Middle school is a time for everyone to explore their interests, with theatre being one of those options. The issue: performing is scary. This spring, 62 middle school students presented “Alice In Wonderland,” a play overseen by fifth-grade teacher Dana Maxwell, music teacher Kayla Wisdom and fourth-grade teacher Peyton Hoffman. These teachers came together with students for months to put on this play and perform in front of Rolla Middle School students and over 300 parents. Nervousness is a very ordinary experience in theatre, especially when in that awkward preteen phase. But to Maxwell, this group utilized it.
“I believe the first performance, they were afraid. They were a bit nervous. But after the second performance, they got very comfortable, and then they started doing a lot of their own. They’d forget their lines. There was no way to tell [they were improvising] when we were sitting in the crowd. Kind of making themselves different,” Maxwell said.
This comfort while performing didn’t just come out of nowhere, however. These students worked every Thursday afternoon from early December to mid-March to learn how to perform, sing, and act in front of a crowd. These students enjoyed the experience so much they decided they wanted more theatre during school.
“We’ve even talked about opening up a drama club where it’s more about learning to perform and learning to sing and learning to do acting and things like that, and how acting in the movies is not the same as acting on stage,” Maxwell said.
With the sheer number of kids on board, Maxwell required some extra help. So, she approached sophomore Stormie Henke with a proposition.
“During The Wizard of Oz [high school production], Maxwell was like, ‘Hey, you want to do this?’ So I did,” Henke said.
There’s a vast confidence gap between middle school and high school, offering a unique story for everyone. Some people love to participate in theatre currently but had not participated when they were in middle school.
“I would have tried [in middle school], auditioned and stuff—but I think I would have been very overachiever-like and stressed myself out,” Henke said.
Others, however, participated in both middle school and high school theatre and contributed a significant amount to the middle school’s shows.
“I performed in three plays in high school. Middle school, back when I was there, it was sixth through eighth [grade]. I played everything from a clown…and then I actually did all the makeup,” Maxwell said.
To Maxwell, “Alice in Wonderland” is one of the [story] options that fits the middle school’s overall crazy vibes.
“I chose ‘Alice in Wonderland’ because the middle school is absolutely crazy. And I had a teacher say, ‘We’re all mad here’, and…that kind of inspired me to go the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ route,” Maxwell said.
