After many years as assistant director for the Morgan musical, Shannon Robinson, the media teacher at Morgan, directed her first Morgan musical two weeks ago as lead/head director, pouring her love and passion for theater into her first year as head director.
When Robinson was just in second grade, her mother convinced her to join the community theater production of Annie, where she was an orphan. Since that day, Robinson has been involved in approximately 75 productions both on stage or backstage. Robinson stated, “Once I did the production, Annie, the theater bug hit me.” Her passion for singing has never gone away, and she works with different theater companies to continue her love.
Robinson fell in love with the music and the feeling of performing. She mentions that her most loved part of a production is at the end when the seats pop. Productions she performed in include Gypsy, Octet. She loves putting on a show for people that they won’t forget. After falling in love with theater, she knew she would want to perform in more productions and hopefully have the ability to direct later on in her life. Her love and passion for it only kept growing.
For all fourteen years that Mrs. Robinson has worked here, she has been involved in the annual musicals that take place at Morgan. While John Lampe was the director for 34 years, Robinson had an integral part and was very involved. Over the years, Robinson said that Lampe helped train her to take over and made sure she was ready.
“Mr. Lamp had been speaking to me the past few years, knowing that he would be retiring last year and helping prepare me to take over for him after he left,” said Robinson.
Last year, after MTI (Musical Theatre International) posted that there would be limited rights to Mamma Mia, Robinson seized the opportunity. She put in the rights for the show long before she knew if she would be directing. During this time, she had been working backstage for the Eliot and Morgan musical, Curtains. Many students told Robinson that they would love to do Mamma Mia. Robinson got the reassurance that it would be a production people would love to see brought to the stage.
“I ran to Mrs. Hagness and Mr. Lampe to get their blessing and begged them to let me put in for the rights for the show, even though I might not be the one producing it,” Robinson explained.
Once MTI granted The Morgan School the rights to perform the production of Mamma Mia, Robinson was ecstatic. At this point in time, she had found out she would be directing the production. Robinson had started convincing and advertising for students to join. At the beginning of the school year, Robinson had around 50 students. After Robinson announced the cast, the fun began.
Robinson held many rehearsals with the help of music teacher Leila Mustakos, who was the music director, along with the choreographer, Lauren Bauer, who is in school working towards being a doctor. In her first year as director, Robinson was determined to make this show one of the best. She didn’t just want students to have fun and pursue their passion for theater but also to learn other lessons. She believes the musical is helping students learn commitment, communication, and how to balance their time between school and in-school activities, jobs, and outside-of-school activities.
“Mrs. Robinson taught us to respect others’ time. I learned how to use time wisely and be officiant. She treated the cast fairly, as she did the other directors. It was so fun to have her as the director this year, and I am excited for next year,” says Austin Borkowski, who played Harry Bright in Mamma Mia.
In this first year as director, Robinson has learned a lot. She now understands why Lampe has many gray hairs, she joked, but also understands why he loved it so much. She loved all the memories she made and loved seeing the production of Mamma Mia come together. Robinson learned that the experience is a balancing act. Working with 50 teenagers at once, trying to get them to listen is difficult. She had many frustrations with the students listening, but always found a way to work through it.
Robinson believes that the musical is an amazing program that Morgan offers. She feels that it supports students who have a passion for theater as well as giving students an experience where they are able to learn more than just how to perform on stage. Theater has opened many doors for Robinson and helped her find a way to express herself. Robinson said she will continue to direct in the following years with just as much energy and passion as she had this year.
