Clarification

Drama Club Families,
 
We would just like to clarify something that was put on the agenda at the parent meeting last week that may have been confusing or misleading.  As it has been in the past (most years we have this issue), there is a direct conflict with the rehearsals for the PMEA Honors Band festival and a day of our performances.  PMEA policies state that a student must fully participate in the entire festival once they commit to going and are only excused from rehearsals in very rare instances.  Mr. Lavelle clarified for us that it is common for our North Hills students to audition for the ensemble and then choose not to participate in the actual festival for a variety of reasons, but that the audition is important in that it assures band students an auto-bid into the PMEA District Band festival later in the year. 
 
It was not our intent to say that a student shouldn’t go to the audition – just that if they are cast in the show after our auditions later this week, or participate in the performances in some way on the crew/stage managing/etc. that would conflict with PMEA, that they should decline participation in the festival.  Students make this choice every year, and if participating in the PMEA festival is a priority for them, they typically choose not to audition for the play or they volunteer to help with set construction or some less demanding part of the production.  If a student was selected for a lead role, rehearsed for a month with the cast, and then informed everyone after Honors auditions that they would not be performing the shows, that would force a situation where a re-cast would be necessary.  So, band students, by all means, please audition and we hope you do well enough to be put on the auto-bid list for Districts!
 
Also, there was a misprint on at least one of the handouts… the choir and drama website is www.nhchoiranddrama.net, not choir@drama.  An autocorrect took over or something!  We hope you check the website often, as we will post all handouts, announcements, and the calendar for easy access.
 
We’re looking forward to auditions this week, and the start to a great year in the drama club!
 
Thanks,
Mr. Cloonan & Ms. Sarazen