Hi Courser Theatre Family,
Alice in Wonderland Updates:
Locker Decorations:
I know a few parents volunteered to assist with locker decorations. If you did, can you please email me? I can only track down one email from a parent. I believe others told me in person... I should have responded with "great, please email me that so I don't forget..." because I done went and forgot...
Saturday Rehearsal Update:
We will need to call that tentative rehearsal on 4/19. I acknowledge this is the same date as prom. I'm sorry about that but we want to ensure this show is ready. We will rehearse from 10am to 2pm.
Costume/Production Fee Due Date:
If you intend to pay a production fee in lieu of ordering the costume for your student, we need that to be turned in by April 11. Please tell me if that is your intention ASAP so I can get costumes ordered for your student. If you are buying your student's costume, we'd like to have to have all costumes ready for students during rehearsal by April 14th.
Building & Painting Assistance:
If you're willing to help build, we need to build a new periaktoi (three-sided set piece) for the door size-changes. We need to build it in a way that an actor can climb inside and outside of it. We will be working on this during rehearsal time. If you're available to help with this project, we'd be thankful. We also need to paint three differently sized doors, a couple of loopy/whimsical spiral, a beach landscape, a garden landscape, a flower garden, woods, and a royal rose garden. We will be working on these during rehearsal time. If you are willing to help, we'd be very grateful.
Student Crews:
If your student is interested in participating on crew, they should attend at least one rehearsal this week (though we have plenty of work they can assist with if they'd like to be here more). They should also be in attendance for all rehearsals from April 14th onward. Only students who attend their rehearsals as expected will be permitted on crew. We've had a "too many cooks" issue recently where we've had a high number of students turn out at the last minute to participate on crew and we have not had jobs for them so the only purpose they've been able to serve is to distract from those who do have jobs. We will accept anybody who shows up as expected. Please communicate any schedule conflicts to myself and Cindy Motaei (cindy.motaei@thevanguardschool.com).
Courser Theatre Updates:
Banquet Update (High school only):
The banquet date has been adjusted to May 9, 2025 from 5pm to 7pm. We will be hosting choir students as well. We would appreciate assistance with providing food for this event. Please let us know if you're willing to assist with that.
Points Updates
If your student has not done so already, encourage them to update their Thespian Points. They should fill out a new form for each instance of points submission (i.e. lead on a show is one form, crew on another show is one form, volunteering for an event is one form, etc). Junior high students cannot be inducted into the Thespian Society until their freshman year but they may still claim points accumulated before freshman year. All theatre-related projects since birth are applicable.
March Newsletter
Important Dates
April 24th, 25th, and 26th
Alice Performances (24th is daytime performances for Elementary Students. Snack donations appreciated!)
April 25th
- Thespian Officer Apps Due
-Thespian Inductee Apps Due
May 2nd
-Vote for New Thespian Officers May 3rd
- Theater Banquet and Thespian Inductee Ceremony
Alice
Reminder we have rehearsal Monday 3/31 from 4pm to 6pm.
Our production of Alice is officially underway! Please be on the lookout for information and updates sent in emails! As of right now, we are looking for parents interested in volunteering to do locker decorations for our opening night on April 24th. Please reach out to Mr. White if you are interested! If you missed the parent meeting, here is a rundown of what we went over:
: Production fee options include:
Help with purchasing costumes for your student (currently posted on www.CourserTheatre.com)
Donating show-specific goods (props, furniture, etc)
Donating materials (paint, lumber, etc)
Donating concessions
Volunteering time to paint, build, or stitch costumes
Ad sale purchases
Standard production fees ($50)
Also at www.CourserTheatre.com you can find:
The calendar. Students should know what ensemble they're in.
Ad sales. There's a form to fill out to buy an ad, as well as options to pay with cash, check, or card.
Mailing List sign up. There will be information sent out via IC that is Alice-specific.
Production Crew:
Crew sign ups are posted on the Courser Theatre Board outside of the cafetorium. If your student is interested in crew, encourage them to sign up!
There will be a production meeting from 3:30pm – 4:00pm on Thursday April 3rd. All crew members are expected to attend.
