The Association of Creative Thespians was founded by English teacher Carol Glaser in the 1983-1984 school season. "Mrs. G," as she was affectionately called by her students, produced and directed the shows until her retirement in 1989 and sadly passed away in August of 2021. When perusing yearbooks from the 1980’s one can see evidence of an interesting concept Mrs. G incorporated as you can find images of Student/Faculty productions such as M*A*S*H presented under the ACT banner which utilized faculty performers. She felt it was a great way for students and faculty to get to know each other outside of class and make a connection to create art together. In addition to faculty onstage, during those years you would see personalities such as a young Idina Menzel who participated in one of ACT's early productions (a revue called "Let's Go Back to Yesterday"), as did News 12 NJ reporter Marci Rubin, actor Bryan Coffee , writer Keith Planit and TV producer Alex Chauvin. When Mrs. G retired, science teacher Ann Cassin took over for a year, directing a revue called "Here's Broadway" and the spring show "You Can't Take It With You" during the 1989-1990 school year. 

In the early ‘90’s student participation dwindled to only a few dozen members, but fortunately the group has grown to where today we can boast well over 100 members - all following their passion of creating theatrical magic either onstage or backstage. So much so that ACT currently produces three mainstage productions, a Student Directed One Act Play Competition, three showcases and three student directed full length shows in our Little Theater. And we're always looking for more ways to engage our students.

When all is tallied up, ACT has had a reputation of producing quality theatre for the Syosset Community for close to 50 years. Going through many iterations, ACT now boasts many more alumni who are working in various capacities in the theatre arts as performers, designers, directors, writers and choreographers.

In addition to the experience and training provided in the classroom, students are encouraged to put theory into practice by participating in the numerous theatrical activities produced by The Association of Creative Thespians. Furthermore, if there is an area of interest to students where we do not offer classroom instruction, various independent study projects are available for students to pursue in areas of the Theatre Arts. These include costume design and construction, theatre arts management, directing, choreography, lighting/sound design, dramaturgy, and playwriting. 

This partnership between after school Association of Creative Thespians and the curricular Theatre Arts Program has led to a wonderful and unique co-curricular program that has produced some outstanding and memorable productions over the years and we're only just getting started!

Click here to visit the Syosset High School Theatre Arts Website to learn more and buy tickets: https://www.onthestage.tickets/syosset-high-school/about 

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