River Ridge High School Performing Arts Center
About two weeks before their fall play, River Ridge High School's drama students got the word: Any plans to perform before a live theater audience were scratched.
The Pasco County school district's new rule barred indoor performances for any viewers, no matter the safety precautions that might have been planned. Their options became to move outdoors, or live stream from an empty room.
The news hit senior Vivian Wright hard.
"Since I was a freshman, all I wanted was to get a lead," the school's Thespian Troupe president said, her voice swelling with tears. "Now I was able to get a lead, and no one can come see it."
For teens whose school world revolves around their semester productions, the rule made an already disappointing year even worse. And, Wright said, it's not fair.
Indoor volleyball games are being played before crowds. Hundreds of kids have filled the gym to take ACT and SAT tests. Football crowds sit shoulder to shoulder in the stands, cheering on their teams.
"Why do sports get to do it and we don't?" asked Julianna Manes, a Sunlake High senior who is stage manager for her school's fall play.
The theater groups have offered to block off seats, take audience temperatures, wear masks. When selecting shows, they worked to find titles that lend themselves to social distancing.
Sports teams aren't doing that, Manes noted.
She's heard the explanation repeatedly that the line has to be drawn somewhere.
"Why does the line have to be drawn through us every time?" Manes wondered.
School Board members have heard these complaints with increasing frequency from students, parents and some teachers. They said they're seeking solutions.
"I want to make sure everyone is safe," said board member Megan Harding, who stressed the importance of heeding health protocols during the coronavirus pandemic. "I just want to come up with a way to do it that is fair."
Allowing outdoor performances with audiences, something the district administration agreed to in the final days of October, is a step in the right direction, Harding said. But it still comes across as separate treatment for different activities, she added.
And just as sports keeps some children involved and engaged in school, the arts does the same for others, observed board member Alison Crumbley, whose daughters were active in high school theater. It behooves the district, Crumbley said, to respond to the concerns.
"It's tough," said board chairwoman Colleen Beaudoin, who has worked with some schools to find alternative locations to put on their shows. "I feel for the kids."
More than plays have been impacted by the disparity. Band concerts and dance shows also have received the same treatment.
Mary Wainwright said her eighth-grade daughter Elliott found the entire scenario confusing, as her River Ridge Middle School dance team was allowed to perform during halftime at a football game, then informed its dance showcase would be canceled.
"She was in tears hysterical. It's sad to see," Wainwright said via Facebook. "As a parent we want them to have every opportunity that they can, and for them the showcases are a huge part of school at a performing arts school."
District officials have rationalized that they do not control athletics, which are governed by the FHSAA, but they can establish protocols for other school activities. That ignores the fact that they did set rules for sports events, such as attendance limits and mask mandates, and later eased them.
That hasn't escaped notice.
Gulf High band booster Stephanie Farmer said she immediately wrote to superintendent Kurt Browning after learning about the decision to bar indoor performances with audiences.
"My question to him was how is it fair when indoor sports are allowed to continue," Farmer said via email. "How is it that there is a two-day wrestling tournament scheduled that anticipates 300 people? How can those athletes and spectators social distance?"
She argued that the band musicians have worked hard to overcome obstacles just as the athletes have. The double standard, she said, is an injustice.
"By no means am I anti-sports," she wrote. "My kids are also athletes. All these kids want are equal opportunities to showcase their talent without additional restrictions."
They also just want a chance to express themselves, for the world to hear.
"For me, having my parents at my performances, listening to me play, was a way to tell them how I feel without saying it," said Gulf High junior Cora Roberts, an oboe player in the band. "Through music, you show emotion. You show if you're happy, sad, mad. Without having the ability to show how I feel through music, I may not have ever noticed how I really feel. Without performing in front of an audience, I would never have had the courage to be who I am today."
Schools are trying to turn the situation into something positive if they can. They're learning to livestream, cope and adjust.
Still, many say, they see more cons than pros because, as Vivian Wright put it, "this is something I really care about, and now I'm not allowed to do it."
River Ridge High School Performing Arts Center
Source: https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/2020/11/02/indoor-audiences-can-see-pasco-school-sports-teams-but-not-arts-groups/
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