New theater teacher thinks outside of the box

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Kate Pepper, Reporter
October 5, 2017

As Halloween approaches, the play Attack of the Pom Pom Zombies will debut at Myers Park Amphitheater on Oct 5.

This performance will take place outside because of current construction, which will expand the auditorium 2.5 times in size. In the meantime, theater is exploring alternative locations.

“We have turned it into an opportunity rather than a challenge,” Mr. Wells said. “We try to look at this as, how can we give the students an opportunity to do something that they would not normally do. So we’ve taken the shows off campus quite a bit.”  

While the community will have to wait for the new auditorium, the newest addition to this school is Mr. Wells. This new theater teacher is looking forward to building relationships with students in which they’re free to be themselves.

“My wife and I are foster parents we adopted two little boys and we have five kids, we joke about how kids are kinda our only skill set. We don’t know how to do anything else and so for me I’m trying to connect with students and build a relationship with them so that they’re fosters of dedication to the program” he said. “I have never had any issues with students so that’s the part I look forward to the most, getting that group of kids that I feel like I can talk to on a daily regular basis”

Within this program, students are taught beyond the broad fact of acting. The world of theater provides opportunities of creativity in other fields.

“I think the cool part about theatre is that they get to be as well rounded as you can possibly be in the fine artists also the least technical area” he said. Stepping into the shoes of another person and becoming someone else, the students learn a lot about creativity in the theatre world that they don’t get an opportunity to do in other fields. One of the goals this year is that we make students as well-rounded as possible so they will walk away with experience in acting, stage management, technical theatre you name it they know it. That way when they step into a theatre program at the college level they are gold.”