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If you are new to my research, a basic overview is that I am looking at different high school productions in different districts in Colorado to see if the different ethnicities are taken into consideration when choosing plays and casting them.
After winter break, I began working on the methodology portion of my research. I began this process by checking the diversity statistics of the districts I was focusing on. This includes Douglas County District (Fig. 3 above) and Larimer County (Fig. 4 below) for this week.
Fig. 4: LARIMER COUNTY
Here is the enrollment into Larimer County focusing on diversity. It is clear to see that it is primarily caucasian with 72.2% of students being white. https://www.larimer.org/about-larimer-county/vital-statistic-census-information/larimer-county-demographics
I was also able to find the ethnic statics of the specific high schools in Douglas County and Larimer County shown in Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8.
DOUGLAS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
Fig 5. Mountain Vista High School:
To the left, it is clear to see there are primarily caucasian students attending Mountain Vista with Asians, Hispanics, American Indians, Pacific Islanders, and African Americans making up less than 3/4.
Fig. 6 Castle View High School:
To the right, we can see that the statistics are quite similar to Mountain Vista's statistics with minimal differences in ethnic differences.
LARIMER COUNTY
Fig. 7 Rocky Mountain High School:
To the left, we see that there is a greater percentage of caucasian students compared to Douglas County.
Fig. 8 Fort Collins High School
In this image, there is a great difference in ethnicity compared to Rocky Mountain High School as there is a stronger hispanic population. More than 50% are caucasian.
Statistics source: https://high-schools.com/
To choose the shows I wanted to observe, I primarily used the chosen high school's website. However, I realized that attaining images of the cast members of the productions in 2016-2019 is a much harder process. I also couldn't find many images to help my methodology on the websites. In order to fix this complication, I decided to look specifically at shows that have been produced in this school year (primarily 2021). To find the productions, cast lists, and images, I have also found it easier to contact the directors directly. So far, I have been able to reach out to Douglas County District and Larimer County (shown in Fig. 9). The productions I have chosen for Douglas County are A Whole New You (2021) or It Runs in the Family (2016) (depending on what images Mr. Jeremy Goldson can find) produced by Mountain Vista High School, and Songs of Stage and Screen (2021) from Castle View High School. I would like to thank Mr. Goldson, Mountain Vista Theater Director, and Mr. Scott, Castle View Theater Director, for helping me with my research.
My next steps include going to Castle View High School to meet with Mr. Scott about my project and to receive any information they have that can be useful for me. I may also complete an interview with Mr. Scott where I will answer the questions I mentioned in my previous post. If the schools in Larimer County do not respond to my email, I will either send a backup email or find another school in the county to research. Additionally, using the website called stage agent, which was graciously suggested by my theater teacher, Mrs. Baker, I can easily find character descriptions for the productions. However, I am hoping to receive the scripts of these shows first before resorting to the website!
Next week, I will send out the emails to the teachers of El Paso County and Cherry Creek County to give them time to get back to me. So far, although I have run into complications, I am happy that my research can easily be bended to fix most complications.
Fig. 9
This is me writing an email to Mr. Goldson, Mountain Vista Theater Director, introducing myself and my project!
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