Atholton High School Drama

Howard County Schools will not be participating in the CAPPIES program this year. There will be a new Howard county based program called STARS.  Below is a letter from Mr. Rosen explaining the change.

For applications to be a STARS critic click here

Hello Atholton Community (please share this with others),

         There have been some changes regarding our participation with the Cappies.

        The Howard County Public School Theatre Arts programs, under the supervision of the Office of Advanced Programs and Fine Arts and with the support of the high school Administrators, have made a collective and uniform decision to withdraw from membership in The Cappies of Baltimore for the 2009-2010 season.  The HCPSS theatre teachers decided this after long discussion and deep thought.  Many of the HoCo schools invested six years of service to The Cappies of Baltimore, a volunteer program run completely by the teachers (with no monetary compensation).  Many of us were founding members of the program and served in leadership positions for The Cappies of Baltimore with full energy and passion, donating endless work hours over the past six years.  I was there when it started.

        There were some things about Cappies that we loved, and other things that we liked a whole lot less.

        The decision to withdraw was reached with extensive, hands-on knowledge of the program and after repeatedly trying to affect positive change.  However, The Cappies is a national franchise with bylaws and procedures that all members must follow.  We were told year after year that our suggestions were appreciatated--but, in the end, our suggestions were seldom adopted.

        While there are many parts of the Cappies program that have allowed our students to grow and flourish (the quest for quality student writing and the publication of that writing), we have long felt there are parts of the program that garner bad feelings and resentments among students and among colleagues. The idea of "winners" and "losers" at the end of the year is a real problem.  These things, as well as the huge expense of producing the Gala at the Hippodrome, the dwindling print outlets for the reviews, and the current economic concerns in our county and our school system, led us to withdraw from the Cappies of Baltimore in the best interest of our students and our programs.

        The Theatre Arts teachers (and any interested parents) are hitting the ground running to get our new vision off the ground.  Our new endeavor is "The Howard County STARS".  This acronym stands for Student Theatre Association of Reviewers.  Our motto: For all the WRITE reasons!  The training will take place on October 3 at Centennial HS (time TBA).  We will continue fielding teams of student critics, training them in quality review writing, sending them to schools (now only HoCo schools) to see and discuss shows, and publishing all of the writing.  David and Ilana Bittner of Pixel Workshop are on board as our official media sponsors with their new on-line community, HoCoMoJo, where they will publish all student reviews and advertise and promote all of the Theatre Arts productions in our schools.  We will also more fully utilize our resources at the school system cable station.  We will also have an end of the year celebration (the potential dates are May 21, 22) with all the things that are truly celebratory; a student orchestra, an excerpt from each school's show, a video/photo retrospective of the year, and recognition of our critics--but NO winners and losers.  The event will take place here at a HoCo high school with very little overhead.  We will charge admission to this event at a fraction of the ticket cost for a Cappies Gala.  The proceeds will go directly back to the HCPSS Theatre Arts programs and students.  This is great news at time when grants and budgets for Fine Arts are being cut at both the state and local level.

        Please understand that we all wish The Cappies of Baltimore well.   They will continue their work with Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Anne Arundel public schools, and private schools from the region.  We all still have many treasured friends and colleagues who continue their work with The Cappies of Baltimore.  We wish them well and we thank them for six years together in that endeavor.   Thank you, in advance, for your help as we work to make this new program all that it can be.

        Any students interested in becoming STAR critics should visit for an application.  The deadline is Wednesday, September 23.

 

Nathan Rosen, director of theatre

Atholton High School 6520 Freetown Road Columbia MD 21044

voice 410-313-7065 fax 410-313-7078

 www.teacherweb.com/MD/AtholtonHighSchool/Rosen

Please see the letter below which was sent to area principals explaining this decision

High School Principals,

On the Professional Development Day (Sept 4), theatre arts teachers discussed the benefits and shortcomings of HCPSS participation in  CAPPIES of Baltimore program.  All agreed that the CAPPIES has served to promote theatre appreciation and build a community of theatre artists.  However, the budget and current economic climate have given cause to rethink participation in the CAPPIES for this year.  It was decided that it would be best for HCPSS schools to withdraw from CAPPIES membership for the 2009-10 school year.

As mentioned previously, the CAPPIES experience is very beneficial and we do not want to deprive our students of this type of critique and writing experience.  Therefore, in place of CAPPIES, theatre arts staff are in the process of creating the Howard County STARS Program (Student Theatre Association of Reviewers).  STARS is being designed to provide an enhanced experience to better meet the needs of our students...and at a reduced cost. The Howard County STARS Program will continue to promote theatre appreciation and allow each school to maintain a team of critics that will attend shows within Howard County.  Students will be encouraged to write reviews of the shows they see.  The APFA Office and theatre arts teachers will work with local publications and HCPSS TV  (Arts ala Cart) to share these reviews with the community.  A county-wide performance at the end of the school year will showcase and celebrate the excellence of theatre programs countywide.

 

The theatre arts teachers and I would like to thank you in advance for supporting Howard County STARS, and for your continued support for high school theatre programs.

 

Regards,

 

Tom Payne, Coordinator

Office of Advanced Programs & Fine Arts (APFA)

Howard County Public School System

"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must  write, if they are to be ultimately at peace with themselves."  -Abraham Maslow

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