In a darkened auditorium at Briar Woods High School a war breaks out on stage. Tenth-grader Paul Burgess, dressed in a green pea coat and a brown floppy hat, stands, ledger in hand, shaking his head in dismay, before walking off the stage. Briar Woods drama instructor Marina Levi smiles. The dress rehearsal for the students' Dulles District Theater Festival competition play "Us & Them" has been a success.
TEACHING DRAMA is not new for Levi; she's taught the subject for the past four years and got her bachelor's degree in theater education, but teaching drama in a brand new school has been a whole new feat.
"It's been amazing and frustrating," she said. "Sometimes it's hard because we're waiting for everything to get finished. But it's exciting too and I'd rather be patient and wait to have my new toys to play with."
Levi said she's in the process of building the drama department supply and prop room from scratch, which in the meantime has proven to be a challenge.
"Older schools already have couches and tables and chairs and stuff, we don't have any of that stuff. At my old school, you could say run into the prop room and get an end table. But we can't do that yet," she said.
County money has been set aside for the program, she said, it's now just a matter of getting everything organized Ñ and working correctly. Even though the sound and light systems in the auditorium are installed, they're not quite operational yet, she said. And both the auditorium and the "black box" Ñ a room entirely painted black that is used primarily as a classroom theater Ñ are missing curtains and other small details like working outlets and television set. But, she said, it's been worth it.
"As a former teenager in a drama program, I know for a fact that it's important to have a program like this. I've found it provides a connection to the school, it provides a creative outlook and it provides an opportunity for a team to put together a product they can be proud of and that's important," she said. "If it wasn't for drama when I was in school, I don't know what I would've done."
ELEVENTH-GRADER Neetu Dhillon isn't taking a drama class this year because she couldn't fit it into her class schedule but she's serving as Levi's assistant director in the school's drama club. She said that participating in drama club and taking drama classes is a great activity for students, particularly shy ones.
"I was shy before I started drama and I'm not so much anymore," she said. "You're so scared you're going to say something really dumb or you're going to stutter or make a mistake. But then you realize that everyone does and after awhile you get to know everyone and it makes it easier. It's a great way to make new friends."
Amanda Backenstoss, drama and choir instructor at Freedom High School, another county high school that opened this year, said that she has found that most teenagers are naturally inclined to look for ways to get attention.
"For drama students, the program facilitates a means for them to harness that and get the attention they need or that they're looking for but do it in a more controlled atmosphere where they can learn and grow as they do it," she said.
BACKENSTOSS HAS FACED similar challenges of starting a brand new drama program at Freedom.
"The schools are beautiful but not completed yet," she said, citing a video-feed system in the classroom and sound system in the auditorium that are not yet fully installed. Because neither school has seniors yet, Backenstoss and Levi teach only ninth through 11th grades. Many of the younger students are experiencing a drama program for the first time.
"I think one of the biggest challenges that they have is their nerves constantly get them," Backenstoss said. "They come in with the attitude, teach me, I want to learn but when they actually have to apply it, sometimes they shy off and they don't want to really break out of the shell."
To get them to open up, Backenstoss does a series of warm-up activities and games like tongue twisters to get everyone physically and mentally motivated for the day. She said the warm-ups are also a good way for the students, many of whom have come from different schools countywide and don't know a lot of people, a chance to get familiar with each other and start building friendships.
In the lower-level drama classes, Levi said students get an introduction to drama, learn the basics of theater production and acting and get a little theater history.
Advanced classes get more specialized and focus on the individual student's talents, strengths and interests. For example, in her advanced drama class the students are putting together the aforementioned competition play.
"Some are better at acting and know they want to act. Some kids know they want to do tech and have no desire to be on stage," she said. The students in the advanced courses are primarily graded based on their participation.
BACKENSTOSS DECIDED to opt out of participating in the competition this year but intends to get the students involved next year. They are however, putting on three plays over the course of the school year. Their fall production, "You Can't Take It With You," a comedy, will run from Nov. 17-19. Briar Woods' fall production, "Icarus All Over Again," also a comedy, will run Nov. 10-12.
Both schools' plays hold open auditions so that any student in the school can participate.
"I like to open it up to anyone in the school. Not everyone can choose a drama class in their schedule and with it being a new school, there're so many opportunities to get involved in, that they have to pick and choose," Backenstoss said.
Briar Woods 10th-grader Morgan Phillips, who got the female lead role in her school's fall production play, said she doesn't know yet whether she wants to pursue acting as a career but that it's becoming more and more likely.
"What I love is that you can be someone else for a day," she said. "Life isn't boring around here. It's certainly busy but to get away from the life you have and be someone else for awhile is a great experience."