Passing the Torch: How to Develop Student Leaders Who Will Carry Your Theatre Program Forward
Plus, your weekly round-up of theatre news you may have missed!
Welcome to The Scene, your weekly round-up of theatre news you may have missed. In this week's edition:
We explore ways to navigate parental pushback on casting with empathy and confidence, while reinforcing a positive and professional culture in your theatre program.
Don’t miss this week’s free read from Playscripts: The Bullies' Christmas Carol by Ross Mihalko and Donna Swift.
Don’t miss the latest episode of The Scene podcast, featuring a conversation with playwright Ngozi Anyanwu.
So, raise the curtain and shine the spotlight as we dive into another thrilling week in the theatre world. Welcome to The Scene.
John Proctor is the Villain Gets 3rd, Final Broadway Extension by Logan Culwell-Block, Margaret Hall, Playbill | The cult hit Kimberly Belflower play will now continue its Broadway debut at the Booth Theatre through September. Read...
‘A Chorus Line’ and ‘Chicago’ at 50: Who Won? by Jesse Green, The New York Times | The slinky jailbirds and Broadway hopefuls in these two classic shows have been fighting it out since 1975. Read...
Kenny Leon, Kathleen Marshall, Rebecca Luker Among 2025 Theater Hall of Fame Inductees by Andrew Gans, Playbill | The 54th annual induction ceremony will be held in the fall at the Gershwin Theatre. Read...
Broadway Gypsy Revival Posts Early Closing Date by Logan Culwell-Block, Playbill | Six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald leads the production, which will play its final performance in August. Read...
An Indispensable Theater Incubator Faces a Troubled Future by Alexis Soloski, The New York Times | The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, whose alumni include August Wilson, Jeremy O. Harris, and Wendy Wasserstein, has given playwrights a place to take a risk for nearly 60 years. Read...
Williamstown Theater Festival Was in Crisis. Here’s How It’s Changing by Michael Paulson, The New York Times | The Berkshires' mainstay is trying something different this season: just three weekends, but eight shows, including two Tennessee Williams plays and even ice dancing. Read...
From Meryl Streep to James Earl Jones to Anne Hathaway: The Many Times Celebrities Starred in Shakespeare in the Park by Diep Tran, Playbill | The upcoming production of Twelfth Night is the latest in a long line of star-studded productions. Read...
Sadie Sink to Executive Produce John Proctor is the Villain Movie by Diep Tran, Playbill | Tina Fey and Marc Platt will also produce the film version of the hit Kimberly Belflower play. Read...
The Big Idea
Passing the Torch: How to Develop Student Leaders Who Will Carry Your Theatre Program Forward
by Zach Dulli, The Scene
Let’s talk about legacy. Not the kind carved into marble, but the kind that breathes in the rehearsal room long after you’ve gone home for the night. Legacy isn’t built in a single standing ovation; it’s built in systems, traditions, and the students you’ve empowered to take ownership of your program.
For high school theatre directors, student leadership isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s a survival strategy. It’s how you scale yourself when there are 100 students, one of you, and about six weeks until opening night. It’s how you teach students that theatre isn’t just about standing in the spotlight but about holding the light for someone else.
So, how do you do it? How do you take a cast, crew, and creative team and grow them into a community of leaders who can pass the baton and keep your program thriving year after year?
Step One: Build the Systems
Great theatre programs don’t run on personality alone; they run on systems. Leadership isn’t about finding that one superstar senior who can do it all; it’s about designing roles, responsibilities, and rituals that can outlast even your most talented students.
Start by defining student leadership positions clearly. Who’s your stage manager? Who’s your dance captain? Who’s leading the crew heads for costumes, props, lighting, and sound? Write these roles down. Make them official. When students know what’s expected, they’ll rise to meet it.
Pro tip: Don’t wait until tech week. Start building your student leadership structure before the first read-through. Teach your stage managers to run rehearsals. Train your crew leads to organize work calls. The sooner you hand them the keys, the sooner they’ll learn to drive.
Step Two: Teach Them to Teach Each Other
The best programs foster traditions that allow students to mentor younger students. This isn’t just efficient, it’s culture-building. When your graduating costume crew chief spends their last year training the sophomore who will one day take their place, you’re doing more than passing down a skill set: you’re passing down pride.
Encourage “shadowing” days, where underclassmen watch experienced students run the show. Set up pre-show meetings where each department head briefs their team. Build peer-to-peer workshops into your season calendar; lighting students can train others on programming cues, while stage managers can run mock rehearsals with future ASMs.
