Ep 132: “Hire a Theater Kid” – How Theater is Helping Students Prepare for Success

Experts have found students who participate in theater exhibit higher test scores, improved analytical thinking and communication skills, and are more likely to graduate. Look no further than theater students right here in Canyons District to see the proof. The theater departments at all five of Canyons’ traditional high schools are competing in the state championships this week.

 If that’s not proof enough, Alta and Hillcrest have a combined 14 finalist nominations for the 2026 Utah High School Musical Theatre Awards. Winners will be announced Saturday, May 9 at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City. 

Transcript

Welcome To Connect Canyons

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by Canyon School District. This is a show about what we teach, how we teach, and why we get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great. Students, teachers, principals, parents, and more. We meet national experts too. Learning is about making connections. So connect with us.

Meet The High School Theater Team

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Today is a spring day that would likely entice the Bard to write a sonnet, or Jonathan Larson to pen lyrics about love in all seasons. Here on Connect Canyons, it's an equally muse-inspiring day because we're here to talk about drama. No, not that kind of drama. Welcome to Connect Canyons. I'm your host, Francis Cook. As a lifelong lover of the arts and a once upon a time thespian, I feel honored to sit among this group of educators, the G7 of theater, if you will. Today I am joined by the educators who make theater happen in each of our five traditional high schools. And I'm pretty sure this is a record. We have never had this many guests on our show. So we're going to do things a little differently today. Thank you all for joining us. It's truly a privilege to be in the room where it happens, if you'll allow the fun. Okay. Okay. I'm going to have you all go around and introduce yourselves. Tell us what school you are with and how long you've been teaching.

SPEAKER_03 1:26

I'm Michaela Connor and I teach at Brighton High School, and I've been teaching there for 5.5 years. So halfway through 5.5.

SPEAKER_04 1:34

Yeah, I came in halfway through. So nice. My name is Phaedra Atkinson. I've been teaching for 27 years, and I have been at Corner Canyon for 14. That is where I preside.

SPEAKER_06 1:45

My name's Susie Duval. I'm the drama teacher at Jordan High School. This is my 12th year at Jordan. And before that, I taught lots of other places.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

And I'm Lindsay Klein. I'm one of the theater teachers at Alta High School. And this is year five for me, both teaching and at Alta.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

Oh, nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:03

So this is Lindsay Struxma, and I am also at Alta High School. Yes, we have two Lindsays. We have a third coach as well. Yeah. And I have been there for 14 years.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

My name is Case Hamilton. I also teach at Corner Canyon High School, and I have been there for 10 years.

The Many Jobs Behind Productions

SPEAKER_07 2:21

And I am Joshua Long. I teach at Hillcrest. I've been teaching Hillcrest for 20 years, which is the entirety of my career.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

I think a lot of people who are not familiar with theater, they've never done theater or even just sat in on a theater class or a rehearsal, there's a misperception that it's just playing around on stage. You guys do so much more than even just putting together shows. I mean, there's competitions and you're teaching in the classroom. Would you like to tell us what goes into being a theater teacher other than obviously charisma and charm?

SPEAKER_07 3:00

So in my experience at Hillcrest, I've noticed that we, all of us, we wear a lot of different hats. The big ones are, I think, the primary one, which is as a teacher and an educator, but then we also are full-time like director, like artistic director, as well as a producer. And I think those are the three main ones that things like fall into those categories. And all three of them feel like full-time jobs and have different priorities that we do. And then outside of that, then all there's all these the smaller things, box office manager, costume designer, like all those little things. But we do so many things in each of those three categories that in the professional world would be a full-time job in and of itself. And sometimes I find it centering to be able to like identify, okay, in this task that I'm doing today, is this as an educator, as a director, or as a producer? And helps me know like in which direction to kind of focus, which has how to solve those problems and things.

SPEAKER_03 3:58

My husband equates being a theater director to a full-time head football coach schedule. There's just no offseason. So that's kind of like his vernacular or equation. Because you see your students in class, you see them after school, you see them on the weekend, you spend more time with them than with a lot of other folks. And we have really great students. I'm very biased, but I'm not an ad to hang out with them. But again, in in kind of his world, and I don't know, maybe the general public's like I said, he equates that to head football coach position. He goes just no off-season with it.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

That's a great analogy because I think a lot of people can relate to that. They understand, you know, whether you're watching high school football or the FL, there's season and there's off-season. There is no off-season for theater. That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_07 4:43

It's a not a single day.

