ni van, carried in by students dressed up as forest animals and fairies, and set up on the small cafetorium stage. Senior-directors set light cues and inform technical theater students when they want the Pink Panther theme to play.

Giant inflatable blow-up suits are ordered, floppy hats are tracked down and tried on, and mouse ears are cut out and glued onto a straw hat. The Children Show productions are under way.

“The energy in children shows is always so good, because you have kids who get out of class to come watch your show, they really want to be there, and so it makes the experience really fun,” assistant director Lauren Norris said. “They always laugh so much, they’re always having a blast, they’re always so invested in the show, invested in the characters, and that’s a lot of fun.”

Students in Starlight Theater Company have the opportunity to become directors their senior year in the senior-directing program. The process to become one is very extensive, and as many as 30 students compete for the position when it begins, this year, nine students have been rewarded the privilege to have the title of director.

“I wanted to become a senior-director because I felt that I had gotten my experience on stage and I wanted to do something new and to gain leadership skills and just put my creativity out on the table and make something of my own,” senior-director Bronwyn Neale said.

The program involves a lot of hard work, senior-directors sometimes spend months in advance to prepare, and is a position that every senior-director has to earn.

“It’s an opportunity that you only get once in a lifetime, at least in your high school career” senior-director David Garza said. “So I worked towards it to prove to myself that I can actually do something valuable in high school.”

The senior-directors get to direct two shows over the course of the year; 20 minute children shows that go on tour to elementary schools, and perform for students, as well as a one-act dramatic or dark-comedy play. Children Shows are set to perform and tour in early to mid November, and Senior One Acts in the spring.

“Children shows are different because we tour with them, and just logistics, like you have to make sure that it works well with children and that it’s fun and exciting, so it’s all about making it interesting,” Norris said.

Senior-directors begin the show process by choosing their show.

“It took me about two months to find it, I did a lot of searching in local libraries, checking with our directors, going to the library here that we have in the drama room, it took me a while to find it but I did,” Neale said.

Picking the show can relate back to the director’s personal roots as well.

“My Children Show is the House at Pooh Corner,” Garza said. “I chose this show because I actually grew up on Winnie the Pooh. So when I was trying to find my Children Show I noticed that we had pictures of me with Winnie the Pooh from Disney World, and we have so much Winnie the Pooh stuff at my house, just because I was obsessed with this one show. So I was like, this is my chance to go back a little bit to my origins, and my childhood ,and get to experience that again.”

Children shows are also known to be where many students, specifically underclassmen, receive their first major roles, or even their first roles ever. Senior-directors are highly encouraged to cast underclassmen as the majority of their casts.

“That’s where everyone gets their start, that’s where everyone finds their love for theater, is in these kind of shows where underclassmen are given more of an opportunity to get cast in larger roles and to show what they can do and to have a lot of fun doing it,” Norris said.

Children Shows also present a different audience, with a different age demographic.

“It’s a lot more exciting for kids, I remember my freshmen year, we had to this thing where almost the entire cast would run up through the audience of kids and they got so riled up and so into the show and it was such a great way to start,” Norris said.

The show is also very student led, even though directors must report to the theater department teachers and they provide guidance, advice, resources,  and give the senior-directors a grade  for their work, the students often come up with most of the ideas for the shows direction.

“The thing about this show, is that I have my cast to rely on. Or I have Rose Eichelmann, Rose is my AD (assistant director), and she’ll will let me know if something isn’t working, and she’ll be throwing out ideas, and it’s the best thing ever. It’s not only me, it’s a group thing, it’s not ‘David’s show, It’s David’s show with my entire cast’,” Garza said.

Children Shows casts have very limited time to prepare. Musical Auditions were during Children Show Callbacks, and the musical, The Who’s Tommy,  began rehearsal on October 31. So Tommy rehearsals and Children Show rehearsals are happening simultaneously. As well as the Bowie performances being November 10, 11, and 13, leaving the senior-directors roughly three weeks before the first performance. Preparations for Children Shows happens within an impressive time crunch- but the senior-directors get it done, and done well, as most who have this opportunity are very passionate about theater.

“When I was in my first senior directed show I knew that I wanted to be that in the future, for sure,” Neale said. “One hundred percent.”