B-CC Theater Opportunities

Fall Musical

In the fall, usually the week after school starts, interested students audition for the fall musical, which traditionally is shown in four public performances in late November and early December. B-CC's marvelous musicals in recent years have included Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, Cole Porter's Anything Goes, Cabaret, and in 2002, as the premier show in the new, state-of-the-art auditorium, Les Miserables. The production was brought to life by a cast and crew of more than 100 students and a talented orchestra in the pit. In the fall of 2007 B-CC hit an all-time high with a sell-out crowd during their two-weekend run of Disney's Beauty and the Beast.Check the Past Productions page for a complete list of all of B-CC shows. Auditions for the musical are held simultaneously with casting for the senior-directed Children's Show, so there are many parts available as soon as students start school. Rehearsals are held afterschool three to five days a week, depending on the part, and technical crews work afterschool and on weekends, when cast members also help in building sets, painting, and other tasks.

For information about this year's fall musical, visit the After-School productions page.

Children's Show

Each year one senior is selected to direct BCC’s popular children’s theater production. The show is a highlight for elementary and middle school students from around the county. Students are bused to BCC from the various schools over the course of three days. The show is also open to the general public over one weekend.

Selection for this directorship is competitive, and takes place each spring for the upcoming school year. Potential directors are required to prepare a director’s notebook, which includes a vision statement, set designs, lighting and sound plans, costume designs, and a rehearsal schedule—all things they have learned to do during their previous three years of theater classes at B-CC.  The student director has approximately 7 weeks to complete the production from the time it is cast.

Past productions have included James and the Giant Peach, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Charlotte’s Web, The Hobbit and Alice in Wonderland. The Children's Show has not been active in recent years.

Spring Play

As soon as the fall musical performances are over and the set is struck, auditions begin in for the spring play, which in previous years has included comedies such as Seasons Greetings, dramas such as Death Takes A Holiday and Arthur Miller's captivating Crucible, the epic Cyrano de Bergerac with a cast of more than 70, and in 2003 an all-female Steel Magnolias, Peter Pan and others. The spring play is shown over two weekends typically in late March to early April. Rehearsals are similar to those for the musical. Check the past productions page to see what we've done in the past, and check the after school productions page to see what we are doing this year!

Talent Showcase

The Talent Showcase was created in 2002 to provide additional performance opportunitites while the new theater was still under construction. A committee of drama interested students met weekly and designed a coffee house style talent show. It continues to be a student run organized event.

The format is simple. Students wishing to perform in the Showcase submit a video tape of their act, or an audio tape if they only wish to perform music. As long as they meet the Showcase guidelines, all acts are accepted. The acts must be comprised of only BCC students. There is one dress rehearsal, the week of the Talent Showcase, to make sure that all the acts can follow each other smoothly without too much blank space or set up time. The whole evening is emceed by one or two students who provide comedic interludes between acts.

During intermission, audience members are able to bid on items in the Drama Club's Silent Auction, which helps to defray the cost of the National Theater Festival fees.

Student Directed, One-Act Play Fest

The Theater Program includes an annual event in May, the Theater Awards Banquet, which is open to all students who participated as cast or crew in any of the year's productions, and their parents. This is a time for all of those involved in B-CC's Theater Program to reflect on the past year's activities, honor graduating seniors and recognize outstanding accomplishments. Members of the parents' Drama Boosters Club send out invitations, prepare a menu, and decorate and serve an evening meal in the school cafeteria. Juniors create an entertainment program for the event, which includes "roasting" all graduating seniors, who sit at a head table as guests of honor for the festive evening. Another highlight of the evening is presentation of special awards to students of all grade levels. Many of the awards, including Outstanding Production Work, Overall Excellence in Theater Arts, Outstanding Technical and Design Work, Outstanding Performance, Leadership, Spotlight Awards, and Conservatory Award, are also presented later in the month at the schoolwide Academic Awards Assembly. Visit the Drama Boosters page for more information on this year's Banquet.

Congratulations to our 2007-2008 theater award winners:
2007-2008 B-CC Theater Awards:
Theater Conservatory Award: Lily Karlin, Sanford Diehl
Performance Award: Emmi Stern, Anthony Pape-Calabrese, Allison Fisher, Greg Atkin
Spotlight Award: Caroline Diehl, Jorge Thomson, Tim Simon, Claire Blackwelder
Production Award: Ariel Webster, Eric Damtoft
Leadership Award: Rachael Albert, Patrick Shannon
Senior Award: Ginna Roach, Lila Becker
Tech & Design Award: Rebecca Zweig, Hannah Rubashkin
Rosalyn Simon Memorial Scholarship Award: Rachael Albert

Maryland High School Theater Festival 

The Maryland State Theater Festival Held each year in February at Magruder High School in Rockville, Maryland.

Congratulations to our 2007-2008 MHST Festival winners:
2008 MD State Theater Festival awards:
Amanda Bestor-Siegel Best Original Works for Green Eyes
Lila Becker and Anthony Pape-Calabrese Best Scene acting award for Green Eyes
Julia DePalma Best Acting mainstage
Gina Roach, Matt Haggerty, Chris Schulz Critics Award
Anthony Pape-Calabrese Best Playwriting for Off the Hinges
Rachel Albert, Anthony Pape-Calabrese MD High School Theater All-State Award

Theater Honor Society

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School has a chapter of the Maryland High School Theater (MHST) Honor Society, and members are inducted each February during the annual Maryland High School Theater Festival. Eligibility is determined by grade point average, participation in theater productions for a minimum of 200 hours, and recommendation by theater director. For more information visit the Theater Honor Society page.

National Invitational Theater Festival

Is held each year at the University of Maryland in the new Clarice Smith Center where top schools will present shows as well as where students will take workshops all week with artists in the theater field. The event is sponsored by the non-profit National Association of Secondary Theaters. This is a fledgling organization that has been growing for the past 5 years to almost 400 participants from up and down the East Coast. Many Maryland and Montgomery County Schools participate.