SPEAKER_06 4:46

Jordan, we have and Michaela at Brighton's in the same situation. We just have one theater teacher. So I also, the other hat I wear is I'm also the technical director and I teach the stage tech classes. Same at Brighton.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

It's a lot. You guys deserve gold stars and all of the Tony is let's egot's egot's all around. Thank you. I accept. I accept.

SPEAKER_06 5:08

I accept.

SPEAKER_04 5:10

Our principal asks Case and I, you know, because we both team teach our productions company class, and they're like, why should we have two of you there? I'm like, it is like running a small business. It is like like we like he takes on all the paperwork and all of the the money and the production stuff and costume stuff, and then I direct and then we'll switch off.

SPEAKER_08 5:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:30

So we're really lucky. Some of us are really lucky to have two. I taught it a long time by myself for many years by myself. And I just, I'm like, I can't do this alone. And so I, for the two that are at the table, we're like wishing you'd well and didn't another person because it is, it's like running a small business where it just takes two people to kind of put it together. But if you're one person, you feel like you are going, like it is so much on your shoulders. You don't see your family, you don't breathe, you just run and run and run. And I feel like even if there's two, it still feels pretty heavy. But at least we can trade off and say, Hey, can you take this so I can go run and do this appointment with my family? Or can you take this on so that you know what I mean? So it kind of switches off between the two. We're pretty lucky that way, Case and I over at Corner Canyon.

No Offseason And Real Life Balance

SPEAKER_02 6:19

You know, I I recently finished Shonda Rhymes' book. We all know Shonda Land, Grayson Natum, Braderton, you name it. And she said it's akin to laying track while the train is barreling down. That's a medical analysis. Yeah, yeah. Because you have so much going on, you can't let off the gas because the train is coming.

SPEAKER_03 6:42

And it's belting, and there's jazz hands. Confetti, two amendment jazz.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

All the all of the above. Every year there is excitement for, particularly in the fall, you know, the school year's about to start. What are the fall musicals going to be? What are the spring shows going to be? I have so many shows that I would love to not only see, but also perform in myself. How on earth do you go about picking your shows?

SPEAKER_05 7:16

I think at Alta, me and Lindsay, both of them. We spend a lot of time talking also with our choir teacher, often our band teacher, and we look at our student demographic. We look at do we have multiple people who could potentially play certain roles so that it's not like a matter of like pre-casting, it's a matter of going, do we have options and where can we highlight as many of our students as we can?

SPEAKER_08 7:41

Yeah.

How Directors Choose Shows

SPEAKER_05 7:41

And I also think we look at we're very, very big into what does our community need to learn? And maybe what concepts and teaching opportunities can we give as educatorslash directors to go, here's something to talk about community, here's something to see, and maybe spark a conversation. That's just something we're really big at at Alta, and allows us to then hone in on what kind of stories we think would be best for our community at that time.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

That's very cool.

SPEAKER_04 8:10

We jump in on family-friendly things for our big musical so that we can involve as many community members and things like that. So, like Case and I will take elementary kids in, we'll take junior high kids in, and we'll do high school kids. So it takes our whole community and it about kills us because it's a lot of people. It's like 200 people. But we always are like, what is something that we can do that will involve everyone and be family friendly, where people feel like they can bring their families and enjoy something that we're doing. And then later we pick more things that maybe that we would enjoy doing with our students in a smaller capacity with our productions kids who are like the diehard kids who want to come and be a part and do other things. So, like picking things that aren't necessarily like huge and like something that we would enjoy. Because doing a big musical, I'll be quite frank with you, is hard and it's not the most enjoyable thing because there's lots of different hats, like Josh said, that you have to wear, and there's lots of different things going on. There's lots of managing different people, and it is not fun a lot of the times to do it because there's just a lot. And so to get into that and go, okay, we're gonna do this for the community, we're gonna see the kind of the financials, how can we make the money back so that we can do other things that we would actually enjoy doing with our smaller groups of people? So we kind of go down that route as well.