Students interested in helping with props would be appreciated at all rehearsals from 3/31 to 4/3.
Theater Banquet
Our theater banquet to celebrate high school participants and their families will be held on May 3rd from 4-6:30 pm. We need a parent or parents to donate decorations (tablecloths, napkins, plates, cups, etc.). If that is something you can help with, please contact Mr. White. We will be doing a buffet and asking freshmen to bring a main dish, sophomores to bring a side dish, juniors to bring desserts, and seniors to bring drinks! We would like to recommend semi-formal attire for the event. If you are interested in doing a senior speech, please contact Saul Morales at 503395@thevanguardschool.com. If you are interested in speaking about a teacher, contact Maddie Anderson at 505756@thevanguardschool.com. We look forward to celebrating our amazing 2025-2026 season with all of you!
Thespian Officers
If you are currently a Thespian member and interested in being an officer for next year, please be on the lookout for officer applications. They will be posted soon and they will be due on April 25th. We will then vote on our new officers on May 2nd during our last meeting of the season! Best of luck!
Graduation Chords
If you are a part of the Thespian Society and you have not yet ordered your graduation chord, the deadline is fast approaching! The link below will take you to the site from which you can order! This is for seniors only.
Thespian Society Induction
In anticipation of our 2026-2027 season, we are very excited to expand our Thespian Society and induct new members into our troupe. You must have 10 participation points in order to be eligible to apply for membership status. If you think this may be you, please visit www.CourserTheater.com to fill out an application sheet! All inducted thespians are encouraged to fill out the digital points forms as well. The inductee ceremony will be held along with the banquet on May 3rd from 4-6:30 pm. More information will be coming soon! Please visit Mr. White with any questions.
Courser Theatre Family,
Vanguard's various art programs will be demonstrating their talents at our very first Performing and Visual Arts Night. On Saturday, March 8th, come join us at Opus Creative Industries (1 S. Nevada Ave.) to see the work our acting and tech theatre classes have prepared to show you. Tickets are $25 per person. There will be appetizers and a cash bar. Sign up at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080B45ADA82CAAF85-54438852-dinner "
Support the theater with a wearable memento! Designed by one of our Thespians, Maddie Anderson, is a Courser Theatre t-shirt that can be purchased for $20. The link to purchase is https://www.customink.com/fundraising/courser-theatre-troupe-t-shirts
Our Spring musical is 'Alice in Wonderland!' Callbacks are today from 2:00pm to 4:00pm. First rehearsal is Monday, March 3rd from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. There will be a quick parent meeting the following Monday (3/10) from 6:00pm to 6:30pm.
Crew Sign Ups will be posted next week.
Improv Club will be performing their very first improv show this Friday, February 28th at 6:00pm. Come join us for a night full of fun and laughs as we improvise scenes from your suggestions, there will even be opportunities for you to get on stage and perform! Free admission, donations appreciated.
Hello Courser Friends and Family,
We just wrapped up The Importance of Being Earnest! Congratulations cast and crew for a great show.
Much Ado About Nothing is February 21-22 at 6:30 P.M. Tickets will be available at the door. A link will be available soon.
We are planning a talent show for 5-12 grades on March 7 at 2:15! We will be selling concessions to fundraise for the theatre department.
The JH and HS musical auditions are February 26-27, with callbacks on the 28th. The show will be announced on the 21st at assembly. Students may prepare 16 measures of traditional Broadway songs. Selections of songs will be available on the 21st. Audition workshops will be on the 24th and 25th to help with dancing and acting (tentatively) on the 24th and music (tentatively) on the 25th.
Improv Club will be performing a show on February 28th at 6-7. It will be free to attend, but donations are welcome. Concessions will be for sale.
There will be an Arts Fundraising Night at Opus Creative Industries from 5:30-9 PM on March 8. Acting Class and Tech Theatre will be showcasing their theatrical work. Tickets are $25 per person. There will be appetizers and a cash bar. A link will be available soon.
