Leadership, community-building bring accolades to SMHS theater department

A good teacher’s work is never done.

Even during Spring Break, Tommie Jackson, director of the San Marcos High School theater program, is sitting in the Coffee Pot, working. Having completed a hugely-successful winter musical with his SMHS theater students — Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” — which was nominated for six Heller Awards, Jackson uses this downtime to organize schedules for upcoming productions by The Broke Thespian Theatre Company, San Marcos’ own nonprofit community theater program.

Notebooks spread before him, a bin of organized papers at his feet, Jackson admits with a certain degree of pride that there is a pleasant amount of overlap between San Marcos high school and the BTTC.

“Broke Thespians is starting to do the thing that we were hoping we could do, which was get involved in the community and have an educational aspect for the kids who are doing theater,” Jackson said. “Overall, just great stuff.”

Arguably, the great stuff began last summer with BTTC’s production of “The Wizard of Oz.” Staged in the outdoor venue of Plaza Park, the bright and colorful musical brought out crowds of theatergoers eager to see a live performance. With engaging performances from local actors, inventive sets and quality costumes, “The Wizard of Oz” was a hit with San Marcans who couldn’t wait to see what Broke Thespian’s would do next.

“After ‘Wizard of Oz,’ so many people came back and said, ‘I’ve wanted to watch a show in the park for so long,’” Jackson said. “So now, we’re at this place where people ask, ‘So what’s the next musical?’” As a high school theater teacher, the next musical for Jackson was Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.” The student-led, inter-departmental production went on stage in January to a packed house every night of its run.

“When we decided to do ‘Little Mermaid,’ it was because that is what was going to get Grandma in the seat,” Jackson said. “Being in high school, there are going to be a few shows that will be a little more risqué, they’re going to be a little more challenging, but since we are coming out of the Covid restrictions, we needed something that would just fill that house, that made it feel like, ‘Wow, this is a crowd.’” The efforts of Jackson, his students and SMHS staff were recognized by the Heller Awards for Young Artists, a Tony Awards style program that brings together over 30 schools to shine a spotlight on the hard work of thousands of students and teachers involved in arts education in the Greater Austin area.

Nominations included Best Orchestra; Best Costume Design; Best Techical Execution; Best Featured Performer/ Ensemble Category – Zada McElroy as Aquata; Student Achievement in Design – Christian Young; and Student Achievement in Stage Management – Fog Adler.

While this is the highest number of nominations San Marcos High School has ever received for the Heller Awards, Jackson quickly points out that the pro- duction was very much a collaborative, student-led endeavor.

“A lot of what we did was so student driven,” Jackson said. “Some of the things I wanted for the musical this year was one) to feel like the community was a part of it, and we did see that with the turn out and two) that they saw what it was like to collaborate on something. This is not a show that I directed. I was in charge of tech and acting. I had the fashion design teacher, who helped guide our student designers. We had our two music teachers and our voice teacher help with singing. We had our orchestra director, who was in the pit directing the band and orchestra members. We had our band teachers who worked with each section on the stuff they needed to learn. Cosmetology! They came in with the wigs and the makeup. They came out every night and were making people up backstage because a lot of people played four or five characters, so they would get makeup wiped and then cleaned and then put on more makeup immediately. And the kids were just going. It was really cool to watch them lead themselves.”

Jackson’s obvious passion for the arts sits at the same table as his drive to build community. As a high school theater teacher, he has now become recognized within San Marcos as ‘the guy who teaches my kid.’ During Covid, Broke Thespians had only just begun and high school theater numbers dropped, because, as Jackson explained, “It’s hard to stay interested in theater when it’s over a computer.”

With Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” Jackson saw the opportunity to rebuild the department. What followed has been a kind of synergy, as students who participated in the high school production began to look at what’s next for Broke Thespians. This led many talented young student actors and technicians to BTTC’s 2023 summer musical already underway: “Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka.”

“[When] they found out I was directing Willy Wonka, a good fifteen of them came out and auditioned and a big chunk of them got in,” Jackson said. “Not only got in, but all of the kids you think of like Charlie, Augustus Gloop, Veruca, Violet – those are all San Marcos High School students.”

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” represents the greater San Marcos area in the truest sense of community, bringing in actors and tech people from San Marcos middle and high schools, as well as from Hays and Guadalupe Counties.

“It feels very ‘community,’” Jackson said. “It’s really cool.”

As Broke Thespians prepares for the summer musical and it’s spring production, a devise play titled “Love & Information” which will open in April at the Price Center (see more in the April 2 issue of SMTXLife), Jackson and the Fine Arts Department at the San Marcos High School are already looking forward to the next school year’s musical, which will begin rehearsals at the start of the 2023-2024 school year and hit the stage sometime between November and January.

“The musical is the big departmental thing that everyone is going to recognize,” Jackson said, and it’s something that Jackson and his students want the whole town to come out and see. However, since Covid, Jackson noticed that many community members were uncertain whether or not they were able to attend high school events.

“We are a one-high-school town,” Jackson explained. “You don’t ask if you can go to the football game. You can go. These are public, open events. You’re always welcome to come see our shows. Come support educational fine arts. Not just theater, but orchestra concerts, and band concerts, and choir concerts. See art exhibits. We have kids placing in state in all of these areas. Come see why they’re doing so well.”

To check the schedule for upcoming fine arts events in San Marcos schools, visit the SMCISD website (smcisd.net) and look at the Fine Arts tab.

“It automatically updates when we add an event,” Jackson said. “We do a musical each year, but we also do straight plays. Then we also have competition plays, and showcases for our level one and level two classes to show off what they’ve done. Next year, we’ll be participating in the state theatrical design contest for our technicians, so it’s a pretty packed season. Usually, we finish something, and the next day we go into the next thing.”

Such is the life of a teacher, but even moreso of a community builder like Jackson, who works tirelessly to empower his students to take control of their creative endeavors while simultaneously fostering opportunities to practice what they’re learning.

Even during Spring Break. The Heller Awards, presented by the Long Center and Texas Performing Arts, will be held at the Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin on April 19 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for that event are on sale now at thelongcenter. org.