With the end of the year approaching, the ever awaited spring musical comes along side to provide students and community members with some ever needed entertainment. The production Anything Goes, as selected by LHS English teacher and director Beth Atkinson, Choir teacher Julie Burke, and Band teacher Brenden Burns, will feature a “comically colorful assemblage of passengers” but will more notably stand as the last production by Beth at the high school before her retirement.
Atkinson has been teaching for 30 years starting with a year in Grangeville and a spring semester Jenifer Junior High before coming to the high school. Despite her excellence in directing, her own participation in high school drama was quite minimal.
“I auditioned for shows, but I didn’t get make a show until Godspell, the second semester of my senior year. I was in what they called Jazz Choir, in drill team, and the managing editor of the Purr.”
With a whopping total of 61 productions directed, Beth’s favorites include a variety of plays for different reasons.
“Fiddler on the Roof is a great show because it helps the kids step into the shoes of people from another time and place. Oklahoma kind of does that but it’s still American unlike the European roots of Fiddler. I love the message and vaudeville fun that’s in Godspell. Anything Goes is great because it’s a tap show. I prefer musicals over straight shows but The Diviners is one of my favorite straight shows.”
Atkinson left marks on previous students boosting them into the drama world. Katie Strohmaier, a previous LHS graduate, has gone on to perform in in Seattle, Minneapolis, and on crew ships. Jared Helm, another LHS grad, “…is not only an accomplished actor and director, he is the lead drama director at Coeur d’Alene High School.”
In all of her years of directing drama, Beth’s favorite moment is seeing the student recognize what they were doing wrong and changing it. “I love the “Ah-ha!” moments, seeing the excitement in kids when they finally get something, such as learning tap-steps.”
Without doubt, Beth’s objective in teaching drama is teaching students how to succeed on their own. Skills that students pick up at LHS will be applicable throughout the drama world and and in other professions.
“For me this program has not been about showcasing me or my talents, but to empower students and show them what they are capable of, teaching them to take different roles. They can lead, they can do lights, they can stage manage, they can do costumes, they can choreograph, they can direct a show, they can do all of it. Ultimately they don’t need me.”
Anything Goes shows at 7 p.m. Mar. 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, and 12 in the LHS auditorium. Admission costs $1 for LHS activity card holders, $5 for adults and $4 for students and senior citizens.