SPEAKER_03 9:33

I would say even like there's an element of that, like what would you enjoy? It also goes back to what the kids would enjoy doing and what you as a director would do. Because if you're doing a show that you don't want to do, at least at Brighton, that's how I feel. If you're doing a show that's rough on you or you don't feel passionate about it as an art from the artistic perspective, that becomes harder for you to really, really, really like get involved. And I've seen that with the kids too. If they're not buying what you're selling essentially, then sometimes it's a little hard for them to get as invested emotionally and sell their performance to their audience also. So I think it's a balance of logistics of casting, logistics of what the community wants, but also what the kids want and what you as a director and teacher want to experience that year.

SPEAKER_04 10:14

And to go back to what the Lindsies were saying, like our orchestra teacher, our pit director is very involved. And so there's like he's like, we don't have the instruments for that. We don't have the instruments for that, we don't have the instruments for that. And we're like, ah, you know, and so there's things that we are passionate about that he's like, we don't have that. And so there's a lot of times we'll pick stuff. We're like, fine, we will settle for this. And we will do it because then that involves the pit. It involves Ball's Dance Company, it involves all the kids so that they can all do it together, even though it's something that we're like, at least he can do it, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_06 10:47

Yeah, I jordan we have a kind of similar model to Corner Canyon where we have a partnership with the middle school and those kids are going to be in the show. And we have a no-cut policy for the musical if you complete the audition you're in. So it is a chance to get the whole school involved and the orchestras involved. And we just have this motto that we can be inclusive and excellent. So we're always striving for those two things, which sometimes are in conflict, but also just providing differentiated opportunities because you've got those kids who can really take on a big role and kill it. And then you've got the kid who's like, I want to be in a show and I want to wear a costume. So finding ways to include all those kids in the experience really builds community and just is just a school-wide event that happens at all of our schools, I think.

SPEAKER_07 11:34

The additional thing that I would add to that also is at Hillcrest, when students first come in, one of the first units we teach them in the in our beginning class is about Greek theater and the history of theater and why theater was quote unquote invented in the first place. And it has been invented many times, quote unquote, in the first place. And it always tracks back to a need that the society had to study ways to be a better human being. And many times throughout cultures and history, they've kind of created this way of exploring that as a community and as like a central part of the society. And so when we're choosing shows, because we teach that to the students from day one, we like to also think about, as everyone here was talking about, like the role that the high school theater program plays in the wider community as a whole. Do you know what I mean? And what stories, like Lindsay was saying, like what stories should we explore together as a community? What are some stories that maybe this community hasn't heard yet? And what are some things? And so we think a lot about variety when we're choosing shows at Hillcrest, because we do usually four kind of big shows a year. We don't want to be d telling the same types of stories over and over again. Yeah. Because the community doesn't need that. Do you know what I mean? So finding a variety of voices, of playwrights, and we have a couple different initiatives of trying to be as diverse as we can with playwrights and composers and topics and styles of theater, not only for the students to get that experience of being able to do farces and heavy dramas and musicals and Shakespeare and for their education, but also so that the community, all of the different types of people in the community, can see themselves on stage at some point. And so we think about that a lot when we choose stuff as well.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

So not very much thought goes into just kind of on a way. Yes. I love hearing how in-depth the process is. It's not just, oh, I don't know, I feel like doing Cinderella this year, and next year we're gonna do Scarlet Pimpernell because I feel like it, but that still plays a role, like you were saying, Phaedra, you know, it has to be part of what you're passionate about or what the community needs to hear at that time. And then you have the added aspect that you're also providing the community an opportunity to see shows that maybe it is a fun family show. I remember putting on a show with our local elementary students, and I'm still friends to this day with the gal who was paired with me as a high school student when she was an elementary student.

SPEAKER_08 14:19

That's lovely.

What Students Take After Curtain

SPEAKER_02 14:20

You know, it's such a bond that that creates. But then the family gets to see this big, beautiful, fun, bright production. Or maybe they're going to do something a little more serious. Maybe we're doing Amadeus, maybe we're doing Hades Town. I think you've all done a wonderful job of finding that balance between and being able to provide a well-rounded set of options for people to come and see. Thank you. Our community gets a lot out of the theater productions that you do. I know even here in the district office when the shows are going on, it's oh did you go to Jordan's show? Oh no, I went to Hilk Rest. Oh no, I went to Corner. No, you gotta go see Brighton's show. You know, it's so excited, there's so much passion about it and so much love for the shows that you're putting on. So again, we as a community get so much out of it, but our students get even more. What are the major aspects that you see your students taking home when the curtain goes down or they're leaving high school? What are their biggest takeaways that you're seeing?

