“I love being on stage. I love performing for people. Just you know it just gives me a way to do that.” – Sarah Gibbons.

“So in a lot of ways, theatre appeals to a lot of different students' interests. Some students want to build with their hands. Some want to work with soundboards or light boards or design. Some want to act. Some want to write.” – Matt Sincell.

When you say theatre, most people think of acting or reading scripts; however, producing a singular production takes a lot more time and effort than most people think. At Rowland Hall, there are three major theatre classes offered this year: Technical Theatre, Theatre Production, and Acting Techniques: Social Theatre. In Tech Theatre, there is a lot of heavy lifting and creativity required to build a set and props, and to match lighting cues to specific scenes. In Social Theatre, there is the much more personal task of writing, reading, and talking about personal stories and experiences, which causes a more emotional class. The reason for the writing is to express student’s personal feelings and stories towards topics, such as gun violence. Theatre Production is what most people think of, the shows and plays themselves. Theatre Production is heavy on acting and memorization. Having different types of theatre classes offering different tasks allows more students to gain an interest. “Theater is a really unique sort of discipline because you have technical theatre, you have acting, you have writing, you have all kinds of different aspects to theater,” says Matt Sincell, the Upper School theatre teacher, while in an interview with Abdallah Butt and Henry Nolan Olsen.

For the students, theatre is a way to meet new people and make friendships. “I love it. It’s a great way to kind of connect with people in a different way,” says Sarah Gibbons, Student Body President, when asked about Theatre Production. Theatre allows students to express themselves in their own ways. In Theatre Production, students learn different skills and strategies for memorization, acting, and even public speaking.

Theatre is an umbrella term: many different styles of classes but all related to the same thing. Theatre is a way to express issues as well, to bring light to ongoing problems, whether political or social. In the Social Theatre class, we were selected as the only school in the state of Utah to produce “ENOUGH! Plays To End Gun Violence,” a set of six different plays written by students across the U.S., in an attempt to get those in power to help end gun violence. On October 8, 2025, Browyn Andrus, Marin Bean, Stella Fry, Beck LaBore, Kiri Miller, David Moles, Henry Nolan Olsen, Tori Somerville, Serenity Thompson, and Milo Van Ispelen worked with Matt Sincell to produce this play. While not many people showed up to see the play, we did get House District 56 Candidate Natassja Grossman, who was incredibly moved by these plays. She mentions, “I was there at the Charlie Kirk shooting,” and she believes that gun violence doesn’t belong anywhere, especially schools, where kids are required to go. After the play, she got a photo with the cast and still works alongside a few students outside of school to protest violence in the U.S.

So, when you say or think of theatre, you now know that you shouldn’t only think about the stage, the play, or the actors, but all of it. Now when you think of theatre, you will think of the behind-the-scenes of building the set, the reasons we do some of the plays, the meaning behind the plays, and now, how theatre can be impactful towards a community.