This whole thing happened by accident. I was in my first year of teaching, as an itinerant music teacher at Bird Rock Elementary, going classroom to classroom with a guitar in one hand and a boom box in the other. In looking through some old music texts in their storeroom, I found one written by my college mentor, Dr. Edith Savage. She had died not long before, and I lingered over her books a little longer, discovering that the last thing in the 6th grade text was a 15 minute version of Gilbert and Sullivan's "HMS Pinafore." I decided to make that the finale of the Spring Choir Concert. I went to school the morning of the concert as a music teacher, and I came home as a theatre teacher.
Twelve years at Loma Portal followed. We wrote a couple of our own stories and put well-known (or at least existing) songs into them. Then we decided to try a real Broadway musical: "Oklahoma!" Two weeks after that performance, the Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed and a couple of our students who were in the show suggested we do one more performance as a fundraiswer for the Red Cross. We were on every local TV station, raised about $3500, and were referred to in Time Magazine. That's a group to be proud of!
When the Point Loma Cluster and the District made the decision to move the 5th grade to Dana, I came along. The first year, we did two shows. What on Earth was I thinking? Now, it's my 16th year at Dana and my 17th and final show.
Overall, 29 years, 30 musicals, 12 musical revues, and 5 Variety Shows. Still to go, my final Concert Choir Spring Concert on June 9.
When I look back, I'll think of the 1500 students who I've had the honor to direct. I will remember the 5th grader in my first year at Dana who was marked absent the first week of school because she was too shy to uncover her face and say, "Here." I remember watching her grow, gain confidence, and mature into a young woman who was still in the ensemble at Pt. Loma High, and is now in the military. I'll remember having dozens of our students choose the San Diego School of the Creative and Performing Arts so they could continue their performing. I'll remember the students who went on to work in theatre and film, studying at NYU, PACE in New York City, the Berkely Conservatory in Boston, USC, Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts, the University of London, the American University in Paris. I'll remember the ones who never performed again, but share with me how the lessons learned in Dana Musical Theatre helped them learn how to comport themselves in job interviews and while making presentations in front of classes at school and in meetings on the job.
People occasionally ask what I will miss, now that I'm retiring. I will miss the pleasure of the company of talented, bright, and interested children. I will miss the first Saturday of every month being dedicated to working alongside parents in the costume room, in the scenery room, or on the stage. (I will also miss those emails and phone messages that tell me I know nothing about how to cast a show, but that's another story.)
So now, on with the appropriately-named "Crazy For You." Enjoy! And, as Bob Hope used to sing, "Thanks for the Memories."
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