This doesn’t just prepare students for leadership; it prepares them for life. Theatre is one of the few places in high school where students can experience hierarchical collaboration in real time, learning when to lead, when to follow, and how to pivot gracefully between the two.
Step Three: Make Leadership Visible
Leadership doesn’t only happen behind the scenes; it happens in how students carry themselves in the room. Create traditions that celebrate student leaders and reinforce their role. Hold a “passing of the clipboard” ceremony for outgoing stage managers. Let senior leaders give a welcome speech to new students. Give your dance captains and fight captains the authority to run warm-ups.
By making leadership aspirational, you plant the idea early in the minds of freshmen and sophomores: This could be me one day.
And remember, leadership isn’t reserved for performers. Crew heads, assistant directors, dramaturgs, and even student marketers should all feel empowered to leave their fingerprints on the production. As it’s been said, “The actors are the face of the show, but the crew is its spine.” Teach your students to honor both.
Step Four: Let Them Fail (Safely)
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: students grow most as leaders when things don’t go perfectly. That’s where your role shifts from theatre director to theatre coach. When a student stage manager misses a cue or a crew head forgets to set a prop, resist the urge to swoop in and fix it. Instead, guide them through a postmortem: What happened? What could they do differently next time?
By creating a safe space to stumble, you give students permission to experiment and the confidence to get back up.
Step Five: Protect Your Sanity
Developing student leaders isn’t altruism; it’s self-preservation. The more your students take on, the more you can focus on directing the show rather than running interference on every minor crisis. It’s the difference between sprinting through a season and pacing yourself for the marathon that is a school year.
Your Program Is Bigger Than You
At its best, theatre education isn’t about one production. It’s about building a self-sustaining ecosystem where students care as much about the program’s future as you do. When you create a culture of mentorship and embed leadership in every corner of the stage, you stop being the center of gravity and start being the person who keeps the orbit steady.
Because someday you’ll sit in the back row of your school auditorium, long after your current students have graduated, and you’ll watch as the next generation takes the stage. You’ll see a freshman carrying a clipboard like it’s sacred. You’ll hear the crew whispering reminders passed down like family recipes. And you’ll realize: You didn’t just teach them theatre. You taught them how to lead.
Burlesque the Musical Opens in London's West End by Andrew Gans, Playbill | Steve Antin's new musical, based on the 2010 film of the same name, features songs by Christina Aguilera and Sia. Read...
Mischief’s The Comedy About Spies Announces Live West End Recording by Tom Millward, WhatsOnStage | The world premiere production will be captured for future release. Read...
UK's Oldest Working Theatre to get £30.5m Revamp by Clare Worden, BBC News | The stage at St George's Guildhall in King's Lynn is thought to have once hosted Shakespeare himself. Read...
In Nashville, a Homecoming for Dolly Parton and Her Musical by Emily Cochrane, The New York Times | Parton’s life and career have always been rooted in Tennessee. For her fans, it was only fitting to see the debut of her biographical musical here, too. Read...
Luigi Mangione Musical Eyes More Cities After Sold-Out San Francisco Run by Caitlin Huston, The Hollywood Reporter | The musical satirizes the real-life circumstances of Mangione being housed in the same detention center as Diddy and Sam Bankman-Fried. Read...
Carmen Cusack and Nik Walker to Lead Bull Durham Musical at Paper Mill Playhouse by Diep Tran, Playbill | The two starred in a previous version of the Broadway-hopeful musical in North Carolina. Read...
Free Reads of the Week
Read entire plays for free! Playscripts offers a selection of full-length and one-act plays that you can access for free, which is ideal for use in theatre productions, school performances, or competitions. To explore these titles, click on the cover image below or select the "READ FOR FREE" button at the bottom of this section. This action will direct you to the play's page on the Playscripts website. Once there, click "READ NOW" to begin enjoying the play immediately!
The Bullies' Christmas Carol by Ross Mihalko and Donna Swift
The Story: Terrible twins Ebbie and Neezer bully their classmates, steal toys from homeless children, and do everything they can to ruin the school's annual All-Inclusive, Non-Specific Holiday Celebration. But when three goofy ghosts show the siblings the past, present, and future consequences of their awful deeds, they take another look at their choices. Will the badly behaved duo change their ways in time to save the big show--and themselves? A twist on a classic holiday tale sure to delight naughty and nice kids alike.
Genre: Comedy | Run-Time: 35-40 minutes | Casting: 10 W, 11 M, 4 Any (13-27 actors possible: 8-25 W, 5-25 M) | Set: Flexible
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