Episode Details

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They put in hundreds of hours of work and practice before hitting the stage, and it pays off every single year at Southland Elementary School. On this episode of the Supercast, meet the woman behind the 14 years of school musicals at Southland. Find out why this is her final curtain call and how students and volunteers make every production the experience of a lifetime for everyone involved.

We're with Sharon Kartchner, the director of the Adventures of Lewis and Clark put on by Southland Elementary and it's just about showtime, so thanks for taking time to talk with us.

Sharon Kartchner:
You bet. I'm excited. The kids are excited too, as you can hear from the roar coming in the auditorium.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes, and the crowd is excited. They showed up really early for this. Tell me, you've been doing this a little while. This is not your first rodeo.

Sharon Kartchner:
This is my 14th year involved with the musicals, and it started way back in 2008. Our first performance was in 2009 and our first Lewis and Clark performance was in 2010. So I've been doing it the whole time that we've had musicals at Southland.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's three US presidents ago that you started doing this. I think it's really amazing the time that goes into this. I saw it several years ago and I was blown away. It is not the type of you expect. It's really immersive, the kids know it stone cold. They work really hard. And they've been working since October. Tell me what it's like with the kids over that period of time.

Sharon Kartchner:
You know, they're super excited in the beginning. We usually start with about 120. We kind of dwindled down to about 104, which is a little bit more manageable for us. So that works out, but there's definitely times when you can see them glazing over. So, then we try to add some fun things. Sometimes we sing like opera singers or something like that to just change things up and lighten it up. But they work really hard. We have tryouts kind of towards the beginning so that people learning their lines can pick up their lines and be able to learn them. This year we had understudies for the first time because of COVID. And so some of the kids not only had to learn their lines, they also had to learn a main character's lines in addition to their own. And then we were able to kind of let them perform for their peers at one of the rehearsals so that they at least got a chance to perform that.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's obvious to me that there are many layers to the learning that happens here. There's great value in memorization. There's great value in learning to be part of a team and the content of the musical. By the time they're done performing and practicing, starting in October, they have learned the facts about this particular part of American history stone cold. American history is the theme, is that correct? All the way through?

Sharon Kartchner:
Yeah. So the three musicals that we rotate through, one is Lewis and Clark, that is the fourth grade curriculum. Then we wrote our own America show, Quest for the Stars and Stripes, which is fifth grade. And then we also do Dig It, which is an ancient civilization show. So that covers the sixth grade curriculum. So they all get to be in at least two of them, if they would like. And I kind of give 'em a