Students Put on a Fire Show

A big part of schools is putting on a play for the students’ families to come and watch. At Cranberry High School, choir teacher Preston Yoder has come up with a fun idea to both introduce parents to the drama club and raise money for Boosters Club.

According to Yoder, “Boosters club is a group of parents who meet once a month to plan ways to support Cranberry's music program. Nearly all costs for the musical and choir activities will come from that club. We would love to have more parents involved!”

On November 18th, the doors were opened for students and parents alike to come in and watch their friends, peers, siblings, and children perform on stage. 

The Musical Showcase is a student run show, where songs from various different musicals are performed by students in one big show. There are typically two acts with an intermission in between so the audience can go and grab snacks, drinks, and as of this year, tip their performers. Admission was free, but it was highly encouraged to donate money either in a box while getting snacks, or into individual jars for each of the different performers.

The teachers that host the showcase, Preston Yoder and Marita Michael, are quite hands-off with the whole show. Their roles are mostly just to pick the songs that will be in the show, and to give tips on how to improve so that the students can give their best performances. 

The whole idea for the Musical Showcase began in the 2020-2021 school year, and was only open to ninth through twelfth grade students. Yoder was the sole teacher that worked with the showcase at that time, and the teacher who came up with the whole idea. 

When asked about the origins of the Showcase, Yoder replied, “Our first showcase was in the spring of 2021.  The main reason was because we were not able to have a ‘normal’ musical because of COVID restrictions, but I still wanted to give the students an opportunity to showcase their stage abilities.  We also used it as a fundraiser opportunity for the Drama Club.” 

In terms of success, the musical showcase has seemed to bring in a decent number of performers, and a decent audience. The showcase may not be the most successful from the standpoint of finances, due to the lack of admissions fees and the fact that people, while encouraged, are not forced to donate. 

Yoder does say, though, that there is a different kind of success. “I see its success as being much more than in our bank account.  It's awesome to see kids become their own directors.  They can pick songs from shows that we might never perform here at Cranberry.  Kids love having more ownership of their learning, and they can't really get that with our spring musical since we as directors pick it. But for the showcase, they can. I can think of several students from the first couple years of showcase that have shown me their love for and talent in musical theater.  Without the showcase, I'm not sure they would have had the opportunity to bloom, or at least not in that specific way.” 

This school year has brought many changes for the Musical Showcase, from the introduction of the tip jars for the performers, to the allowance of junior high students to join. There was also another change, to not only the showcase, but the whole of Drama Club.

A new director has been introduced into the Drama Club. Marita Michael had worked in the district for a few years prior, and wanted to implement acting workshops for the Drama Club students to participate in, but due to time she had never been able to. When the opportunity arose for her to be able to be the director of the upcoming musical, Honk, and be a part of Drama Club, she joined right away. 

“I have been teaching theater to elementary aged kids for around 10 years so it's nice to be working with the older students,” Michael says. 

When it came to the Musical Showcase, Michael had plenty of workshops prepared. For the performers, she had prepared workshops pertaining to acting and auditioning. She had also ran workshops for those in the Stage Crew, which are the people that do the behind-the-scenes work like moving props.

“I have already held workshops on auditioning and overviews for the stage crew. We have had brief training for the stage crew as well. We are holding acting and "vocabulary" classes (learning theater terminology) as soon as we come back from Christmas break to prepare for the spring musical rehearsals. My vision for the club is to build students' confidence as individuals and performers and to continually train students in both performance and stage crew. Eventually, I would love to produce a 'straight show' (one without music) in addition to our spring musical.” Michael explains. 

When it comes to things such as the Showcase, there will always be parts that both students and teachers enjoy immensely.

For some, it is being able to find out something new about themselves and their abilities. The showcase, for many of the students, is a way to show off abilities they never thought they would get to. 

Emily Lautzenheiser, a 12th grade student at Cranberry states. “My favorite part about doing the showcase was learning something new about my voice. I discovered that my voice is a lot stronger than I thought it was.” 

For others, it was being able to watch their fellow performers show off their skills. Being able to cheer on their classmates, and support them from the side while they performed.

Damien Moyer, an 11th grade student, explains “My favorite part of doing the musical was not what you may expect. Though my time on stage was small, I imagine my favorite part would’ve been the same had I spent 10 minutes on stage. The best part of being in the showcase was listening to my friends. It’s truly amazing to sit behind the curtain and watch your friends right from the stage.”

For Yoder and Michael, it seems that both shared the same sentiment of being able to watch the students perform, and being able to see them grow and learn, and for their students to get that applause and cheers from the crowd. 

As for the future of the Musical Showcase and ways to improve, the main thing from both Yoder and Michael is to start earlier. There was quite a bit of rush when it came to the showcase, from announcement to auditions, there had only been a couple of weeks to practice and prepare. From there, with students being out for one reason or another, and the Senior Trip being right before the Showcase, it was quite the rushed process to get ready for the big day. 

“We're in a transition year between directors and it feels like we're behind on a lot of things.  Showcase felt a little rushed during the last week.  But we're in very good hands with Mrs. Michael and I'm confident that everything will flow better in the future,” Yoder says.

This year’s showcase did have a little bit of added excitement, due to the fact that the fire alarm went off before the last two songs of the show. It turns out that it was a technical glitch that caused the alarm to go off. Thankfully, it was quickly fixed and the show was allowed to conclude. 

Besides that slight bump, the Musical Showcase seemed to be a great event that brought in a good crowd, and will most likely continue for years to come. With Michael now being the director, there is no doubt that the showcase will grow bigger and better as the years continue. 

Emily Lautzenheiser offers encouragement to the younger students, “I would recommend other people try it out next year. You can learn a lot about yourself by doing it.”