SPEAKER_01 15:26

At Corner, I hope that like one of the reasons why I like involving so many people is I just hope that they were able to feel like they were included in something and part of a team and they have a memory of high school that is good and they got to have an opportunity that wasn't just, oh, I went to class every day and then I went home. And especially in the fall musicals when they're like selling out and there's so many people involved and stuff, even if they're the person in the back corner, they got to be involved in that for a moment. So I just hope that they are leaving feeling like they were part of a team and part of a group of people that included them and loved them while they were involved.

SPEAKER_07 16:07

Which I feel is such a like an important skill set as well, like moving forward in life, because I feel like increasingly our society is becoming kind of more and more fractured and and not even in in negative ways, but just we have so many opportunities to learn how to be successful individually now and have our opinions heard individually, and everything can be so solo and we can be so separate in society now. And I love how in high school theater, like Case was saying, they have to learn how to work with other people to be creative, to be productive, and to learn how to be excellent, but not individually excellent. But how to use other people's strengths to help them be better and how to use their strengths to make other people better. And I think that is such a great skill set to have once they leave high school in whatever field they go into, because it's those kinds of people that you that's who you want to work with. That's who you want to be your bosses, your CEOs, or people who can not only be excellent themselves, but but bring out that excellence in other people.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

And it's forcing them, I think, to interact with people they never would have in the first place. You know, that aren't in their circle, whatever their circle may be, science, math, sports. I met so many people from theater that I never would have met that, you know, again, I'm fast friends with them to this day, and they've changed my life in beautiful ways. And I I think you hit the nail on the head.

SPEAKER_05 17:33

I also we really talk about how it's such a great opportunity, but this is just theater in general. They learn how to individually come into a room, prepare a piece, audition, stand there, sing by themselves, act by themselves, those things, but they have to focus on the community, like Josh is saying, the community aspect to build the performance. And what I love is that's such a skill that's I love theater. That's what I chose. That's great. I don't care if a student chooses theater for their whole life, or they're just learning the skills that go forward. They just need to know that the skills of community and individuality can be learned here and can be grown here. And I also think that the skills of understanding that no matter what you're gonna be a part of after high school, networking and community are a thing. I don't care what you're gonna audition for or try out for or apply for. Networking and community is one of the main ways to make the connections you need to be successful and to make us happy. Community, I think, is a lot of why we're here.

SPEAKER_06 18:40

In order to touch on the So I mean it tag, this is Susie at Jordan. I mean it tag on to Lindsay's. We've been talking at Jordan about this idea of communities of purpose. And it was something that the teacher and I kind of really started brainstorming about because I think that's something unique we do in theater, is we're not just there hanging out together. We have this common goals and common things we're trying to do together. So I've made commitments to my students, they've made commitments to me. We are both trying to succeed together, and that is a different experience than a lot of students have at high school, and it really does feed into your future success in life to be able to be part of a successful community of purpose.

SPEAKER_04 19:21

Community of purpose. I love that. Josh Gerbin does, I'm sure you guys have all seen his like hire a theater kid. Hire a theater kid. They know how to come on time. Yep. Yep. They know how to meet deadlines, they know how to be creative, they know how to collaborate, they know all of these things that a lot of kids that are not involved in theater, they are going out into the world with these skill sets that so many people don't have. And they're able to walk into jobs and do a much better job in college and in all these other fields that they go into because they've had theater.

SPEAKER_03 19:56

I would agree with that a thousand percent. And well, at least at like Brighton, the way that we have it structured with only having one teacher, a lot of my kids end up being the leader role in a lot of the jobs that have to happen. So, like I, yeah, I can't be the painter and the costumer. I like this musical, we had a student costume 70 kids by herself. And I just kind of made sure we had the money to do that. It's one of those things where if that student specifically had the opportunity to gain a work ethic and how to communicate with other students that she never talks to and how to coordinate with the set designer and the light designer on all of those different things that they have to think about when they're putting fabric on a student on a stage with different lighting. And so I think in a general sense, like, yes, we're teaching them how to work. And I think out of my students at Brighton, that's the one thing I think for me, I'm like, if you're leaving my classroom, you're leaving with the work ethic, like Phaedra talked about, you're on time, you're turning your things in on time to a fault on sometimes when it comes to being like a little bit harsher on them for not doing those things. But it does prepare them, I think, for a generation that is getting a lot of flack for how their work ethic is. And so giving them the opportunity to prove the world wrong and say, yeah, no, my generation can work hard and we can do those things. I think that's a really important skill set that they need to learn in theater. Sure. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 21:09

