Tuesday, June 20, 2000

Students put allegiances aside, learn value of teamwork in 'Grease'

David Pellerin/Caller-Times

Danny, played by Thomas Grubaugh, 17, (left), holds hands with Sandy, played by Sylvia Bolster, 16, during a dress rehearsal of 'Grease' in the auditorium at Miller High School.

Forty-three students from 11 Corpus Christi Independent School District campuses have put school allegiances aside for a single summertime goal - to turn Miller High School's auditorium into Rydell High, where "Grease" is the word.
   At Rydell, that may still be the case. But after three weeks of solid rehearsal, Miller Magnet Summer Camp students have learned more than their lines.
   Center stage along with the T Birds and the Pink Ladies has been a valuable lesson in teamwork, one word sure to stay with them long after the curtain drops on their one-time performance of "Grease," set for 7 p.m. Wednesday.
   "It's been a huge learning experience for everyone of us," said Becky Bolster, 14, a King High School student who plays the part of Rizzo in the story of teen-age romance in Rydell High's class of 1959.
   "This is something of a huge undertaking that too many others would be scared to put on. And to make it work, we had to open up to each other right away. Learning to work together in an instant is itself a big conquering."
   To help students with the concept of team building, camp staff rewarded them with tickets for a weekly prize drawing if they "hit every light cue that day or stayed after camp to help someone having difficulty with their lines," said Tammy Gathright, Miller's magnet coordinator and fine arts facilitator.
   "Who is running the lights? Who is printing the programs? Who is bringing lunch in every day for everyone? Ask those questions and you realize that each person plays a very important part," Gathright explained, "and ultimately that is the bigger picture. What we tried to emphasize was that the person in the light booth is just as important as the person on stage."

'Grease' opens Wednesday "Grease" opens at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Miller High School's auditorium. Admission is free.

   The lessons of teamwork also weren't lost on teachers and administrators involved in the production, partly based on the Broadway musical and the movie version.
   Although Miller has been the site of such summer camp productions ever since becoming a magnet school four years ago, this is the first year that the artistic talent comes from a larger pool of CCISD schools, Gathright said.
   "Grease" features actors and production talent from six middle schools and the district's five high schools. Naturally, teacher talent also came from throughout the district.
   "What did we walk away with? I'd say we walked away a better team of teachers," Gathright said.
   As an administrator, Gathright spends the bulk of her time on school budgets, paperwork and writing grant proposals.
   But opportunities like these "allow me to have a tangible reminder of why I do all the boring stuff, like the paperwork. It's going after that grant that allows these kids these opportunities. And ultimately that's what we're here for.
   "Competition among schools is a good thing. But competition at the cost of the kids is never good."
  
  
 

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