel in 2009, Broken Silences. It was a great experience and I am writing the sequel now, Wages of War, and releasing it on my blog one chapter at a time. Apart from that, I love to cook, play D&D, and spend time with my wife and daughters.
Examples of Jason’s outstanding artistic ability, a digital and pencil self portrait.
What is something we would be surprised to learn about you?
I never wanted to be teacher. I worked a regular corporate middle management job and took my two-week vacation every year to teach at a summer arts camp at my old high school. I did this for 21 years. In my sixth year of doing the camp, a colleague mentioned that I would make a really good teacher. I literally laughed in her face. I did not like teenagers and thought I would only be able to teach in a college. The next day, my mother mentioned a job opening at a private Catholic high school looking for a theatre teacher. I really hated management, so I applied, thinking it would be a long shot. My degree was in performance art, not theatre, and I had no real teaching experience or degree. All I had was a tech theatre resume from some community theatre and jobs in college. To my surprise, they hired me. I took that job 18 years ago and never looked back.
What toy do you most remember from your childhood?
Lego blocks. I LOVE LEGO BLOCKS! I used to spend hours on end inventing and building with them. I would get a set, build to the directions once, then throw the directions away. I had at one point, four 20 gallon bins filled with blocks (that was just four years ago). My mother, when I was very little, found me in the living room fast asleep with my feet sticking out from under the couch. Evidently I was going after a runaway block and just conked out. When I was a kid, Transformers had just come out and I lived three blocks away from Hasbro world HQ. I designed and built my own transformers out of LEGO and imagined one day I would design toys there.
If you enjoyed Jason’s interview as much as we did, add him as a contact in the Community.
Do you know someone who deserves a moment in the Spotlight? Tell me their name and why at gbutsch@schooltheatre.org. Want to read more Community Spotlights? You can find them here.