Scrooge’s story on stage: Students lead cast in rehearsals, dancing

By Brenna Wiegand

It’s rehearsal time at Silverton High School for A Christmas Carol.

A large line of students are being taught a Victorian dance at center stage; in the wing off stage right, professional costumer Karyl Carlson is rounding up students for their measurements.

In the back, a little band of carolers are practicing Christmas carols while maybe 20 more students are scattered through the front section of the theater seats, waiting for their turn to rehearse their scenes.

With a cast of 40, to some it could seem like pandemonium or cause for concern that it will all come together in a few short weeks.

But Doug Ousterhout, a 21-year drama teacher at Silverton High School, is calm and clearly enjoying himself as he practically lounges in the front row conferring with assistant director and high school senior Haley Karlson.

Following his lead the actors are focused and orderly.

Junior Raven Herring is teaching a long column of actors the tavern scene dance and manages to be simultaneously fun and demanding. He choreographed SHS’s recent production of Little Shop of Horrors, in which he had free rein to create all the dances. It’s a bit more challenging within the confines of Dickensian England.

“I have to use this setting and it might not be my style of music, but choreographing is so much fun; I like being able to put my talent to good use,” he said.

Joe Little, who enjoys taking part in Civil War reenactments, is teaching his group the Virginia Reel for the production. It will play nicely in Victorian England where the play is set. He’s also a cast member.

Karlson is in the role of assistant director for the second time. Ousterhout said he considers her in the top 1 percent of the theater students he’s worked with in more than two decades.

When she first helped him direct, it wasn’t long before Karlson turned to Ousterhout and said, “How do you do this by yourself?”

“Directing is teaching me a lot more about acting,” Karlson said. “It’s helpful to see it from the audience’s perspective. There’s a lot of work that goes into directing, but I’m having a lot of fun. When I’m acting in a performance I’m always anxious, but this is just about 10 times that. I’m not just worried about whether I learn my lines but about everybody else learning theirs.”

The infamous Scrooge is played by senior Gavin Knox, which makes “Mr. O” glad.

“He’s been working hard for four years and always gets better,”  Ousterhout said. “He has earned it.”
Junior Sarah Elliott plays the “Ghost of Christmas Past” while sophomore Laney Bliss is the “Ghost of Christmas Present” – to Ousterhout’s surprise.

“We were looking for a jolly Santa Claus-like boy but Laney had such a wonderful presence that it changed what I’d had in mind – we just had to cast her,”  Ousterhout said.

Caleb Trice plays Bob Cratchit and freshman Sam Newman is Tiny Tim. Jacob Marley is played by Roman Kuznetsov.

“We had 90 kids audition and cast 40 – our third-largest cast ever,” Ousterhout said, “and one of the best groups I’ve had since Grease.”

Ousterhout adapted the play from the book over the summer – something he’s always wanted to do.

“My parents were cleaning out their house and had the book,” he said. “I took all the good things I liked and put them all together. I used mostly Dickens’ own words – you can’t go wrong there.”

This play comes pretty close to Ousterhout’s goal of having the students do everything involved in a production. Besides hiring the costumer, parent Trish Bliss comes in to help the students with their singing.
Behind the scenes, Ousterhout said, students run all the technical aspects – light, sound, scene changes and helping Ousterhout with set building.

Like athletics, participating in drama provides an opportunity to develop skills not usually taught in the classroom, he said.

“There are always the special kids, but professionally I get more pleasure working with the kids not going on professionally but getting things out of it that will help them throughout life,” Ousterhout said. “Getting a shy kid or a special needs kid to step out on that stage is absolutely wonderful.”

He said learning to plan and work together; to build self-confidence and overcome shyness are important additions to classroom learning.