Starting this school year, MVHS will be offering the introductory Drama course Stagecraft Tech, which focuses on the technical aspects of running drama productions. The Stagecraft Tech course includes four main areas: Lights, Props, Costumes and Sound, which are covered in the first semester. During the second semester, students will specialize in the area they are most interested in and apply their knowledge to Drama productions. The course will be taught by Drama Department Lead Hannah Gould, who also teaches Beginning Drama, Advanced Drama and Advanced Drama Honors.
Gould has already been unofficially offering an Advanced Stagecraft course through the Advanced Drama program, with acting students in one class period and technicians in another. Gould explains the separated class structure took two years to gain momentum, but after she realized that many of her Beginning Drama students were interested in focusing on the technical side of drama, she approached Assistant Principal Janice Chen and asked if the school could start formally offering Beginning and Advanced Stagecraft. With extra funding from Proposition 28, she got Beginning Stagecraft approved for MVHS and opened it to students this school year.
“Surprisingly and excitingly, a bunch of students signed up for Beginning Stagecraft,” Gould said. “These aren’t my Drama students that I was recruiting. These are just people who saw it in the course catalog and thought it sounded cool.”
Gould hopes this course will lead to an official Advanced Stagecraft course next year. As the number of students in Advanced Drama has dropped to 11 students compared to last year’s 16, she also hopes enrollment will increase once more students will realize there are roles within drama beyond acting.
“I think that we’re going to get different types of students in the theater department, because up until now, we’ve had people who are primarily interested in acting,” Gould said. “I think that the diversity of thoughts, opinions, personalities and types of kids here is going to really expand, and it’s going to be so good for everybody.”
MVHS is the third school in FUHSD to add Stagecraft Tech as a course, following Fremont High School and Homestead High School. MVHS’ Stagecraft Tech course was developed by Gould and FHS theater teacher Tanya Misfeldt.
“Having a separate class for Stagecraft helps the teacher be able to focus on one element (either tech or acting) at a time,” Misfeldt said in an email. “This allows students to develop more skills, have more hands-on practice and allows some of the building/technical elements to be completed during the school day.”
Gould says she worked closely with Misfeldt, who has a background in technical theater and has been teaching stagecraft courses for many years, to develop a stronger foundational curriculum for MVHS’ Stagecraft course. Sophomore Aashka Nadathur, who took Beginning Drama last year, believes this is a much needed shift, as she found it difficult to get the training she needed to do the sound for her first show.
“When I first learned about sound, someone in the Honors Stagecraft Tech basically taught me how to use the soundboard, and then I used it for a bunch of productions,” Nadathur said. “Without that teaching, I would have been hopeless. It was half me learning stuff myself and half getting that guidance.”
Like Nadathur, junior and Advanced Drama Tech student Shaurya Sane has tried both acting and stagecraft in Beginning Drama. He believes that having a Beginning Stagecraft course is necessary to allow students to explore their interests more in depth.
“Whenever people join Beginning Drama, some people are just there for the credits, but some people are actually there to help out around the Drama department,” Sane said. “Stagecraft is one of those really important things that can kind of get overlooked.”
However, although Sane and Nadathur agree that more specialized classes will be helpful, they both say clear communication between classes will be crucial during production weeks. Since Stagecraft and Beginning Drama students won’t always be able to coordinate during class time now that they are in separate classes, Sane hopes each class uses production weeks wisely.
“It’s an ensemble of people,” Nadathur said. “When you’re working as an ensemble, everybody’s incorporated and acts together. That’s valuable. It’s not just one or the other.”
Sane also emphasizes the importance of community in drama, noting the seniors who had introduced technical drama skills and offered support to him, and the friendships formed during productions. Gould ultimately hopes the new Stagecraft course will give students a safe space to explore new interests and take control of their learning to build confidence and creativity, among other life skills.
“Drama feels like a family — we are able to work together and learn how to collaborate with people, even if sometimes we have challenges with them,” Gould said. “Drama is a great, great place to feel like you have a home and a place and a purpose within the larger MVHS community.”
