Into the Woods,Out with the 'Woulds’- fully funding our public schools

By: Alex Cullins

In highschool, there was nothing I loved more than theatre as it was an escape from everything. It was a place where you don't think about test scores, college applications, or even whatever is going on at home. I know my peers felt the same way. My public school was the only one in the district with a functional theatre, though the spotlights have always been manual, with a student pushing and pulling the giant light to and fro from a balcony, lighting the action below. This was our space to let go, to be kids again and play pretend. My fondest memories of public school are here: learning the words to Les Mis to being the main character in a play no one has ever heard of. I even fell in love right in the auditorium (and what a love it was). In this space I swear we could feel the generations and generations that came before us, and had done all the same things in this room before we had. There was a charm to our old auditorium. But like all old things, they break. 

Over the pandemic, while the school was shut down for over a year, the auditorium equipment sat and collected dust. Mice chewed through wires and plush seats, so that when we returned it was largely unusable. Evaluations told us that repairs would cost much more money than our school simply would ever have. And just like that dreams were dashed. There would be no more Shakespeare, no more ballads, no more pushing spotlights and romances blossoming behind velvet curtains. My school famously had the widest breadth of wealth in the district- the poorest and the richest students. Art brought us together, gave us a place to know and experience one another, to express ourselves. 

We didn't let that stop us, of course. The student run theatre group known as ‘The Players’ passed the torch as they graduated, and I was proud to be part of the group of 10 student leaders my senior year. That year we had twice as many events, with twice as many shows, desperate to raise the money ourselves. We convinced our theatre teacher to let us use his classroom as our stage. We packed the classroom with seats and audience members. We took no breaks. The week a show ended was the same week as auditions for the next show. 

I will always be sad that I missed out on so many years of mainstage theatre, and I will always be grateful for what I had. Unfortunately we didn't raise nearly enough money to repair the auditorium. We lobbied the district to help us reach our goal and we were met with silence. But we passed the torch, and the generation below us did the same, and then they did it again. 

This year, my little sister is a freshman in highschool and I got to see her perform in a musical this year, in those same plush seats I remember, with a student on the balcony, steering that same hot spotlight, with the same boy I’d fallen in love with all those years ago at my side. It took three years of parents, students and teachers working themselves to the bone all school year round, but we did it. 

Though I’m happy to see my hard work pay off, It shouldn't have taken so much sacrifice, and public schools should have the funding they need to support their students in any way they can. When schools face budget cuts, the arts are usually the first to go. It really doesn't need to be this way. Public school kids deserve a space like the auditorium, a place where creativity thrives and joy is abundant. We can make this a reality through divisive policy action.