Episode Details

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are a talented group of students making magic happen in musical dance theater.

On this episode of the Supercast, we head to Riverton High School, where teacher Clin Eaton has been producing amazing performances with students singing and dancing their hearts out for more than three decades. This time, students are taking the stage in a production called "One of These Nights, a Broadway Review," and we have a front row seat to see how rehearsals are going.

We're talking now with Clin Eaton, theater teacher of many years at Riverton High School. Thank you for taking the time to make these students available and to let me see this rehearsal.

Clin Eaton:
You bet. It's good practice for them to perform in front of other people than me.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me a little bit about your career. How long have you been at Riverton? Have you been here since it opened?

Clin Eaton:
I've been here since it opened. My very first day of student teaching, I was assigned at BYU to be here, and my first day was the very first day the doors opened of this building. I was new just like every single other person here was. I was assigned to be with the fantastic Shawnda Moss, and Dave Stoddard was our principal, and he was my middle school science teacher. He remembered me, so he was thrilled to have a Joel P. Jensen alumni, because I am a West Jordan alumni. I had a great high school theater experience, and so I student taught here and was basically thrown in the deep end with the musical and Shakespeare competition and all of that. I was hired to teach with Shawnda right after my student teaching experience. I feel like I've been here from the beginning.

Anthony Godfrey:
You are the Riverton Theater common thread right from the start.

Clin Eaton:
Yes, and we've always had two teachers here, and they've all been fantastic colleagues.

Anthony Godfrey:
It sounds like a great start to a career. You come into a school where you know the principal from years ago, you have great support, and everybody's new.

Clin Eaton:
I was offered American Fork the same day, but it was no question to choose Riverton.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm very glad that you made that choice. A lot of Jordan District students have benefited from that. I've known you for a long time, and this is a long time coming to get to talk with you for the podcast. Tell me about this Broadway review that the kids have been preparing. It was really exciting to see that rehearsal. How are the songs chosen, and what does this mean to you and the kids?

Clin Eaton:
I started the class in 2005 when I realized that we just had in our community, we had a lot of kids that what are considered in the industry triple threats. They were singer, dancers, and actors, and I wanted to do a class that focused on that and have it be an audition class.

The first year, I think I took everyone that auditioned, because it was just a new class, and we had some very green performers and we had some really seasoned pe