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Williams Middle School's new drama program takes to the stage Oct. 15

Chance Pearson goes over his lines with drama teacher Lela Schober. This is the first year Williams Middle School has had a theater program. Ryan Williams/WGCN

Chance Pearson goes over his lines with drama teacher Lela Schober. This is the first year Williams Middle School has had a theater program. Ryan Williams/WGCN

WILLIAMS, Ariz. - Even though the Williams Middle School drama class only started in August, the students are already staging their first performance on Oct. 15.

The performance starts at 7 p.m. in the Williams Elementary-Middle School Auditorium, 601 N. Seventh St. It is free and open to the public. The evening will feature four one-act plays, including a comedy, a melodrama, a western and a Disney story.

"Because it's unique to each student's personality the plays are very different," said drama teacher Lela Schober.

The theater class started this year after Schober asked her students last year what programs they would like to see at the middle school that they didn't already have.

"A number of students responded with, 'It would be very neat to have drama, but not as a club as a class,'" Schober said. "Many of our students have to travel a long ways to come to school, and drama being a club would not provide them an opportunity to participate."

So this year, the drama program started as a full-fledged class. Students earn grades for adapting plays, memorizing lines, and executing drama techniques.

"It is a student-based class," Schober said. "They prepare the lessons, they teach each other the curriculum. I just am their guide."

The class has about 20 students this year, ranging from sixth to eighth grade.

"What's really neat is we're seeing the different ages work together without me forcing it-it's happening naturally," Schober said.

For their upcoming performance, students broke into groups and chose a one-act play to present while incorporating drama techniques to help the audience understand the storyline.

"I wanted them to get a feel for being on the stage, for memorizing lines, for building sets with one act instead of doing multiple acts, multiple scenes for our first performance," Schober said. "This is every student in here's first year in drama."

Next quarter Schober plans to stick with one act plays, but have the students write their own. So far, Schober said she is amazed and proud of the work her students have put into their first performance.

"We are only seven weeks in and they are taking complete responsibility of themselves," she said. "I have sat and watched a group completely adapt a play from female characters to male characters to changing the play to fit in a timeframe. They were analyzing their lines for their meaning, making sure the sets were right."

In addition, the students have also figured out the lighting for the production and come up with costumes ideas.

"When you can have students that are taking that type of ownership of our curriculum, of what we're doing in drama, they're learning," Schober said.

Eighth grader Justin Johnston said he signed up for the drama class to get a foundation for acting. So far he said he's learned several script techniques, "Like using all your parenthesis or your periods and commas to kind of give emotion to the script."

The class has already challenged Johnston to play a character that is completely different from himself-in one portion of the show, Johnston plays a female character.

"I have to be all sassy," he said. "I became a lady for 30 minutes and I found out all of the struggles it takes (with the makeup). So I'm hoping that I'll never have to do it again."

Johnston said his favorite part of the drama class is that it's student-based.

"The class gets to run it and we have our own way of teaching and learning," he said. "So it's not textbook drama. It's more of a flowy type thing."

Johnston said he's excited for his stage debut.

"I've practiced and know my lines by heart, so I could probably do it in my sleep," he said.

Another drama student, eighth grader Kodie Hollamon, said she's enjoying working together with her classmates to prepare for the show.

"As a class we all cooperate and learn our lines and stuff together a lot more than we would have without the class," she said.

Hollamon said she likes theater because of "the environment and the people and how (drama is) different from a normal class."

She added that she's looking forward to the upcoming performance.

"I'm pretty nervous but I feel like since we've been practicing for so long we'll do great," she said.

Although the performance is free, the students will sell concessions to raise money for the drama program. Schober hopes to have a good turnout for the first performance.

"The more people we can get interested in supporting these students I think the better the program will be," she said.


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