The drama club is one of the biggest clubs in this school with 114 members and still growing, but who are the teachers working to make the club so great? Ms. Gehrke and Mr. Eversole are two of the teachers responsible for getting the club to the place it is today. Helping make a safe and fun environment for students to express themselves and grow interests.
Gehrke teaches all of the acting and tech theater classes here. She has had a passion for theater from the time she was in school and having happily taken the chance when she found out teaching theater full time was an option. In terms of the drama club, she is the theater director and sponsor.
Gehrke is the one responsible for picking the productions the drama club does every year. She chooses the shows by thinking about the club as a whole and the members within it. She also wants to pick a show that will give everyone from the cast, crew, and even the people who watch the show in its finished product the best experience. For casting the shows, she looks for clues in the auditions and callbacks that will tell her who would work best in what role.
She is lucky that when it comes to both teaching and the club, they have a lot of overlap, which can make it less challenging to balance both. Gehrke loves watching the students coming together to form not only beautiful shows but a beautiful community. “I can’t imagine doing anything else,” she said.
Eversole is another important teacher to the drama club. While he does not teach any theater classes, he is the tech supervisor for the club. He got into this role when Principal Nelson asked him if he would be interested. Eversole was more than happy to take it up, especially because he had a history in theater himself, even if he had never been a part of tech before.
His job is to teach the different parts of lighting and sound to the kids who are part of those crews. Eversole loves working with the students and watching them succeed. It’s his favorite part of getting to be a tech supervisor.
“It’s cool seeing what students can do,” Eversole said.
When it comes to the balance between teaching and drama, Eversole makes sure he is taking care of himself first. He will make classes a little easier during nights when he has to stay really late. This makes handling both at the same time easier to achieve.
Both Gehrke and Eversole are vital parts of the drama club. They do a lot to make sure the kids do their best and can get to their full potential. They love what they do and it shows in the work they do to make this club and the productions they produce absolutely amazing.
Drama club’s next show will be “Our Town” on Nov. 9-11 and they are both working hard to make that one even better than the last.
