Let the Kids be Kids: Revival of Performing Arts in High Schools
With major theatre companies such as Broadway going dark, many schools performing arts programs and avid art enthusiasts believed that all hope was lost. It was schools like Spackenkill High School in Poughkeepsie, New York, and their supportive school board that was able to turn on the lights and make the effort that catalyzed the spark of hope.
Their director, Cody Usher, started working at Spack Onstage in June 2021 during the global pandemic. He is not only a Spack Onstage alumni and student at Marist College but a firm believer in the arts in school districts, along with their ability to give students crucial communication skills.
“It wasn’t easy at first, our fall shows and spring shows are under strict masking mandates and limiting seating,” Cody said.
He started his directing career at SpackOnstage by having the kids perform Romeo and Juliet, a timeless Shakespeare classic that he believes was a great entry-level show to help interest kids.
“When I first got there, I expected them to behave like I did when I was their age, always talking, loud, and a little obnoxious. But when I got there, they were exactly opposite, almost like soldiers in the military: not talking or saying a word,” Cody said.
Cody realized that he had an entirely different problem as he saw firsthand the impact of the pandemic on adolescents: severing their communication skills entirely.
Now with a different task at hand, Cody did his best to make them feel safe and express themselves while adhering to the very difficult CDC guidelines of social distancing and masking up. Both of those limitations make theatre very hard as they restrict crucial points of theatre which are physical contact, blocking, and projection with wearing masks. But nevertheless, Cody continued to watch these students grow, and blossom, which was all it took for them to get to opening night.
The cohesion of performance, multiple students with a common goal in sight, creates a bond of more than just regular students, but a family. However, this highly coveted collective effervescence of performance was in danger due to the CDC regulations and guidelines of COVID-19, and Cody feared that those would hinder this family from forming. Cody and the Spackenkill school district had to overcome obstacle after obstacle as the horrors of COVID-19 set in with one of Cody’s students getting the virus.
Panic ensued, and Cody described this process of setbacks in one word: chaos.
Rather than canceling the show like Cody had thought would be the natural response, the school board district acknowledged the importance of the arts and decided to push it back one week. This acknowledgment and sentiment towards the arts should be echoed throughout high school districts across the globe.
And so their show commenced with limited seating, yet they were able to sell out every show, which raised morale amongst the cast of now-eager students. When asked why the arts are so important for students, Cody responded, “There are a lot of different reasons why I believe arts are so important. For one, it helps build socialization, and teamwork gives them something to put on their theatre resumes and gives them a greater perspective on what it takes to put on a show. But the most important thing? Letting the kids be themselves, letting them express themselves emotionally, dive into their characters, and realize the similarities. Let the kids be kids.”
Currently, at Spack Onstage, they have put on several shows along with the updated CDC guidelines for being unmasked and returning to a greater sense of normalcy. Since then, they have put on a playwright’s festival in which the students wrote plays and directed them all by themselves, teaching them the effort it takes to put on a show, performed their 2022 fall drama “Clue”, and are now preparing to put on their spring musical, “Cinderella” which debuts on April 14th, 15th, and 16th.