Courser Theatre shirts are now for sale! Buy one at this link: Courser Theatre Shirts
Best,
Gavin H. White
Drama Teacher
719-471-1999
Hi Courser Theatre Family,
The Importance of Being Earnest opens next week! Tickets can be purchased at www.CourserTheatre.com
Ad sales are also still available! Fill out the form here.
We'd be very thankful for assistance with finding the following:
Concession Donations
Small sofa/upholstered bench
2 matching Fancy chairs
2 matching fancy patio furniture chairs and table
Outdoor bench
We also have a sign-up for feeding the children on Thursday and Friday. Sign up here:
Happy Holidays Courser Theatre Family!!
Tonight we will be performing our children's show, Head Elf by AM Dittman. It is FREE but we'll always accept donations, of course. We encourage students of all ages to attend and dress out in their most festive holiday gear.
We will also enjoy some Christmas treats and do a quick semester recap to celebrate some of our achievements since August, reflect on our students' outstanding accomplishments this past weekend at ThesCon, and get our eyes on next semester's projects we have coming up. We hope to see you there!
If you plan on helping out with some Christmas treats, please let me know so I can estimate how much I need to collect from the Safeway before the show.
I'll send out a copy of our slideshow before we leave for break. Thank you all for your support and we hope to see you tonight!
Happy Holidays Courser Theatre Family,
We will be at ThesCon in just one week!! Woooo!!!
If you have a student attending ThesCon, they were given a form this week to help me with room accommodations. The most important part is that they need to have their waiver filled out. The waivers is a new thing that Thespians is doing this year and we need students to have it filled out in order to be permitted to attend. Please ensure that the student enters the same email they provided Mr. White during their registration. Ask if clarification is needed.
On December 19th, we will be performing our Children's Show, Head Elf by AM Dittman. It is a family friendly show appropriate for all ages and is totally free. We would love to see the house filled with high energy children as our Fall Acting course wraps up our work this year. We will also take some time after the performance to recap ThesCon, show off any pictures we've took during the event, present any outstanding Individual Events from our trip, and have a little friendly holiday get together before we leave for break. We'd like to have some simple refreshments laid out: cookies, punch, etc. if we could get some help with that, we'd be very thankful. This is December 19th at 6pm.
Lastly, for parents with students working on The Importance of Being Ernest, be sure to check out the Courser Theatre Calendar for our rehearsal schedule. Show dates are January 30th - February 1st at 7pm. I will schedule a parent meeting for that show once we return from break.
Hi There Courser Theatre Family,
Let me start by thanking everybody who showed up and supported our production of Hadestown: Teen Edition that closed last weekend. Thank you all so much for your outstanding support. We are tremendously proud of how well that weekend went.
Alas, we are on to the next show! Our (rough) initial schedule is laid out in the Calendar section of CourserTheatre.com. First rehearsal for The Importance of Being Earnest began today. A big thank you to all students who showed up to audition. Please see the cast list below and offer your love and congratulations to those cast:
The Importance of Being Earnest
CAST LIST
Jack Worthing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Saul Morales
Algernon Moncrieff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Corin Blanton
Gwendolen Fairfax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Zoe Nguyen
Cecily Cardew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joy Crouse
Lady Bracknell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mya Gainey
Miss Prism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maddie Anderson
Lane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kennedy Wherry
Merriman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aja Nakamura
Dr. Chasuble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kyle Schaefer
Additionally, our 6th period Acting course is working on producing a children's show as our final for the Fall semester. Our show will be Head Elf by AM Dittman. We plan on presenting our work for our K-6 groups the day of our final. We also plan on having a free public performance for families on December 19th at 6pm. The show is appropriate for all ages and we encourage you to pack the house with as many kids as you can find. Being that it is a free show, it is our goal to make the show as low-to-no cost as possible. Please see this list for a complete list of needs. It will be updated as needed.
Lastly, if you have a student attending ThesCon, please ensure that you fill out the waivers before December 11th. If you have not received your waiver, please click here.
Courser Theatre Family,
It's finally here!! Hadestown is TOMORROW!! We're so excited to share our hard work with our community.
There is rehearsal today until 7. Tomorrow students will have time before the show to run through some things and add some last-minute magic to our production.
