DSISD Middle School Theatre To Bring Virtual Production Of The Jungle Book

Dripping Springs, TX — In a pandemic version of “the show must go on,” Sycamore Springs Middle School’s Theatre Department is taking their live performance of The Jungle Book from the stage to your home viewing screen.

On May 7, 8, and 9, 2020, residents can watch the Sycamore Springs Middle School production of The Jungle Book live via Zoom using code 322-397-150, starting at 7 PM. 

This is the Dripping Springs Independent School District’s first-ever ‘completely virtual play performance.’

Auditions and casting were completed on March 13 (the last day students and teachers were in school before shutdown). 

Thirty students were selected, and online rehearsals began as students and teachers hoped for a return to the stage before the May 31 end of the school year. 

Hopes for a live performance were dashed however, with Governor Greg Abbott’s cancellation of the remainder of the school year.

Theatre Arts teacher Meg Steiner said, “It is our job to teach our students how to be innovative and resilient, so we felt the moral obligation to lead by example. There have been many challenges, especially with internet connections and technical difficulties. The cast is also serving as crew, in charge of their own individual sets, lighting, props, costume, and makeup. All the performers have such a small space to rehearse in since most of the kids are performing in their bedroom and can’t go out of frame during their lines. The kids sometimes have to ‘look at each other’ by looking to the left or right which often creates some unintended slapstick comedy. There are continuity errors left and right.”

This process is also important for their students’ social/emotional education, Steiner continued.

“The kids have been forced to stay home and away from their friends,” Steiner said. “That is not healthy or natural for anybody, but it is especially hard for this particular age group since they’re in the counter dependent stage of development and long to build their own identity separate from authority figures. They need their friends, and they need community in order to successfully combat the natural horrors of growing into their adult selves. Finding the balance has been tricky!”

Steiner and fellow Theatre Arts teachers Christopher Young and Taylor Rainbolt often have brief meetings after rehearsal where they delight in how this project really is a play within a play.

She said, “It’s Meta in a way because as the audience watches it, they’re absorbing the play, but also absorbing the innovative and beautifully chaotic imperfection of this new medium of storytelling.”

Sycamore Springs Middle School Theatre Department’s production of The Jungle Book will be recorded and available for viewing starting Monday, May 11, via the Tiger’s Eye Theatre webpage, the Dripping Springs Theatre Booster Club website theboosters.org and on their Facebook page. 

There is no charge for viewing the production, however, donations to the Dripping Springs Theatre Booster Club are gladly accepted at theboosters.org/donate.