Yeah. I just want to also add that we all of this in this room have dragged kids to graduation. And I keep saying in my school, we are undervaluing the role that our electives teachers, especially our arts teachers, can play in motivating kids to show up. And I don't know, I'm sure everyone around this table would say the same thing. If my kids aren't coming to school that day, they will message me and say, hey, I'm just letting you know I'm out sick. And they feel accountable to us because we are accountable to them. So that's I think just even making their high school experience valuable and meaningful to them is something that we're helping provide for them.

Rapid Fire Favorite Shows

SPEAKER_02 21:48

I think you're all building the entire person, right? The work ethic, the sense of community that you get working with a team. The building block. Of, like you said, someone who can walk into any job with their head up because they've stood in an empty room with five adults staring them down. I remember staring at the corner of our choir room, shaking. I was so scared the first time I ever auditioned for choir. And I'm so much stronger because of it. I have found I do things that I learned in theater that you never would have thought of. If I'm in a group and I see someone walk up behind me, I'm gonna cheat out because I'm gonna step out and let that person join in the group. You know, it just gets so ingrained, but in such a beautiful way. I want to talk about the shows that some of you have coming up and the competitions. But first, I told you I was gonna do this. I'm gonna provide you the opportunity. Lindsay, you didn't read the homework, did you?

SPEAKER_05 22:50

What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_02 22:53

Rapid fire. Favorite show or musical. Go.

SPEAKER_03 22:57

Me?

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 22:58

I think I'm biased, but I love Legally Blonde. The musical is one of my favorites for sure.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 23:02

My favorite musical is God Spell. Oh, good. 1970s. I love it so much.

SPEAKER_06 23:10

Marilyn Rollong is probably one of my very favorite musicals. That's the one you hear very often.

SPEAKER_03 23:15

Yeah, I'll never get to do it at high school, but I love it. Right? There are many, but probably my all-time favorite show is The Play That Goes Wrong.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

Good one.

SPEAKER_05 23:24

Yeah? Yeah. And she just did it and did amazing. Thank you. Snaps. Thank you. Uh my favorite musical is Come From Away. I love that one. Great one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

I have a hard time with this question. I get asked all the time as a theater person because I just feel like I like different shows for different reasons. But my go-to answer is always into the woods. I think it's the perfect show.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

Into the woods and out of the woods.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

I love it.

SPEAKER_07 23:48

Yeah. My brain is so compartmentalized I can have the different categories. But you've already heard Sondheim a couple of times. And Sontime is my heart. And Sunday in the Park with George is my favorite musical, but Cymbaline is my favorite Shakespeare play.

SPEAKER_06 24:04

It's a good one. I think it's probably the favorite play overall.

SPEAKER_07 24:07

Yeah, it's wild.

SPEAKER_06 24:09

It is wild.

SPEAKER_05 24:11

I mean, you directed that and did amazingly. Yeah, last year it was so good.

Upcoming Spring Shows And One Acts

SPEAKER_02 24:16

Some of you have wrapped up your performance part of the year, but some of you still has sho have shows coming out in the spring. For those of you who do, this is your opportunity to tell us all what shows you have coming. When are they winter tickets available?

SPEAKER_01 24:33

At Corner Canyon, we have one more show. We're gonna do Hades Town. It is on May 7th, 8th, and 9th. And tickets will go on sale on April 23rd. We'd love to have you there. Are we the only ones doing our stuff?

SPEAKER_05 24:50

We have student directed one acts where seniors get to direct one acts, and they will we'll be auditioning for those on April 20th, and they happen on May 7th at 7 p.m. And they're awesome. And the seniors get a chance to shine. We'll also perform on April 15th. We are performing our play from competition, like a one act red bike. So we'll do that for the community as well. But our big performances at Alta are wrapped up for the year.

