Ascending Stars
The Ascending Stars project is a program that began in 1997 as a collaboration between the Players and ConVal High School. This project allows professional actors, directors, and designers to work alongside students to rehearse and perform a play on our stage.
The project’s goal is to enhance the teaching of drama at the high school level and to give talented students an opportunity to experience a professional theatre environment and schedule. Students get to work alongside theater professionals, understand the requirements of pursuing a career in the theatre, and gain an understanding of personal discipline, dedication, responsibility, and collaboration.
The demands of the professional staff, the short production timeframe, the technical demands at a state-of-the-art facility, and the use of outstanding literature give students an outstanding opportunity to have a “real world” experience. Many of the past participants in the program have gone on to successful college studies in drama and a number are currently working as theatre professionals.
In past years, the Players has produced A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Peg O’ My Heart, Light Up the Sky, La Dispute, Love’s Labours Lost, Museum, Picnic, Harvey, and I Remember Mama. This year, the Ascending Stars production of Once in a Lifetime will be performed just prior to the opening of the Players 2010 season.