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The lights have been dimmed at Winchester High School in honor of the passing of its theater classes.
Principal Dennis Mahoney said when it came time to solidify course selection for the 2025/26 school year, the decision was made to drop theater classes from the roster of offerings.
“We’re going to take the theater classes out due to low enrollment,” Mahoney told the School Committee during a recent meeting.
But he quickly added it will likely only be for a year or two while the program is re-evaluated.
Mahoney said when he was first interviewing for the job as principal, he looked over the school’s course selection and was shocked to find there were no theater courses being offered.
“Particularly knowing that the performing arts is highly respected and we do a great job in terms of our spring musical, our fall play and the middle school program’s legendary,” he said.
Over the last few years, Mahoney had remedied the situation by putting together theater courses, but, he said, they haven’t seen the enrollment they expected. With a need to better use limited resources, Mahoney said it was time to make the hard decision and end the program, for now.
“I think you all know I’m not afraid of tinkering and trying to find ways to make changes and updates so it’s not gone forever,” he said. “It’s just on the shelf for right now.”
School Committee member Chris Nixon said he had some anxiety around cutting the program, given capital improvements made to the theater and some past lengthy discussion over whether or not to add a Mandarin class.
Mahoney assured Nixon the auditorium with a new curtain and new lighting has never looked better and the updates would not go to waste. The theater program has never been stronger, it is the theater classes that are struggling, he said.
School Committee member Michelle Bergstrom said what they really needed to do in order to boost interest in the classes is to support a theater arts program.
“I think having Theater Arts I and Theater Arts II is not a theater program,” she said. “And it is not a theater program when we have to classify it under the English Department.”
She also said there was a bit of a difference between adding one language class to the schedule and building out an entire theater arts program.
“What I hear Mr. Mahoney saying is that it’s not necessarily a lack of interest in the theater program, but it’s a lack of enrollment, which, to me, are two different things,” Bergstrom said.
She also suggested they go to the students to see if a theater program is something they want and if so, how would they envision it working with their schedules.
Superintendent Dr. Frank Hackett said he’d go one bigger. He believes the district needs to commit to a theater department, not simply a program.
He said when you only offer a one-off class, there might be students who want to take it but can’t fit it in their schedules. He said a theater department is also part of the district’s 2030 plan, but if they were going to build one, they had to do it right.
“You need a champion,” he said. “They take work. They take someone who is full time trying to build a feeder system, who is recruiting kids and we have to have the ability to have options … for students to be able to access it.”
School Committee member Tom Hopcroft said Hackett’s plan should go on the wish list while they figure out what’s needed and how they might hand it down the road.
