On March 20 at 6 p.m. and March 21 and 22 at 2 p.m., Virginia-Highland Elementary’s students performed in the musical “101 Dalmatians,”  featuring over 90 third, fourth and fifth graders. This is the largest musical the school has put on yet. 

The Virginia-Highland theatre program was founded by fourth grade teacher Thomas Freeman in 2023. He started the program to encourage positive development and identity discovery through theatre skills. 

“I believe theatre is important for elementary students, because if not now, when?” Freeman said. “If you’re not going to empower them to listen to each other and to react honestly or to behave in a way that benefits the entire ensemble and is not just ‘me, me, me.’ Or if someone has real talent to showcase, now is the time to foster that, but also life skills through stage skills.”

Freeman was a performing arts teacher before he began teaching at Virginia-Highland. He said his past experiences are what inspired him to bring a theatre program to his current job. 

“Before I went to Springdale Park as a first grade teacher, I was a performing arts teacher,” Freeman said. “I’ve taught music, dance and drama … Cut to high school, winning state [theatre] competitions and going to Thespian Conference, then majoring in theater education in college and leading national tours and regional tours and studying theater in Japan. I just love [theatre]. It’s everything; it’s who I am, and I would not be complete as a person if I wasn’t also propelling the art that I loved so much.”

Since its start, the program has grown significantly and made a large impact on  Virginia-Highland’s community, Freeman said. 

“We started out with a PTO allocation of $5,000, and we’ve made close to $15,000 every single time that we have done a show,” Freeman said. “I’ve gone from it being Mr. Freeman and Miss Maggie Sherwood to adding more parents and more faculty into it. It’s definitely evolving and growing. The process to establish the program looked like me asking [Principal Tony] Harness if we could do a show and him saying ‘absolutely.’ For that first year, he made sure that everything was aligned for VHE (Virginia-Highland Elementary) and the musical, and then once he saw me do it for one year, now it’s ‘Hey, what’s the musical next year?’ So, that is exciting.”

Since its beginning, the club has put on a musical every spring, including “Aladdin,” “Flat Stanley” and now “101 Dalmations.” Freeman said he chose this show for a specific reason this year. 

“I selected ‘101 Dalmatians’ because it’s VHE’s 101st year, or it’s that building’s 101st year,” Freeman said. “The show is a good fit. It’s a Disney classic; it has a large cast for ensemble; its got attainable music; it’s catchy, and it’s a good escape from the world. It’s a big shift from ‘Flat Stanley,’ which was really modern last year, to something that’s a little more classic Disney.” 

Fifth grader Clara Wells played Cruella De Vil in the production, and said she really enjoyed the show. 

“My favorite part of playing Cruella was getting to be a villain and be evil, I thought it was really fun,” Wells said. “My favorite part of the show has been meeting the people, the cast is the best part.”

Expanding the program wasn’t easy. According to Freeman, the process was long and came with challenges. 

“There were lots of challenges, specifically coming from the community of Virginia-Highland in which we serve,” Freeman said. “It is nearly impossible to make everyone happy, and I had to give up on that a long time ago. So, as long as the kids and the show and the ensemble are at the forefront of the decision-making process, I see no need to run that by other people because that’s the right decision. As long as it’s right for kids, it’s the right decision.” 

Students without named roles are a part of the “puppy chorus,” a group of 40 students who will be singing the ensemble part throughout the show. Freeman said this has come with its own share of challenges, but he has found ways to adapt to the large cast. 

“I have good bell ringers and good attention grabbers,” Freeman said. “So, when I say ‘Canine,’ everybody says ‘Crunchies.’ Then laying out clear, meticulous instructions: ‘This is what you do first. This is what you do next. This is what you do third, tell your neighbors so that I know that you know, and that they’ve heard it.’ Having those turn-to-talk moments, having those clear expectations, having that explicit instruction of ‘This is how this looks, now it’s your turn to do it,’ and reminding the kids that it’s a play, so you’re going to mess up, but that’s the point.” 