SPEAKER_06 25:17

At Jordan, we are doing student directed one acts also, but we try to write, have the students write as many of them as possible. So very cool. Right now we're doing kind of a 24-hour festival sort of style, writing a bunch of plays that we'll hopefully produce some of. And our student directed 1x are May 13th and 14th. They're free. We do them in the choir room. So it's sometimes they're like Redditch theater, sometimes they're fully done. Just kind of depends on where we get. Very cool.

SPEAKER_03 25:44

At Brighton, we are doing one of my favorite plays ever, Peter in the Starcatcher, which is opening April 30th, going till May 2nd. And it's student directed by our production company, which is has been interesting, but I love it. And then we have two improv shows for the school year, which are next week, April 3rd and May 8th. And they're at 7 p.m.

SPEAKER_07 26:07

At Hillcrest, we're just finishing up right now the Peter Schaefer's incredible play, Amadeus. And then we'll be finishing the year with the classic musical Guys and Dolls, which is really fun, especially as we're working on Amadeus at the same time. It's quite a mashup. Yeah, yes. It's playing May 14th, 15th, and 16th. And tickets will go on sale May 1st at Hillcrest Theater.com.

UHSAA Theater Competition Breakdown

SPEAKER_02 26:33

Awesome. And if that wasn't enough, you know, if y'all weren't busy enough with all of that, you all just finished regional competitions. And am I correct that every single one of you are taking a team of state? Yes. Yes. That is epic. I'm here for it. States of April.

SPEAKER_07 26:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

And you were saying it's all on the same day. Yeah. Every competition is on the same day.

SPEAKER_04 27:03

And then the individual events is on a Saturday.

SPEAKER_07 27:06

And I think a lot of people don't know that there is a UHSAA sanctioned theater competition. Yes. Where a full acting team, and there's also tech events, which are separate, but a full acting team is 25 different pieces, one of which has to be an hour-long play. And then 24 other pieces that can't. You have to take four humorous monologues, four dramatic monologues, four classical scenes, four context scenes, four pantomimes, four pieces of musical theater. And so like you have to have a a broad range as a team and a school of skill sets and things. And then each of those pieces gets scored by professionals that come in. And so it's kind of, I guess, in a way, kind of like a track meet.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

Um I was gonna say to go back to those sports analogies. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 27:47

Because they're all competing individually. Yeah. And then if they score high enough, they qualify to then go to the big state tournament. So that's what we're preparing for right now. That and there's team awards, and then there's like individual stuff, and it's all like points, just it's wild. It's it's fun though. I really like it.

SPEAKER_05 28:03

And I think a lot of people don't know that we have that competition that we're preparing 25 pieces for and like working, you can't just do that in class. So it's in class to after school, you're usually doing a performance on top of it. So a lot of us are either directing another show on top or just did while we're getting all of that ready and coordinating that many students. So it's it's just it's a probably really, really busy, heavy, fun, but a lot time for us.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

And since we're going to state, not that I'm complaining about going to state, but it's like and how to revive everything again too. Yeah, and make it fast. And make it more interesting and better.

SPEAKER_04 28:42

And take the coach, the judges' feedback and like say, Well, what did I do at region that wasn't super successful? How can I be better at state for the judges there? Yeah. And then they try to refine it and become better so they can compete on a higher level.

SPEAKER_07 28:55

Which is the best part. Yeah. That the feedback. That time between region and state, I love it. You just walk in. Because you finally got all that feedback to work on and it's great.

SPEAKER_05 29:04

Well, and that's such another skill when you're talking about skills. Yeah, but when we're talking about students, we are that uh we tend to be. Yes. When we are looking at skills that are taught that students can learn, learning to receive feedback like with an open heart.

SPEAKER_03 29:19

And not and not taking it personally, right? You like utilize knowing that constructive feedback is given like from a place of caring, yes, right, and wanting to see improvement. There are so many folks that can't adults, I would say more adult students youth that I encounter that like really struggle with receiving constructive feedback. Yeah, sorry, and then being able to implement what changes they need to make.

SPEAKER_05 29:43

Or also, guys, our kids are awesome. We're just gonna shout out all of the school's kids. I know they can also give feedback to each other.

