Lights, camera, action!
Theater IV, a class for young actors to hone their skills and express themselves clearly, has become an honors course at Cal High this year.
Senior CahMai Young was excited to learn this after hearing the decision to switch the class to an honors course.
“Ms.[Laura] Woods has always tried to make us prove every day that we deserve to be in class and now by proving that we can make it happen in an honors class,” Young said.
The idea came from Christopher Connor, Monte Vista’s theater teacher. He added the new course in early 2023, with the idea of keeping the students interested and continuing the class.
Woods, who teaches all of Cal’s drama and theater classes, liked Connor’s idea of an honors class and adopted it. She said the solution was evident in her own class as there was an average of six members including the tech group in the past years. Now, her student roster has nearly tripled to 17 students.
“We want to keep our students for four years and adding an honors course has worked as we’ve retained our students for longer,” Woods said.
As the class has changed, so has the curriculum.
“My honors four [class] will be doing an honors project, which will be whatever they want it to be,” Woods said. “I was also thinking about letting them learn how to run their own theater company.”
But Woods keeps the details secret so her class stays on their toes.
Both Woods and her students have expressed excitement about this change, which is sure to create added challenges and difficulties because of the new process.
“I think she’s easing into it,” senior Mari Kawashima said about Woods’ approach to the new class. “She’s doing a pretty good job so far.”
Kawashima feels that Woods is putting a lot of effort into transitioning the class into an honors course.
“With more people, there is a diverse goal for everyone,” senior Maanas Harishankar said. “It eases up the pressure compared to having a limited number of people.”
Harishankar responded positively to the changes, enjoying the fact that there are more students and diversity in the class.
“I think it’s definitely more disorganized because there’s a lot of people,” Kawashima said. “But I think that it’s also something that you can learn to adapt to because there are more personalities that are there, so you have to learn how to get everyone on the same page.”
Kawashima said she likes the increase of students, but it is something the class has to get used to because activities can get a little hectic sometimes.
Woods has said before that she was expecting more students, and it happened. She remains enthusiastic about the change and shares the feeling that students might have a more difficult time, but she believes her students will get more comfortable as the show starts moving forward.
“We’re really squished in this room and even more squished on stage, but I think once we get rolling with the show it’ll get easier,” Woods said.
She feels like the continuation of this class will stay in the future, and will improve as the years go along.
“It’s not an AP class. I wish we had AP theater class,” Woods said. “But I will continue to push them forward.”
Woods said if she could add an AP class for theater, she would be the first to push the idea.
“When I [heard] that Theater IV was gonna be an honors class my ears literally perked up,” Young said. “I think if Woods keeps implementing the course she’ll see payoff and more students trying hard and trying to prove themselves deserving.”
Young shares her excitement for the changes, hopeful for the future of the class.
“This class has given me a good social opportunity and it’s such a great community,” senior Mikey Carrion said. “It really gave me confidence and got me out there.”
Carrion thinks the class community will be bigger and stronger as new students join.
For these students who have a love for theater, this class can now boost their GPA while they do something they feel passionate about.
