To say that there are a lot of changes coming to Fossil Ridge High School next year is a massive understatement. Plenty of people have expressed their opinions for both sides of the issues that the changes bring. One of the biggest reasons that people are not on board with the new schedule is the drastic changes many clubs will have to face with times being pushed around. The theater program is no exception, and the teachers behind it have already announced the changes that are coming to the program as a whole for the 2019-2020 school year.

The most obvious change that is coming is that the class is now being offered during seventh period instead of ninth period. That means, to participate in upcoming shows as an actor or techie, students will need to take this class. This change to seventh period brings plenty of benefits for the program, such as the fact that it is now a five credit elective. Mr. Garner, the teacher primarily in charge of Tech Theater, said that they managed to change the class from one to five credits because, “[Students] have been documenting hours for the past several shows, for about 3 years or so. And some students are getting upwards of 150, 200 hours per show so students should be getting more credit for the class.” The other benefits of moving the class to seventh period are that the program can potentially get more funding and actors and technicians will not have to stay any later than in previous years, even with the time changes.

The class, being one semester long, will have plenty of learning opportunities for students outside of the traditional realm of working on shows. The teachers plan on keeping a similar structure of crews, but they will involve much more interaction and crossover than before. This will make students more knowledgeable in more areas of theater for shows so they can walk away with more skills. Additionally, Garner also emphasizes that, “The class will have a big focus on researching the technical aspects of theater while, at the same time, tackling a more philosophical approach on how to run a show.”

While offering a wider education to students, the class has some similar requirements as before. Ms. Rust, the teacher primarily in charge of actors, states that, “Students will work during the class, but also will still have outside-of-school hour requirements that they will have to meet in order to pass.” Ms. Rust also brought up another important change for actors, which is that Theater Foundations will be required to audition for the fall play.

Speaking of the Fall play: it was officially announced along with the theater changes. Fossil Ridge’s Theater program will be putting on “Almost, Maine” for their fall play. The show is very unique, as it is separated into a series for connected short stories. As one of most produced shows in the United States right now, it is a fun choice for the program because of the options directors have. Mr. Garner said, “It’s a great show that offers us a lot of flexibility with story and casting because that’s how it is designed.”

Overall, numerous changes are being brought to the entire theater program. It should be both familiar and different to returning students next year. No matter how it turns out, Ms. Rust puts it perfectly with what is motivating the changes: “We’re trying to achieve some very specific goals that relate to our mission. The changes will be giving us more time to work and will be elevating the training of our students. We want to train students to be excellent in theater and so these changes will help to accomplish those goals.”