Freeman also has a “mom liaison” parent, Shannon Gaggero, who helps with teacher-parent communication, as well as managing rehearsals. 

“Parent involvement is critical in all aspects of a child’s schooling experience, but elementary theatre truly is a team sport,” Gaggero said. “Third, fourth and fifth grade students need support with executive function skills, like bringing your script to every rehearsal and practicing songs and numbers at home. We also need parents backstage during productions and support with fundraising since ticket sales are our greatest revenue generator. Truly, VHE’s theatre program cannot be successful without caregiver buy in and support.” 

Rehearsals were held twice a week for students to learn their music, choreography and blocking. 

“It’s March, so we are within show month right now, but before this, it’s normally been that my principal [characters] will come in on Monday; we’ll do some scene work; we’ll do some character work, and then on Thursday, we add the horde of puppies to everything,” Freeman said. “Honestly, Thursdays are great days because the principals get to rehearse what they learned on Monday in front of an audience, and then we add everyone into it, so it’s provided some good repetition for everyone. I run rehearsals with a game at the beginning, then a review/small group time, then instruction and at the end running, running, running. The last five minutes are always for notes, just like a professional rehearsal would be.”

“Tech Saturdays” are also a time for teachers and parent volunteers to put together the technical aspects of the show. 

“The students and their grown ups build the sets, students help create the costume designs, students offer input into choreography and more,” Gaggero said. “It truly is a collaboration between Mr. Freeman and the performers.”

The lights for the production were designed and run by fifth grader Jo Ray Chen. Chen learned how to operate the light board by taking the user’s manual home and watching YouTube videos. 

“I wanted to do the lights because I thought it would be an interesting new experience for me,” Chen said. “I learned it by looking at the user’s manual and looking up a few videos. I was able to go home and learn it by myself.”

After learning how to operate the board, Chen designed the lighting for the show and ran lights through each run. 

“I asked Mr. Freeman a few questions, but I did most of the designing,” Chen said. “I wanted to match the mood and tone of the show, so everyone would be able to understand the scenes better.” 

Freeman said he believes there are many skills that can be learned through participating in theatre at a young age, making the program meaningful to students in a variety of ways. 

“[Students learn] life skills through stage skills: how to be on time, how to jot notes, how to ask questions in a rehearsal process, how to listen the first time, how to apply prior knowledge to what you’re doing, how to make connections with each other, how to be a good friend and a good ensemble member, how to memorize lines, how to project your voice [and] how to take focus,” Freeman said. “There’s also how to read music and follow along with that, because in the scripts that we’re getting from [Musical Theatre International], it’s the actual sheet music. In music rehearsals, I’m calling out the measure number we’re on, and the expectation is that the kids are finding that measure number and recounting some of those rhythms before we are singing them.”

Gaggero believes the experience has benefited her daughter in multiple ways. 

“My daughter has always loved to perform, but being a part of VHE’s theatre program has taught her the power of an ensemble and the cardinal rule that there are no small roles, only small actors,” Gaggero said. “Beyond her roles, she’s had the opportunity to direct scenes and help choreograph numbers. Mr. Freeman values and elevates student voices throughout these productions.”

Gaggero said the show has brought positivity into the community, and that with support she hopes the club will be able to continue to do so. 

“There are so many studies that show the benefits of theatre arts on young students’ development, and I get to witness that power first-hand each rehearsal,” Gaggero said. “VHE’s program is unique because it’s not often third, fourth or fifth graders are offered the opportunity to participate in such a high caliber production. As a community, we should both celebrate and invest in its sustainment so more and more children can benefit from the program for years to come.”

Freeman said that looking forward, he hopes the theatre program will continue to expand into the school day rather than just being an afterschool club. 

“I would enjoy the Virginia-Highland theatre program to keep progressing and doing kids shows or junior shows,” Freeman said. “I would like for VHE to develop an arts integration special so that each grade level and the kids in that grade level have a chance to perform a show that’s integrated based on concepts that would hit some academic standards so that we could have some real arts integration.”