Fish Out of Water: The Story Behind the Curtain

Pamela Shrader and Jerri Stack stand with all of the seniors in theatre.

Aiden Brown, Writer
March 28, 2023

These fish certainly broke their legs.

After three months of practicing, the Woodrow Wilson High School Theatre Group has finally finished performing the Disney play, The Little Mermaid.  

  With 10 shows in a span of one week, they worked head over fins to put on a spectacular show for the public eye to see. Starting in January, the theatre group started staying after school almost every day, every week, practicing their lines, music and choreography. Mrs. Jerri Stack and Mrs. Pamela Shrader, who direct the theatre, worked for hours every day, helping them work out problems with their acting and spent countless hours showing them the best way to create the best musical they could pull off. 

Savannah Vance, who played Ursula, discussed her after-school commitment. “As exhausted as I end up being, I love rehearsal, everyone in the theatre is wonderful to be around,” she expressed. “I’ve never seen a group of talent like that, it’s so lovely to share the artistic space.”

Shrader was more reminiscent about joining theatre. “Starting out, I really was indecisive. My family is a very musical family and wanted me to try all the things that I could surrounding music.” Shrader explained that since he went to a private school for middle school, he wasn’t able to do school theatre. However, when he saw the productions that Woodrow’s theatre performed, he knew he had to join. Ever since Shrader joined Woodrow’s Theatre, he has proudly starred in plays ranging from Fiddler On The Roof to Beauty and The Beast and now The Little Mermaid. With every play Shrader starred in, he performed triumphantly.

Vance explained captured her favorite part about being in theatre with, “I love performing in front of an audience, being able to share the casts hard work is a beautiful thing to see. Theatre has a way of connecting to people.”

Benjamin, too, had a final message to anyone who wants to join theatre but hasn’t already. “Take that chance to step out of your comfort zone. Many of my friends and others have told me how much they have regretted not joining at an earlier time or at all. You only have a small amount of time before you take a huge step in life, why not try something that you may love?” Coming from someone who was indecisive at first, take it from Shrader— take the risk. What’s the worst that could happen?