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Brianna Soto
Cindy Casper
ENG 101
6 November 2016

High School Theatre Does it Help or Hurt the Student?

The arts are becoming more and more popular among high schools the most popular
activity being musical theatre. It is the norm for schools to have two shows a year one each
semester. Participating in these shows is a huge time commitment. At the beginning of a show,
rehearsals typically run a few days after school anywhere between two to three hours. Once
opening night approaches, rehearsal hours lengthen, and before you know it, youre stuck at
rehearsal every day after school for hours. The rehearsals during the second to last week before
opening night, which is called Tech Week, usually run until about seven or eight oclock at
night. The week of opening night, which is called Hell Week, is a tradition where rehearsals
run every single day after
school until about eleven
oclock that evening.

Figure One: The Hell Week rehearsal

schedule from a p roduction of
Anything Goes at Westhill High
School this past spring.

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Its no secret that high school students get flooded with work of all sorts homework,
projects, college applications and essays, SAT prep the list goes on. Psychologists have found
that the average high school student today has the same anxiety levels of institutionalized mental
patients in the 1950s. If students are already experiencing extreme levels of stress, what
happens to those who not only attend school on a daily basis, but spend countless numbers of
hours doing theatre after school?
A big problem in the world of high school theatre is funding. Because of the fact that
schools have such a math and reading oriented curriculum, the arts programs are the main target
for budget cuts. A lot of adults dont see the significance in music education. They feel that it
affects the students too negatively. However, a lot
of students have seen an improvement in both their
academic and mental standings since participating
in theatre.
Academically, theatre offers a lot to the
student. High school students are at an age where
theyre very left or right on certain skills theyre
either very good or very bad. High school is a time
for them to work on skills such as working together,
public speaking, thinking logically and practically,

Figure Two: Results from my survey in regards to

student improvement in team working skills and
public speaking skills.

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and so on. Unfortunately, high school doesnt offer much to help students critique these skills for
their future academic and life careers.
In an eighteen question survey I conducted, I asked students who currently participate in
high school theatre questions about their mental and academic standings both before and after
participating in the arts. The results were very positive, as most students claimed that theyve
improved in school because of theatre. Some of the most positive results were in response to the
team working and public speaking questions.
In addition to those skills, students claimed that theatre has had no negative affect on
their grades and attendance rates, keeping them at an acceptable academic standing. The results
of my study also showed very positive effects on students mental standings. The vast majority
of people said that they met most of their friends through theatre, enjoy the long rehearsal hours,
and always feel safe and welcome there (which is very important for kids around that age,
because high school is a very stressful time so they need somewhere they feel comfortable to
relax and de-stress).
Aside from my field research, I found an article written by a high school student located
in Ithaca, New York named Audrey Lang. Lang participated in high school theatre all four years,
and she wrote an article that delved into the pros and cons that theatre had on her education. She
explained how the wide variety of people involved made for great tutoring sessions and

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homework help, and that having that theatrical

background made school subjects that occasionally
called for it, such as English, a walk in the park.
It seems as if students are able to grasp how the
arts affects them, and how the beneficial it is to their
future. Simply watching live theatre even has a huge
effect on students. EducationNext.org did an
experiment where they brought high school students to
see live theatre and then later asked them questions

Figure Three: EducationNext.orgs

results for their Gains from Live Theater
experiment.

about important literary aspects of it. They discovered

that watching a play instead of reading one made it
easier for the students to pick out key plot points, and

really connect with

the literature on a
deeper academic and
emotional level.
Aside from
academics, it is
important to sit back
Figure Four: Results from my field
research in regards to if students feel
safe in the theatre environment.

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and delve into the healthiness of students mentally. As previously stated, the anxiety levels of
high school students are outrageously high. Once students get to high school, they begin to
isolate themselves from people who want to help them (if youre a parent, youve surely heard
something along the lines of leave me alone, Mom/Dad more times than you can count). It is
important for teens to have some means of stress relief and support.
At the end of the day, students who participate in theatre know what theyre getting
themselves into, and enjoy every second of it. Subsequent to my research (and a lot of personal
experience), students have down time during rehearsals to form small study groups and
homework groups. The support given and received throughout the theatre environment is
arguably some of the best that a teenager can get during their high school years. Not only do they
get the academic and mental support that they need, but the dancing and singing is a great stress
reliever, and no one ever leaves rehearsal feeling unaccomplished.
Figure Five: Results
from the final
question of my
survey.

In conclusion, I fully support my above claim that participating in high school theatre
does more to help students rather than hurt them. Research conducted not only by myself, but

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experts as well, has ended with nothing other than positive results, making it hard to justify that
the arts dont actually help students.

Figure Six: Clip from a recent production of The Little Mermaid in

Stamford, Connecticut.
The arts are becoming

more and more popular among high schools the most popular activity being musical theatre. It is the norm for schools to have two shows a year one

each semester.

Participating in these shows is a huge time commitment. At the beginning of a show, rehearsals typically run a few days after school anywhere between

two to three hours.

Once opening night approaches, rehearsal hours lengthen, and before you know it, youre stuck at rehearsal every day after school for hours. The

rehearsals during the second to last week before opening night, which is called Tech Week, usually run until about seven or eight oclock at night. The week of opening night, which is called Hell Week, is a tradition where rehearsals run every single day after school until about eleven oclock that evening.

The arts are becoming more and more popular among high schools the most popular activity being musical theatre. It is the norm for schools to have two shows a year one each semester. Participating in these shows is a huge time commitment. At the beginning of a show, rehearsals typically run a few days after school anywhere between two to three hours. Once opening night approaches, rehearsal hours lengthen, and before you know it, youre stuck at rehearsal every day after school for hours. The rehearsals during the second to last week before opening night, which is
called Tech Week, usually run until about seven or eight oclock at night. The week of opening night, which is called Hell Week, is a tradition where rehearsals run every single day after school until about eleven oclock that evening.

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Works Cited

Walker, Tim. The Good and Bad News About Arts Education in U.S. Schools.
neatoday.org. 5 April 2012. Web. 5 October 2016.
http://neatoday.org/2012/04/05/the-good-and-bad-news-about-arts-education-in-u-sschools-2/

Lang, Audrey. The Pros and Cons of Going Through High School As a Theatre Kid.
theoodysseyonline.com. 21 June 2016. Web. 5 October 2016.
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/my-director-ate-my-homework

Sherman, Howard. Who Is High School Theatre For?.

Huffingtonpost.com. 23 July 2013. Web. 7 October 2016.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-sherman/who-is-high-schooltheatr_b_3640240.html

Greene, Jay P. Learning from Live Theater

Educationnext.org. 03 March 2016. Web. 13 October 2016.
http://educationnext.org/learning-live-theater/

Leahy, Robert L. How Big a Problem is Anxiety?

Psychologytoday.com. 30 April 2008. Web. 31 October 2016.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anxiety-files/200804/how-big-problem-isanxiety

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