Department of Drama

The SLOHS Performing Arts Department of Drama, formerly known as the SLOHS Drama Club, Theatre 33, or Theater Arts Club (T.A.C.), is an executive department of SLOHS Performing Arts. It is responsible for the representation of drama in the performing arts and the pursuit of drama in further depth in SLOHS productions. In its former status as an independent club, the department was also the executive body for all dramatic productions at San Luis Obispo High School. The Drama Club, before its incorporation into SLOHS Performing Arts, was a long-established group on campus; the reformed Department of Drama was created on April 27, 2021.

The department is administered by the vice president of SLOHS Performing Arts, who jointly serves as commissioner of drama, and who is a member of the Company of SLOHS Performing Arts. The second and current vice president and commissioner of drama is Mark Rourke, who assumed office on August 18, 2022.

History

The group, though taking on different names over the years, is estimated to be about a century old, with the earliest known productions taking place in 1926. From 1946 to 1964, the school presented a junior class play and a senior class play each year, productions constricted to grade levels. The program first opened to everyone in an extracurricular format in 1961, under the title Theater Arts Club (T.A.C.). When SLOHS opened a new performance venue - Theatre 33 - in 1971, the club rebranded under the same name. The Theatre 33 company lasted for most of the late 20th century, and was changed to Drama Club at some point in the early 21st century.

Over the years, Drama has acted as the parent entity for several smaller theater-related clubs. The largest of these, Iambic Pentameter and the Improv Team, were merged with Drama Club in 2021 to become the SLOHS Performing Arts Company. Other Drama subgroups included British Humor (a predecessor to the Improv Team), Stage Crew (dissolved into Drama in the late 20th century), and Ushers Club. Stage Crew was the longest-running subgroup, in continuous operation for more than 30 years.

Groupings

Primary incarnations

The SLOHS drama program has been rebranded on four occasions. While active since the 1920s, it was not formalized as a club until 1961.

  • Drama program (not formalized) (c. 1920–1961)

  • Theater Arts Club (1961–1971)

  • Theatre 33 (1971–?)

  • Drama Club (?–2021)

  • Performing Arts Company (2021–present)

Subsidiary organizations

The theater department has had a number of affiliated organizations over the years. While holding independent club status, these groups often operated under the jurisdiction of the drama program, or were to created to serve the program in some capacity.

  • Stage Crew (1953–1985) was a large group of students formed to provide backstage services to school-sanctioned productions in the 1950s. Stage Crew was not originally affiliated with theater; it was initially intended to aid all manners of event, including band/choir performances and school ceremonies. The club continued into the age of organized drama, aiding Theater Arts Club in the '60s and Theatre 33 in '70s and '80s. The last records of Stage Crew are from 1985, after which it is assumed the group was dissolved into Theatre 33. Running for more than 30 years, Stage Crew was the longest-running auxiliary group.

  • Ushers Club (c. 1970–?) was a club started in the '70s, presumably to usher for school productions. It is unclear how long the group was active for.

  • British Humor (?–2003) was a predecessor to the Improv Team started sometime in the 1990s. The last records of British Humor appear in 2003, but Improv records exist earlier than that, suggesting that the two coexisted for a year or two before fully replacing each other.

  • Improv Team (2001–2021) was created in the early 2000s and quickly became one of the most popular performance groups on campus by hosting recurring improv performances at lunchtimes. While there was substantial overlap between thespians and Improv cast members, Improv consistently had a more diverse group of members because it was less time-consuming and was often taken less seriously. The Improv Team began declining in interest and numbers in 2019; a large ensemble of fan favorite performers had recently graduated, and recruitment to fill the vacancies became near-impossible due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Facing closure in 2021, the group was dissolved into the Drama Club and transitioned into a department of the SLOHS Performing Arts Company. The team is being progressively revived under the helm of new leadership in the aftermath of 2020–2021 school closures.

  • Iambic Pentameter (1997–2021) was started in 1997 to incorporate the works of Shakespeare into the drama program. Previously, As You Like It (1973) and Romeo and Juliet (1994) were the program's only Shakespeare productions since its inception in the 1920s. Iambic Pentameter established an annual Shakespeare show by the beginning of the 21st century, debuting with Much Ado About Nothing (2001). The company ran for twenty years, closing with a revival of Much Ado About Nothing in 2021, before being dissolved into the Performing Arts Company as the Department of Classics. Iambic Pentameter was the oldest running subsidiary when Performing Arts Co. acquired the entirety of the drama program's groups.