The auditorium at SHS filled with fourth and fifth graders from Mary Bryan Elementary School as the students settled in to see the “Seussical.”
With elementary schools wanting more partnership, SHS’s indoor student matinee was the perfect opportunity.
“We actually had a couple of the elementary school principals reach out last year about doing things in partnership with the elementary school,” Theater Director Caleb Francis said. “So we thought that would be a really good opportunity for them to offer a field trip to come down and watch the show.”
The SHS Theatre Department performed two shows that morning, one for the high school students and another for the elementary school.
Since they had less time for the second show, the cast decided to remove a few numbers from the show so that they could finish in a timely manner.
“We actually had to cut parts of the show out to make it a little bit shorter because we were working with a smaller time frame for them,” Francis said.
Before the performance, some of the elementary teachers were worried that their students would get antsy during the two hour long show, but once the show started, those concerns quickly vanished.
“I was worried that the students would get a little bored by the length of the performance,” 4th grade teacher Miss
Borgmann said. “Boy, was I wrong. Students were engaged, clapping, laughing, leaned in and excited the entire time.”
After the show began, the students were hooked and the room was filled with excitement.
“The actors were playing it perfectly, and they didn’t mess up,” Samuel, a 4th grader at Mary Bryan, said. “They did everything correctly and loud enough for everyone to hear.”
Since many elementary students have never seen a full performance before, the props, dances and songs were all new to them.
By the end of the day, it was clear that the show would stick with them.
Even after the students returned to Mary Bryan, the performance was still on their minds. The show let many of them see a full performance for the first time, and SHS’s Theatre Department hopes that they can keep offering these opportunities.
