Students, teachers, parents, friends, and the power of optimism

How Woodgrove’s theater program survived the pandemic to produce SpongeBob: The Musical

By Laura Longley

 ‘Tis the season for high school musicals—in person, without masks—at last. But it’s been a rough road getting to this point for all of Loudoun’s schools. But here we are, with student thespians ready to take the stage.

At Loudoun Valley High School, Theater Director Ike Stoneberger and his students are producing Into the Woods, the well-known and -loved Tony Award-winning musical. In May, The Grove Theatre at Woodgrove High School will be introducing audiences to SpongeBob: The Musical. 

Although casting began in February, it’s fair to say the production began as soon as the pandemic closed Loudoun’s schools on March 13, 2020. Ever since, an enthusiastic and committed community of students, teachers, directors, parents, local professional theater companies, a family drive-in movie theater, and a farm family with a big barn has been keeping Woodgrove’s theater program alive.

Two of the key players have been Addie Schafer Benko, who took on the early challenges from March 2020 through June 2021, and now Beverly Pruzina, Theatre Arts and Film Studies Director.

 Recruited to Woodgrove from Eagle Ridge Middle School by Schafer Benko, Pruzina is a career-switcher who brought to LCPS her 10 years of experience owning and running Richmond’s Drama Kids International franchise, one of the company’s original 10 franchises in the country.

With a journalism degree from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pruzina worked in radio and television in Richmond before she and her husband decided to step into teaching and coaching drama. When she finally decided to switch careers and teach in public schools, Pruzina enrolled at the Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, where she earned her teaching credentials. 

“Then,” she says, “a crazy principal at Eagle Ridge took a chance on me, and I’ve never looked back.” 

Getting her to look forward and switch from teaching middle school students to high schoolers was a tough sell, but she took up the challenge as Schafer Benko moved on to the head Virginia Thespian, the state’s largest theater education organization with 2,700 members, 150 organizations, and 149 middle and high schools.

“When everything shutdown in March 2020,” say Schafer Benko, “I began to get emails from the kids saying, ‘Please, can we get back in?’ But no one could access the school.

“So, we began to develop a program with playwriting groups and productions online. About 40 students participated. It was tough on the kids. Some were ‘podding.’ Some were driving 30 minutes just to get a connection to participate. I started looking into what was possible for us to get together. That meant getting signatures from parents and writing a proposal to start a film production. The proposal ran 40 pages, with 20 pages of COVID protocols. 

Schafer Benko also made the most of her connections in the Virginia theater community. Because only nonprofits, such as churches, could gain access to schools, she turned to her friends at Ashburn’s StageCoach Theatre Company. Under the wing of the nonprofit StageCoach Foundation, dedicated to increasing life-skill training through performing, she was able to gain school access for the high school’s Grove Theater due to its nonprofit affiliation. 

They chose StageCoach’s own mystery play Moonshine Murders for their production. The students wanted to put their own artistic stamp on the play, however, and turn it into a film noir musical. With StageCoach’s blessing, they added six scenes, increased the characters from 15 to 30, and wrote three original songs.

“Once we got a green light to work with StageCoach, we had to raise money because our school funding had been frozen. Parents stepped up and donated $2,000 to $3,000. With those funds were able to buy three green screens to do Virtual Theater.” 

Back in the school building for rehearsals thanks to the StageCoach Foundation, Schafer Benko created safe workspaces with painter’s tape, marking boxes 6 –10 feet apart, one for each student. 

Every planning period she would disinfect the space, and every day she steamed costumes and wiped down the entire facility. She also recruited parents, two of whom attended every meeting and rehearsal to ensure COVID protocols were met.

The next challenge was finding a way to present their musical after filming the production and editing it for screening. With the help of StageCoach, the Grove team identified a venue—the Family Drive-in movie theater in Stephens City. To a live, ticketed audience, they screened several performances. Then, moving online, the students livestreamed the musical play as ticketed, scheduled content.

By spring 2021, when the students were ready to perform Oklahoma!, they faced the same challenge: Where could they find a stage?

Enter Rebecca Baldwin Fuller, a former board president of Hillsboro Charter Academy who knew Addie Schafer Benko from her days as a third-grade teacher at the school.

Fuller offered the barn at her family’s farm, WeatherLea, near Lovettsville. The farm provided the perfect setting for the musical, with its big red barn, horses in its corral, and sheep in nearby fields.

This spring—May 5, 6, 7—Woodgrove’s student stage managers, actors, singers, dancers, musicians, sound and lighting technicians, wardrobe and prop managers, stagehands and film directors, community relations and marketing teams—will finally put on a show in their own school auditorium. 

“We have 78 students in the production,” says director Pruzina, “and three of us in leadership positions—pit conductor Samantha Oakley and choral director Jessica Morgan. 

“We go through rigorous application and audition processes,” Pruzina explains. Talent counts, of course. But Pruzina is looking for more. “What I want in our students is the triple threat: attitude, attendance, and aptitude.”

She’d got it with the students now cast for roles onstage and backstage for SpongeBob: The Musical. 

“If you’ve never heard of it or listened to the music, you’ll find it is not the Nickelodeon cartoon. The characters are from that show, including SpongeBob Squarepants, but the story is about the power of friendship and being the best you can be no matter the circumstances.” 

The innovative Tony-nominated musical is set under the sea in Bikini Bottom, where the inhabitants face annihilation of their world. Chaos erupts. Lives hang in the balance. And just when all hope seems lost, a most unexpected hero rises up and shows how the power of optimism really can save the world,” she concludes.

“What a powerful message to send our community, especially in these times!”