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The auditorium stage, Dripping Springs High School. Day.
A handful of somewhat bleary-eyed but enthusiastic theatre STUDENTS gather in front of BECKY SAGEN, a fit, 40-something, local athletic trainer with a shock of magenta hair and black glasses. She smiles while greeting the assortment of teens who have arrived at school an hour early to attend a session of a new theatre conditioning program, the brainchild of DSHS theatre director COY BRANSCUM.
“I was inspired by the work being done by other programs in the DSHS fine arts department, specifically band,” says Coy, a 2011 DSHS graduate in his second year of teaching at the campus. “The rigor and dedication the band students put into their work make them not just stellar musicians, but strong, resilient individuals as well. I wanted to create our own form of this for our theatre students, especially those wishing to pursue a career in the arts,” Coy says of the thrice weekly conditioning classes he launched in September.
At that point, he had been training with Sagen at CrossFit Second Wave in Dripping Springs for about six months to resolve some physical issues he had developed after almost two decades in theatre. “I came to Becky with pretty standard challenges for performers: creaky knees, weak ankles, and a strength imbalance caused from years of favoring turning on one side over the other,” says Coy. “It turned out to be one of those serendipitous choices that led to me finding an awesome trainer, a happier, healthier lifestyle, and—most importantly—a friend who I get to share with my students.”
This morning, as Sagen leads the students through a variety of exercises, including Bulgarian split squats, handstand holds, and oblique V-ups, she explains the focus is on building their strength, teaching them proper technique, and developing their endurance so they might avoid injuries common among theatre professionals.
“These kids are really crushing it!” says Sagen, a level 3 certified CrossFit trainer. “They’re so much stronger and doing things so much more easily than when they started,” she adds, pointing to the students executing an impressive row of handstands against the stage wall. “I like to remind them of how much progress they’ve made.”
“This has been really great because I don’t do sports,” says Evan Bergeron, a sophomore who has acted in a number of DSHS productions, including “Mamma Mia!,” “Mean Girls,” and “The Comedy of Errors.”
“The Comedy of Errors” had a lot of physicality in it, and Sagen says the students asked her to teach them some tumbling to help them do it effectively and properly, so they could make it look realistic without hurting themselves.
“The program has helped me gain more control over my body,” says freshman Anna Ardolino, who is part of the ensemble in the department’s musical, “Footloose,” running January 23 through 27 at the DSHS auditorium.
Ardolino’s “Footloose” castmate, Maddi Hooks, says the conditioning program has helped her endurance. “When I was in ‘Comedy of Errors,’ which is a farce, I was able to do more with my character because I had the energy to,” says Hooks, a senior planning to pursue film and television acting in college. Now, Hooks plays the role of Wendy Jo in this month’s performance of “Footloose.”
Based on the 1984 film, the musical follows a rebellious high school student who moves from the big city to a small town where dancing and rock music have been banned by community leader Reverend Shaw, a role played by Coy during his senior year at DSHS. “To be doing this show again, nearly 15 years later on the same stage, feels very full circle to me,” Coy says.
“‘Footloose’ is about grief, and a community learning to come together so they can heal and move forward. It’s really something special, and you can tell the students feel the same way,” adds Coy, who says he’s thrilled to share it with the Dripping Springs Community again. “The passion and hard work they’re putting into this show will blow people away!”
Coy says he hopes the students walk away from this program with a sense of how resilient they are. “I’ve seen these students show up consistently, regardless of what was going on in their lives. Because of this experience, I’ve seen them grow stronger physically and mentally. I hope they see that and are as proud of themselves as I am.” The conditioning program has a future, he says. “It may adapt and evolve, but it’s here to stay.”
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