Mrs. Wherry very kindly put together a sign-up for feeding these hard-workin' rascals. See below if you'd like to assist with that:
I will be giving students the opportunity to meet with me Monday after school for reflection meetings if they so choose. I have been asked about a cast party and would be thankful for any volunteer help with facilitating that for students.
Additionally, auditions for our next show will be next week. I know that's a quick turnaround (believe me, I'm feeling it, too) but the calendar was locked in before I started so we're going to have to stay on schedule. Students can sign up for auditions here. Students are asked to prepare two contrasting 60-90 second comedic monologues. Readings from the script are also available (although I can't say what the show is until Friday).
Parents of Junior High students should also encourage their young actors to audition for the upcoming Junior High play, Much Ado About Nothing. Please reach out to cyndi.moatei@thevanguardschool.com with any questions.
Lastly, if you have any students planning on attending ThesCon who have not been paid for yet, please get payment processed ASAP! Spots are filling up. Remaining spots will be filled on a first come first served basis. Information and payment link here. I have confirmation that we are definitely staying in the Hyatt Regency in Downtown Denver.
Courser Theatre Community,
In light of the inclement weather we've endured this weekend, we have made the decision to postpone our performances of Hadestown until next weekend, November 14-16.
All tickets purchased will be honored for next weekend. If you are unable to attend and would like a refund, please reach out to the Vanguard front office.
Parents of students working on the show, be advised that we will have a pickup rehearsal next Wednesday 11/13 from 4pm-7pm.
Courser Theatre thanks you all for your understanding and flexibility.
Good Afternoon Courser Parents,
You're receiving this email because you either have a student in one of my classes, working on the musical, or have talked to me directly about being involved in the Courser Theatre program. The list I compiled is by no means comprehensive. If you're friends with other adults interested in supporting our program and believe I might have left them off this list, please direct them to the sign up link below.
In an effort to improve communication with the adults that support our Courser Theatre program, I am developing a mailing list. This is the only email you will receive involuntarily. After this, only those who actively sign up to receive emails from us will get an email.
It is my goal to send at least one email a week. I might send occasional short quick ones with little updates or calls for help as needed. I will do my best to make these emails as professional as possible but A) they'll sometimes be drafted by students and B) theatre is needy and I might throw together something quick in the interest of getting information out.
I will always try to make quick and to the point. You may always reach out to gavin.white@thevanguardschool.com with follow-up questions.
Bullet points for this week:
Mailing list sign up is here. Please sign up if you'd like to continue to receive updates from us.
Hadestown tickets are on-sale now at www.CourserTheatre.com ; The website is also your best resource for current happenings with the Courser Theatre program. We open a week from today!! November 7-9 at 7pm.
There's still time to submit an Ad for the Hadestown program! Check out the Ad Sale form here.
There is a parent meeting tomorrow at 5:30pm in the Courser Cafetorium regarding ThesCon. If you have a student who would like to attend ThesCon, this is a great chance to get more information about the convention. Additionally, information about ThesCon can be found at www.cothespians.com and on the attached flyer.
Hadestown will have our final tech/first dress rehearsal this Saturday from 10am til 2pm. Snacks would be appreciated. Some very hungry caterpillars recently ravaged our concession closet and fridge without asking so we'd be thankful for any help with keeping kids fed to prevent further issue. Otherwise, tech week has been a big success. We're just about finished with all of our technical needs as we reach the home stretch!
Our Acting class is currently developing a holiday themed children's show. We will keep you updated as plans develop. The same group produced our first Dinner Mystery Theatre. We were very pleased with the turnout and would like to thank everybody coming out to support.
Due to the calendar being decided for us last year, we are scheduled to begin our Winter Play immediately after Hadestown closes. I'm working on evaluating the calendar to determine how feasible this is. GOOD NEWS IS that we will not have to go so late for a regular play and the one I've got in mind is pretty flexible. But candidly, I need decompression time and I'm sure the kids do, too. Our performance weekend is January 30th - February 1st.
Please feel free to reach out with any follow up questions.