Education Matters

Making Musicals at State College of Florida Collegiate School

By Ryan G. Van Cleave

For some teachers, teaching is merely a job. For some, it’s a way of life, and that’s clearly what it is for David Nields, who serves as Theater Director of the State College of Florida Collegiate School, a tuition-free public charter school operated by State College of Florida. (He also teaches for SCF and Ringling College of Art and Design). How do I know he’s a teacher in his heart? Because he keeps turning every conversation to students and educational opportunities. Plus he seems energized by his busy schedule, which could easily prove daunting to some. It appears pretty daunting to me, at least!

What Nields is clearly most proud of, though, are the musicals his students are creating at the collegiate school. And by “created,” I mean CREATED. As in for the last few years, the students have written, produced and performed their own original musical. When Nields arrived four years back, he had the idea to have the students put on a musical, but putting on an existing one is shockingly cost-prohibitive. “Out of that challenge arose the idea that we could write our own,” he says. In addition to his theater background, Nields is a professional musician. He firmly believes kids are inherently musical, and that technology can help give young people access to the world of music.

iPads allow kids with zero musical experience to write songs and create chord progressions that work. “We’re not talking about sampling or copying and pasting things,” he says. “They’re actually making music.” All the kids at the collegiate school have iPads, and all have access to Garage Band, so anyone who wants to help out with the musical—a completely optional activity—can learn using that. Nields has an iMac desktop loaded up with Pro Tools—industry standard recording software—where all the final work is done. They create backing tracks that the kids will sing live to. “We even put out an album on Soundcloud every year,” he says with a great big smile.

What’s perhaps most impressive is how many students choose to participate. It’s not attached to a class—it’s just out of interest and fun. Because they’re actually creating their own versus putting on, say, Cats or Grease, their sense of ownership is profound. And that translates into a lot of students wanting to be part of it. This year they have about 50 helping out, though that number is 60+ if you count stage crew. “Some just want to be on stage. Some want to only play piano and write lyrics. Some only want to make scenery or work backstage,” says Nields. “My goal is always to give as many kids the opportunity to be on stage, if possible. I don’t come in and choose the three most talented kids and let the others fade away. I invite them all to be as involved as they choose to be.”

The reaction to each year’s musical? Overwhelming. Nields says, “98% say some version of ‘I can’t believe it was this good.’ They kind of come in thinking that kids wrote this, so they have lower expectations, but then they’re completely surprised at the quality of the show.”

While audience members continue to be surprised by the shows, what surprises Nields again and again is how talented the kids are. “Each year, there’s a kid who comes up with a turn of phrase that on my best day—remember I was a professional musician for 10 years—I couldn’t have come up with. Or they’ll create a chord progression or lyric that’s wonderful but so outside of my wheelhouse.”

One of the challenges they face is not having consistent theater space—SFC’s Neel Performing Arts Center is used for a variety of other purposes because it’s a cultural center for Manatee and Sarasota County. It regularly hosts college and community sponsored events because it’s such an impressive venue—witness seating for 830, a 65’ by 4’ stage, and wheelchair accessible seating and restrooms. It’s also not the easiest to get all the kids together because this is a rigorous academic school. There are lots of classroom and study expectations. “I’m used to rehearsing five days a week, with an extra three hours on Sunday,” Nields admits. “We’re lucky to get two days a week, which is why we start up in January. We make it work, though.”

Sometimes they have an overarching theme or idea they want to run with at the start, and sometimes they generate that together. “One year, we had two students write the entire thing themselves—it was based on ancient Rome. Then we did another collaboration entitled Avilasa that was based on Mesopotamia myths,” Nields says. “This year’s production is Monsters. We’ve gotten some guidance and ideas about that from a teacher here, Kristin Goddard, who teaches monster theory—the idea of the Other. So what we do is cross-curricular for sure.”

Want to see for yourself just how great a student-generated musical can be? Come out to the Neel Performing Arts Center on May 10th or 11th, 7 p.m., to see Monsters for yourself. Did I mention it’s free? Do consider making a donation, though, because Nields and these hard-working kids deserve it.

Be sure to tell Nields that Ryan and Scene sent you! (He’ll be the one with the biggest smile on his face.)

For more information about the State College of Florida Collegiate School, please visit www.scfcs.scf.edu, or call 941.752.5494.