Stronger Together – The art of staging a musical in a professional venue

Arts education partnerships are relationships that aim to strengthen schools and communities by engaging students and developing their capabilities in the arts by bringing additional perspectives, resources and support to enhance curriculum and the quality of arts related events (Carlisle, 2011). With the world now in clutches of a global pandemic and the entire professional performance industry in shutdown, the possibility for collaborations between schools and the broader performing arts community is rich with opportunity.

Professional venues, already popular with schools looking to improve the quality of performance and showcase to wider community audiences are looking to local productions to fill the void left from national and international touring companies. And for schools seeking larger venues and regulated managment of audiences due to ongoing physical distancing restrictions, the hiring of a professional performance space to stage their next musical production – especially one that is heavily discounted – has never been more achievable.

Staging a school production in a professionally operated and equipped venue, however, is not a guarantee of success. And although venue management and their staff are more open to receiving school groups into their theatres, the tenuous history between these two groups requires consideration of some of the enablers and constraints to successfully navigate these site-specific partnerships.

A Risky Venture

I was approached by our Principal to move our musical off campus to a professional venue, and my initial reaction was being hesitant and slightly overwhelmed.

It’s a risky venture, for drama teachers to leave the familiarity of a school venue and venture out into an unknown industry space because school theatre practices are not always compatible with those used in a professional venue. The lack of available and qualified staff within schools, for example, means that teachers of drama are often juggling multiple production roles with their normal teaching loads. Whereas, in an industry setting there is one specifically trained person for each production role – especially leadership roles associated with musical productions.

Research highlights that the peculiarities of working within a school context have helped propagate an image of the drama teacher as overworked and wearing too many hats. And this may explain some of the limiting preconceptions of these teachers held by industry professionals as unorganized, ‘novices’ who don’t understand the business of theatre. Similarly, for drama teachers, there can be a view that industry professionals don’t care about school shows in the same way that they care about professional shows (Aris et al., 2019).

These negative and often unexamined preconceptions are damaging and may be the reason why partnerships between the two different groups can fail. If staging your school’s musical in a professional venue is to succeed, outdated and limiting stereotypes need to be replaced with positive, inclusive and informed perceptions from both groups.

enegotiating Roles and Practices

To achieve a successful outcome when staging a school musical in a professional venue, drama teachers and industry professionals should re-negotiate traditional roles and practices to accommodate each other in these new partnership settings.

As a way of preventing the burden that filling multiple roles places on drama staff and when the level of expertise required is not available within the school community, it is recommended to outsource crucial production roles to industry professionals. This in turn creates the space for drama teachers to have a more rewarding experience with greater focus on one leadership role per teacher. If your school cannot afford to hire professional designers, set builders and technicians then volunteers with suitable experience should be engaged. However, it’s advised not to fall into the trap of taking on multiple production roles – especially leadership roles.

The importance of detailed preparation and planning is key for a successful outcome when working with industry staff in a professional venue. Teachers should visit the venue and get the industry experts involved early. Come to the meeting prepared with a detailed production schedule (draft version) that is realistic (can be achieved in the time allotted) detailed (all areas of production are accounted for) and be willing to ask and be open to feedback.

Fostering a clear line of communication between school participants and venue staff is another key practice that enables a fluid partnership process. A willingness from drama teachers to take on board advice and ask for help fosters an atmosphere of collaboration. Whist partnerships are further enabled when schools are realistic about what can be achieved in the theatre in the allotted time and budgetary restraints. Venue staff too must make allowances by going at a slower pace because a school production is different to that of a professional company who may have been repeating the same show for many years.

In many cases, industry professionals are experiencing a growing connection to the purpose of staging a school musical and are learning to appreciate what drama teachers are trying to achieve. The value added in working with students in this capacity brings another dimension to their professional roles (being a vehicle for student learning) as co-collaborator and mentor. The willingness of venue staff to take on board these developing roles and help nurture a school musical is a critical factor that enables school groups to navigate the unfamiliar terrain of staging a musical in a professional venue successfully.

A Shared Vision of Quality

During this time of great uncertainty and change, an opportunity has presented itself to create a shared vision of what constitutes quality in performing arts education between two groups that normally have contrasting values. The industry space, who traditionally define quality by the end product – the number of seats sold, the response of the audience and critics, is in contrast to the traditional pedagogical model of success – that although containing elements of the industry definition are dominantly based around educational learning processes and increased student engagement. These new roles see industry and education groups sharing the responsibility via a new vision for arts education partnerships in which industry and education values for quality (aesthetic and educational) are being shared.

It takes great risk, hard work and perseverance to successfully navigate your musical production beyond the safety of the traditional school boundaries into a foreign industry space. However, if drama teachers and industry personnel are prepared to invest time and self- awareness, then the staging of a school musical in a professional venue is achievable and rewarding. The placement and visibility of quality school productions in professional venues at this time will fill an important gap left by the absence of touring productions. The rise of these opportunities has the potential to propel the prevailing views held by industry and education professionals towards the ‘other’ into a more exciting, dynamic and permeable space of solidarity and mutually beneficial arts education partnerships.

References

Aris, M. P., Wright, P., & Pascoe, R. (2019). Negotiating effective arts education partnerships: School and industry professionals and the High School Musical. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 20(16).

Carlisle, K. (2011). Arts education partnerships: Informing policy through the development of culture and creativity within a collaborative project approach. Arts Education Policy Review, 112 (3), 144-148.

About the Author

Matthew is a former drama teacher and director with 25 years’ experience producing shows in a variety of education and industry contexts. As Founder and Director at The Performing Arts Link, Matthew is finding new ways to enhance the quality of performing arts education through the promotion and facilitation of inclusive and mutually beneficial partnerships between industry and education groups.