SPEAKER_03 29:50

Yes, and they know how to assess and analyze for themselves and other. Yeah, I think that's like a crucial part of competition season because there's one of us in 25 pieces. There's no possible way for all of us to give individ like individual attention all the time. And so, like, yes, I know at Brighton we have a lot of student coaches. I know that other schools here do that too. And those students are helping each other and raising each other up in that sense of making sure that they have quality pieces as well as sometimes even getting their own pieces ready at that time as well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 30:18

And I think also teaching them to who they are as artists and identifying what's valuable to you as an artist. And I always tell my kids never let through strangers tell you who you are, but see what's valuable there and take that. And if it's not valuable, let it go. If you're like, well, that's not what I was trying to do with this piece, great, let it go. And that's a really valuable life skill to go, this is helpful, this I'm gonna let go.

SPEAKER_04 30:43

But not so true.

SPEAKER_06 30:44

Not letting it destroy you, just like, yeah, that wasn't helpful, I'm not gonna do that.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

Yeah. And then, like you said, taking those constructive pieces and knowing that it comes from a good place. As everyone at this table knows, it takes you're putting so much of yourself into your shows. It doesn't matter if you're the lead or you're playing a flower in the back. You know, you want to be the best flower, you want to be the best lead. We call it Tree 14 at our school. Tree 14. You are tree 14, you'd be the best tree fourteen. Tree fourteen anyone has ever seen. And I there's so much pride to be taken from that. I think when they walk away, whether it's from a production, from regionals, and the sheer I'm so proud of all of you and all of your students. You're all going to stay, you're all showing the hard work, the dedication, and the emotional impact that theater has on so many levels. So on behalf of other thespians out there, thank you and congratulations.

SPEAKER_06 31:52

Thank you. I'm sure this is true. I I think all of us at this table in sweeps placed in the top three, didn't we? We were third in sweeps in our region.

SPEAKER_03 32:02

Corner got first, Alta was second, right and beating them for the last time. Oh no, we're good. We're getting them back for the last two years, but we're working on it.

SPEAKER_02 32:12

There you go. There you go. Love a good, and again, friendly company.

SPEAKER_03 32:15

Healthy, we're like genuine friends. Very much need be no.

SPEAKER_06 32:20

So we say, yeah, we're gonna take down Alta, but really it's hi, it's but obviously we have some of the best teachers' programs in the state, in this district.

SPEAKER_08 32:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 32:32

And I always tell my kids, you're gonna face your toughest competitors here. Yeah. And so often when they go to state, it the top people they're still competing at those really tough schools that they already competed against. Yeah.

Final One Word And How To Connect

SPEAKER_02 32:43

So listen, if we can compete against Brighton and Alta, we got this. Well, thank you all so much for being here. I know again, this is your busiest time of year. I'm gonna give you all the last word in the literal sense. I'd like you to go around and tell us if you could sum up theater, the arts, drama in one word.

SPEAKER_03 33:07

That's not my choice, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

What would it be?

SPEAKER_03 33:09

The first word that comes to my mind that I feel like is through all of it is passion.

SPEAKER_04 33:14

I have to take that too. Passion and love, just like I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 33:18

That's two words, but I'll allow it.

SPEAKER_04 33:20

I think I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_06 33:21

I'm gonna say community.

SPEAKER_00 33:23

That's good.

SPEAKER_03 33:24

Dang, that was the one. I'm gonna uh new one. I'm gonna go with necessary.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

That's good. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 33:31

Not oofta.

SPEAKER_05 33:34

Community was my thought, but now I feel like I have to choose another one. I'm gonna say important.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Um, I think everyone has said really great words, and so I'm not gonna be that deep and just say fun.

SPEAKER_02 33:47

Because sometimes I touch you just need the fun.

SPEAKER_01 33:50

We just need fun. And we tell our kids a lot, like when it stops being fun, you can stop. Yep. Stop doing it. And so I would imagine most people do it because it's fun. I don't know why else you would. Last word.

SPEAKER_07 34:03

This is my third try because the other ones were already taken. Uh uh humanity?

SPEAKER_02 34:09

Yeah, yeah. Snaps, snaps. Good. Well, again, thank you all so much, and best of luck at stay. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 34:19

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 34:20

And thank you for listening. If there's a topic you'd like to hear discussed on the podcast, send us an email to communications at canyonsdistrict.org.

SPEAKER_00 34:30

Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect Canyons. Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram at Canyons District or on our website, CanyonsDistrict.org.