RAHS Drama performs ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ in Fall 2022. Image via rosevilleraiders.org.

RAHS faculty reflects on the drama department’s inclusivity and initiative to support students in their endeavors

By Ellie Bognar — Reporting intern

Creating theater that is thought-provoking, creative and fun is the heartbeat of the Roseville Area High School drama department.

“Our drama department is an extremely inclusive and creative place where kids can be themselves and test out how they want to create art and put it into the world,” said drama program director Kaitlen Osburn.  

In the drama program, students learn short- and long-form theater and have the opportunity to perform throughout the school year. 

Each drama student practices playwriting and directing and gets the chance to show off their own work. The RAHS Mini Play Festival every winter contains student written and directed short plays,each under four minutes long. 

In the spring, RAHS hosts a full-length play as well as a variety show that gives students the opportunity to try something they might have missed out on in the past year.

The drama departments’ next performance will be The Twelve Huntsmen on April 9-12. The Twelve Huntsmen is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a heartbroken princess who disguises herself and 11 maidens as huntsmen to win back her fiancé. 

Over the past decade, the drama department has become a much more student-driven program. To select shows each year, a student-elected leadership board works directly with Osburn. After narrowing down to three options for the fall, each is presented to the drama department and one is chosen.

Students can also apply for leadership roles before each production that range from choreographer to director, costume designer to tech liaison to stage manager. 

“Our returning students step up into leadership positions and often we have students that want to continue doing improv for our program for all four years or longer,” assistant coach Karin Simons said.

Director and drama teacher Erik Lane teaches Drama classes 1 and 2 at RAHS, performance-driven classes focusing on the creation and presentation of story and plays. At the end of those classes, students spend four weeks creating and producing their own play. 

“My Drama 1 class in particular is meant to be a place where someone who’s never done theater before can explore and try something new for themselves,” Lane said. 

The drama department works with the Midland Hills Golf Course for fundraising. In previous years, the golf course has brought students in for their haunted hayride to be actors. 

This year, students organized a day for them and their parents to put together food kits for the community.  

In addition to the drama department, RAHS has an improv troupe that showcases the art of improvisation and creativity. The improv troupe is selected at the beginning of the school year using the audition process. Unique to the Roseville program, many schools in the area do not have dedicated year-round improv troupes. 

Simons currently co-coaches the improv troupe at RAHS with Andy Lindvall. Simons herself attended RAHS and was a part of the improv program. 

“I started doing improv through local theater programs before high school so I really wanted to continue with it. Improv has a wonderful way of building community and finding folks who are excited and willing to be vulnerable,” Simons said. 

Many improv programs are typically aimed at students who have previous improv experience or scripted theater experience. However, the RAHS program advertises that students don’t need experience, but should have a willingness to commit and attend practices. 

The make-up of the troupe contains a handful of students who are very active in the drama department and many students brand new to improv.

After graduating, students can carry the skills they learned from participating in the improv program throughout their entire lives. 

“Improv gives people a lot of confidence to trust themselves, really basic skills with public speaking and being more comfortable with walking up to somebody to start a conversation,” Simons said. 

The most successful improv students are willing to experiment, try new things and be open to feedback from coaches. Simons said improv doesn’t work well if students are not trusting in their teammates. 

“I’m most proud of how the students support each other. They brighten my day just as much as they brighten each other and they love seeing each other try new things,” Osburn said.