Your High School Musical: Welcoming New Performers

I originally wrote this blog for high school musical directors, but high school musical students this includes you as well. In fact,when it comes to welcoming new students to musical theater, you're the one to make a difference. Here are some great ideas to make the "newbies" feel right at home, and make your cast feel like family in no time. 

Spring, 1977. I was a shy, high school kid in a brand new school, a huge consolidated Catholic school of over 500 students. I so missed my tiny, inner city Catholic school where everyone in my class knew every student’s name. Suddenly, here I was a small fish in a big pond. How would I ever make one friend let alone see my old friends, many who went on to other schools when our school closed?  Where was my place in this big, scary new school?

You can probably guess what I’m going to say next. I discovered high school musical theater-and it changed my life. A new friend at my new school joined our cast of “The Music Man” that spring and encouraged me to do the same. “We need chorus people," she said. Because I loved theater, and always “dreamed” what it would be like to be on Broadway someday, I said “yes”.

It was the BEST newbie welcome ever, and BEST decision I ever made. Suddenly there were many new and wonderful friends and they all loved theater, just like me. And if you can believe it, we are still friends today. Check my Facebook page and you’ll see. My love of musical theater introduced me to friends who are still near and dear to me some 40 years later.

As director, I’m sure you love seeing new kids join your  musical each year. Most directors are glad to see new students at auditions and want them to do well. You want people involved in your shows and love when new people join because news flash, the high school musical career is a short one, about four years, six years if you welcome 7^th graders. As seniors and last year’s leads graduate there is always the need for new cast members. So it goes without saying, you want to welcome new performers.

The key is once you get the kids, you want to keep them through senior year and you want their high school theater experience to be great one, one they’ll remember the rest of their lives. Wouldn’t it be great if they were still friends with their fellow cast mates some 40 years later? Welcoming your new theater kids is easier than you think and your seasoned and veteran performers, your returnees, are a huge help in this department.

New performers usually come from the lower grades, chorus or ensemble members, or the occasional student with the awesome voice who finally was brave enough to audition and won a feature role. It could also be a person new to your school that was active in theater at their old school but new to your theater program and your musical kids. The wonderful thing about new performers, they greatly add to your high school musical experience.

AS a high school musical awards adjudicator do I notice the casts that don’t seem to work well together? Yep, it’s obvious. Encourage your students from day one to check egos at the door. Leads, welcome the new people, and new people study your leads and veteran cast members. Everyone should lend his or her best efforts to EVERY scene.

At a recent performance, I saw an ensemble lend so much to a supporting player’s comedic scene. It truly made the scene the hysterical mishmash it was supposed to be. The supporting actor then managed to get the entire ensemble and him in a rousing tap dance number. Perfection. If that wasn’t team work, I’m not sure what is.

As a director, you and your students can actually with a few fun activities, begin to bring your cast together, especially the newcomers, from day one.

After you announce your cast, have a pre- show cast party. It doesn’t have to be fancy. You can even schedule it after the first read through. Pizza parties and soft drinks work great and make sure to leave plenty of time for the kids to mingle.

After the party, gather the kids in a circle on stage and have them go around and introduce themselves ,and mention the part they will be playing. Maybe they can add a bit about their high school musical experience. Keep it informal and fun. Playing the score in the background  is always a great idea, too. Singing along, definitely encouraged.

One drama teacher friend does a variation on this, and gives the kids name tags with a big question mark on them and the kids have to go around and guess the part each person is playing. The person gives his or her real first name and a “clue” about their part. Fun.

If your show also happens to be a movie, have movie night with snacks, and show the film. Recently two parent volunteers offered their home for just this activity during their daughter’s production of “Grease”. Simple snacks, and John Travolta and Olivia Newton John on a large flat screen TV. Great success. Kids were laughing, talking, dancing and singing the score by the end of the night.

Another director I know assigns cast buddies. He takes his veteran performers, students who have performed in past musicals, and assigns them a new cast member. The new person can rely on their buddy for rehearsal information, and the buddy can teach them about their upcoming musical.

Newcomers always have questions. What does the term blocking mean on rehearsal schedule? What is show week like? How do you deal with nerves on opening night? Just having someone remind you to be sure to pack extra snacks and bring plenty of homework to work on, during “hell week”, is a great help.

A cast buddy immediately becomes for the newcomer, a new theater friend. They are a familiar and friendly face during musical. Best of all when you become friends with a cast buddy you become friends with all of his or her friends- so instant new theater friends. My director friend usually has a buddy sign up sheet available the same time he posts cast list and NEVER lacks for volunteers. The kids are always happy to help.

Feed me the lines groups. This is another goodie. The kids can organize small groups to study lines together (feeding is a huge help). For chorus or ensemble kids,  they can put together extra dance or vocal practices.

Get the kids involved in set building, publicity and ticket sales. Painting sets is always fun and it introduces kids to the entire theater experience. Working on publicity, maybe selling tickets after school, or working on the program book is another fun activity. One school I know holds a contest for cast members to see who can sell the most ads. The winner gets all kinds of great gift cards.

With just a little creativity, every kid, old and new will feel like a true musical theater kid before show time, and a cast that feels like family by opening night, will truly shine on stage.