For a recent local production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” students made all of the sets, costumes and music.
Written By David Greisman
As the weather warms up and the school year winds down, students, teachers and administrators in high schools here and around the country start thinking about putting on stage performances like those epitomized by the Disney Channel’s popular “High School Musical.”
Many school theater groups buy the rights from publishing houses to scripts and music of shows like “Grease,” “The Wizard of Oz,” and “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” then make their own costumes, build their own sets and mount performances for parents and friends.
That was what Carroll County students from all eight local high schools showcased at their recent Drama Fest 2010 at LifePoint Church near Finksburg.
But elsewhere in the U.S., high school musicals can get impressively elaborate.
In affluent Westchester County, N.Y., for example, a student production of “The Wizard of Oz” did not look or sound like what one would imagine such a show to become.
Instead, the professionally painted sets and well-made costumes looked almost as if they had come out of the 1939 MGM movie. The show had an experienced director, a director’s assistant and a choreographer, plus a crew to install the set and then break it down.
All at a price starting in the low five figures.
In the well-to-do New York City suburb, more than a dozen schools bring in KJK Productions for its package deals, which include staffing, sets, costumes, and the royalties needed to perform the shows.
The idea of hiring a production company has not yet caught on in Carroll County. But some schools elsewhere find the cost worthwhile because the tangible products – the sets, the clothes, the play itself – have intangible benefits, too.
“There was once the idea of doing an elementary school show with the teacher making the scenery with the class, painting boxes and making the scenery,” said Kevin J. Kearins, president and producer of the eponymous KJK Productions, which has its headquarters in Jefferson Valley, N.Y. “Nobody has the time for that anymore.”
The price of KJK Productions’ packages depends on the school and how many kids are involved, but they start at more than $10,000, according to Kearins. Much of the expense is borne by local PTAs.
It is not just that working parents no longer have time to volunteer and help their children’s shows. There is a time crunch on teachers as well, said Kearins, a former sixth-grade teacher.
“You’d have teachers volunteer their time or get paid a small stipend to direct a show for their school,” Kearins said. “That’s changed because the teachers have so much more to do. It’s a longer day than it used to be. But the parent-teacher associations still wanted something for their kids to do.”
And so there are companies like KJK Productions. There are others: companies that provide similar services, such as backdrops, costumes and set items, and some companies that have their own specialties – for example, ZFX Flying Effects, based out of Louisville, Ky., works worldwide producing flying rigs for shows such as “Peter Pan,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Willy Wonka.” ZFX also has sets and costumes for its shows.
“They might call us for the flying and discover we can help with additional elements,” said Emily Ballou of ZFX’s producing department. “They’re getting a lot out of one company instead of having to deal with so many additional vendors. Most of our clients are just getting flying from us. It’s a relatively low percentage that gets costumes.
“Some schools like to give students an opportunity to have hands-on experience building and creating those elements,” Ballou said. “Others don’t have the budget, because while those elements are very nice, they’re not inexpensive.”
The price of the “Beauty and the Beast” set package for one production week is $10,000, she said. The cost of flying depends on the building in which the show is being performed, how complicated set-up is, how long the show runs and what kind of choreography is wanted. Prices can start at around $4,000 and range upwards. A flying production in Shanghai, China, has a bill of more than $600,000 just for its use of ZFX, Ballou said.
In Carroll County, schools may pay for specialty services. “Little Shop of Horrors” requires a number of costumes as the Audrey plant grows. Most of the time, though, productions follow the traditional route: sets and costumes made and collected by parents, kids and teachers, according to Jeff Rogers, supervisor of fine arts for Carroll County Public Schools.
“I’m not aware of any of my schools that use these packages,” Rogers said. “What they will do is rent the rights and the script to a show. What that gives you is the script and the music book and then the ability to perform it a certain number of times. Many times now they’ll negotiate for the ability to make a DVD for the kids. Some companies will allow that, and some will not.”
The biggest reason for this is the cost of putting on a play, Rogers said. “Whatever they make in the gate is front-funding the next show.”
At McDaniel College in Westminster, sets are done in-house, according to Josh Selzer, the school’s arts manager. Costumes, meanwhile, are a mix of made, bought or rented.
“I don’t know of any college theater that simply just rents or buys things, because then you take away all the opportunities for students to get practical hands-on experience,” Selzer said “Usually those packages are available for shows that are among the most popular. We don’t really do those in academic theater. We do what supports the curriculum.”
Some Carroll County schools have programs for students to letter in drama that require them not just to act, but to work on the technical crew and to work with sets and costumes, according to Rogers. “They have to understand theater from both sides of the curtain,” he said.
Students will be able to take a course in the 2010-11 school year “in which kids will actually be designing sets and seeing what goes into designing those types of things,” Rogers said. “That’s very valuable. We need more than just actors. And kids need to know they’re part of a troupe that is willing to do everything.”
Beyond that, putting on a play isn’t just about the product, but about the process, too.
“There’s camaraderie that happens with the kids working together with the parents to make that production work, as compared to coming in, having everything done for them and just stepping into the roles,” Rogers said.
“We’ve known that the packages existed, but I haven’t looked into them. Every once in a while I get a flyer about them, but I usually don’t read them because I’ve never had any of my drama teachers saying they want to do that.”
