Reply to New STA parent seeking advice, suggestions, or just plain "I wish I had known X" info

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]How difficult is it to land a spot in the upper school plays?  Is there a core group of drama kids who get the parts year in and year out?  Would a freshmen have a chance, or is the program geared towards the older kids?[/quote]

A new to the Close/STA, talented freshmen would have a strong chance of "getting in" and landing a lead.  If you don't get in early (freshmen year) you're pretty much cut out of the leads as the same core group of kids get cast year in and year out.  The best that you can do is ensemble usually with a large group of kids.  It also helps if you have a mom volunteering with the drama program.     [/quote]

My take in response to 10:31, from being an audience member for a while (no kids active in the drama program), is that the STA/NCS drama program tries to pick productions that will give lots of opportunities to both boys and girls.  For example, last year they double-casted the big musical, Oklahoma, so twice the number of kids got parts, including significant leads.  I can also think of about three situations within the last three years where good singers who were junior/seniors got big leads in their first year in the drama program (both boys and girls).  Maybe that happens more with musicals than plays because a great voice is so obvious?  But have seen it.  As a general rule, it does seem that kids start out with smaller speaking parts and work up to big parts -- that seems consistent with what I remember from my own high school days.  Also from my audience perspective, and I go more to the musicals than the plays but have gone to both, I can see why the same kids get big parts in multiple productions -- they're really good.  With that said, the drama program does multiple one-act plays in the spring and it seems like those offer great opportunities for interested "newcomers" to get great experience, either acting or directing (the kids direct them).  The remark about the parents volunteering seems a bit over the top to me, by the way.  I'm more of a sports-oriented person, so it seems like a situation where the parents of the captains or starters do more as a result of the kid being very committed to this extra-curricular activity, as opposed to the child being a team captain or starter because the parents are good team volunteers.

My take in response to 09:58 -- absolutely the kid should try out for productions and get involved.  It's a nice group of kids, it is a great way for boys to create healthy and meaningful friendships with girls from NCS, and they choose productions that offer lots of opportunities for lots of kids.  If the student is reasonably talented and stays committed I'm sure they will get bigger and bigger parts, if that is a concern.[/quote]

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