The SMS fall musical “Hairspray” debuts in late October. The Shawnee Mission South Theatre has been a during and after school home to many famous names. The people in this theatre put their heart and soul into these productions on the daily. To learn a little more about the show, the method behind Director Mark Swezey’s madness and just how committed these actors are to their art, keep reading.

LT: How long have you been directing plays and musicals?

MS: A long time. I started back in the ‘70’s when I was in school and I started teaching high school in the late 70’s and ended up here in 1980. In addition to directing at high schools I have done a lot of Community theatre, I have done some Professional theatre and I directed Collegiate productions too, but mainly Academic and Community theatre.

LT: What inspired you to start teaching high schoolers?

MS: I was working with small children believe it or not in a creative dramatics program here in the greater Kansas City area and I enjoyed it so much I thought this would be really fun if I could combine not only my teaching of creative dramatics, but also with directing and teaching on a secondary level. So I went back to school and got another degree then I started teaching high school.

LT:What brought you to teaching here at Shawnee Mission South?

MS: Back in the ‘80’s SMS was much larger than it is now. It had a great reputation for not only Theatre, but Performing Arts and Forensics. The school I was teaching at, at the time, which was Tonganoxie High School, I was in charge of the theatre and speech program there we built up a very competitive forensics program and we would compete against all the Topeka and Shawnee Mission schools. I became friends with the Forensis director for SMS and right around 1980 she told me the job was opening and I was very interested because of their great reputation. So I applied, and got it.

LT:Have any of your students gone on to do anything famous?

MS: Yes, I think the big name would be Paul Rudd. He was here and he hung out with a lot of the theatre kids because Shawnee Mission West at the time didn’t have a big theatre program. Others include Peter Spears who worked alongside Jack Nicholson in the film As Good As It Gets, Andy Cohen who has produced several films such as Father of the Bride and just finished producing his first Off-Broadway show “Heathers”, Fred Nelson who is the President of the People’s Choice Awards, David Dastmalchian who has worked alongside Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal in Prisoners, played the role of Kurt in Ant-Man and has also been in some CSI shows.

LT:What is your favorite musical that you’ve directed and why?

MS: I’m very attached to Les Miserables. I’ve done the high school version here (SMS) actually which cuts about 20 minutes out. It’s my favorite because it’s about humanity and courage and some really wonderful things. Also, quite honestly Hairspray is one of my favorites. I just love what it’s about, acceptance and being different is ok and some great issues that took place during the 60’s.

LT:Why did you retire from teaching at SMS?

MS: I had always wanted to manage a theatre and the opportunity came up because i was doing some freelance work at the Jewish Community Center and they came up with enough money to create a $16 million state of the art theatre and they were wanting to hire a director and at the time I was eligible for retirement here so I went ahead and took it and worked there for seven years.

LT: What inspired you to return to teaching at South?

MS: I missed teaching like crazy and at the end of my 7th year at the JCC the job opened up and Dustin Cates who was the music director at SMS at the time called me and told me about it. So I came and I interviewed for it and they were crazy enough to hire me back.

LT:What is this year’s theatre season?

MS: Our fall musical is Hairspray, which is about some great things; the fall play is our annual Miracle on 34th Street; our Winter musical is The Wizard of Oz, where we bring in the Flying Foy friends to do specialty flying in the show; and our spring play is a great fantasy comedy named Harvey

LT:What are ticket prices for the students and community?

MS: Students get in for free, adults are $10 and children are $7. For Hairspray we are running a special ticket promotion because the show closes on Halloween and there are two performances that day, so for anybody who dresses up in a Halloween costume they get in for half price at $5.

LT:What are the dates for the upcoming fall musical Hairspray?

MS: The show runs Oct. 28 through Oct. 31.

LT:Do you have to be enrolled in a theatre class to try out for any productions?

MS: Absolutely not. The only show we do limit auditions for is Miracle on 34th Street and that is primarily because Rep. Theatre totally produces that, but we do still allow students who are not in the class to work on crews as well as if there are some small roles to be filled we open those auditions to non-Rep Theatre students.

LT:Would you ever consider doing any smaller productions besides your normal four productions?

MS: I think so. I think our issues right now stem from the fact that the Little Theatre no longer exists and we are told and hoping that in the next couple of years that we should be adding a black box theatre on to the Auditorium. That would allow us a lot more flexibility in terms of smaller projects as well as student-directed productions besides the four main productions we do every year.

LT:Is having a “student-run” theatre tech. typical of most high school theatre companies?

MS: No, I don’t think so. In fact, I am told that some of our neighboring districts separate the tech. theatre kids from the actors and that’s just something I’m very opposed to. I think theatre students need to be well rounded and certainly have an appreciation for what each other brings to the table in creating the program. We try to involve our students in a professional way as much as we can in all areas of theatre. Those are business, backstage, on stage, lighting, sound, scenic design and the whole thing.

LT:How much of a time commitment do you expect your students and those involved in shows to put into productions?

MS: It depends on the involvement. We have some students that would just like to be a part of the house crew and like to help with ushering and tickets, that type of thing. Then we have the kids who jump in and can’t get enough of working backstage and onstage and usually some kind of combination of both.

LT:What should SMS and the community expect from this year’s theatre season?

MS: First of all, a real sense of diversity. Hairspray is all about that and I think it’s a great way to start off the year. We have variety. Such as some older shows with new twists and we have some newer shows like hairspray which was in New York for the last five to six years. Also, bringing back an oldie like Harvey with maybe exploring some ideas that students were possibly not aware of. Harvey was written back in the late 30’s but it continues to be revived and Jim Parsons was just part of the revival a couple years ago. It’s just a great play to remind us of what it’s like to be human and has good things to say.