For the 2022-2023 school year, The Acting Troupe of Lambert (ATL) has entrusted their leadership to Mr. Wason after long-time director Mrs. Carly stepped down. Wason took initiative to take her place until the search for a new theater program director is complete.

With the new year, Ms. Wason has been managing both Lambert Chorus and the ATL. While he was already leading the chorus program, he wanted to make sure that Lambert’s theater would still be able to offer the same number of shows and experiences that they planned when Mrs. Carly was in charge. It hasn’t been easy, though.

“It is a challenge to find the right balance between our two programs,” Mr. Wason said. “It’s hard to make sure that I am providing adequate attention to both groups because we’ve been in the middle of the job search for our new director. Our attention has been a little more skewed towards the drama program, but we’re now rounding it out to a better balance.”

Contrasting last year, Wason is trying to allow the students more flexibility to balance their theater life alongside their school and personal life.

It isn’t a secret among veteran drama students that the ATL was a huge time commitment last year. Despite this year’s challenges, Wason hopes to administer the high-quality productions ATL has achieved in years past, while also prioritizing students’ mental and physical well-being.

“Our students dedicate a lot of their time and energy to our drama program, which is one of the reasons why it’s become so successful,” Wason said. “We’ve allowed for that balance in student life to get out of proportion, and so one of my priorities this year is to make sure that our students still have lives outside of our drama programs.”

The program has a plan to host four plays in its upcoming year. The October production will be “Tuck Everlasting” followed by “Elf Jr.” in December. The advanced drama class will host a competition second semester and their final project is a rendition of “The Great Gatsby” in May 2023.

With the determination of the ATL staff and students to produce their best work, this year, Lambert’s theater program can be expected to execute top-quality productions.