Swartz Creek High School's Drama Director Will Exit the Stage

(note to editor: Original content. I was once part of the drama class and was shocked when I heard from a friend the situation. I had to go see what was going on for myself.)

Each year, the Swartz Creek High School puts on several plays and musicals. But after this current school year, there may be no more.

Ken Butters is the current drama director and has been since 1996. He's helped make the productions a success, drawing in more and more crowds since he first began. It used to be small crowds auditioning for plays and just a couple hundred showing up to watch the finished product. In 2002, Footloose drew in over 500 people on its first of three nights.

Why the step down? The school simply just doesn't have the adequate space for rehearsals and props. The high school uses the classrooms for practice until the final few weeks where they rehearse in the gym on stage. The school has been proposed many times to be rebuilt with an auditorium. However, those proposals have not passed. Butters is stepping down merely because it's getting more difficult to have rehearsal in the gym due to sporting practices.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association mandated a switch on sports season. Basketball practices were being held in the gym while the drama class rehearsed for their fall play. However, Butters says by the time everyone gets in there for sports, there's no time or space for anything else.

"It was a very difficult decision because so many kids enjoy this activity," Ken Butters said.

"But what do you do when you have no space to store props or dress or rehearse?"

Another frustrating fact for the students is that as of yet there is no one in line that will replace Butters next year after finishing up his final musical, High School Musical. So as a result, there may be no more drama class after school next year.

"I was in drama class throughout all of high school. I did all the plays including Footloose. Butters is a great teacher. He gets involved with the students to make sure they perform their best. He's a great director and it's sad to know that drama students won't be able to experience that with him," says Michael Dane, a former high school student.

Butters however won't be leaving the high school altogether. Next year he will continue on teaching algebra and computer classes as he has been, minus the after school drama.

Students are upset as well as to how the board is treating the after school activities other than sports. Choir, drama and band usually get the last say in anything.

"Everything is always focused on sports here. The rest of us don't get any appreciation," says Senior Jessica Ralph.