A new direction
Mr. Shoemaker has taken on the position of assistant director for the Tiger Theater Company
Teacher Brandon Shoemaker stands onstage as he helps direct “Clue”. Despite being new to the Tiger Theatre company, this English teacher is not new to the stage.
November 11, 2022
Performing and theater have always been a part of him, whether it was expressed through his acting or work behind the curtain. This wasn’t something he could ever let go of, and he plans to continue pursuing that passion for theater even further here at Texas High.
English and theater teacher, Brandon Shoemaker, has taken on the position of assistant director for Texas High’s theater program and is beginning his new position in the production company with the play “Clue”. He was first made aware of the program through the Texas High theater teachers.
“I was a theater director in South Carolina for 10 years, [but] I had friends who already worked at THS and I got to know Mrs. Fleeter and the previous director, Mrs. Newton, for a few years,” Shoemaker said.
After much convincing from the Texas High theater teachers, Shoemaker decided to take a position here at Texas High and help out the theater department by becoming the assistant director.
“As assistant director, I have to fill in anytime the director can’t be there,” Shoemaker said. “I work with the director to make choices in terms of everything ranging from what shows we do in the season, hair, makeup, costume and set.”
This, however, is nothing new to Shoemaker, who has been a member of several productions as an actor, director and stage manager.
“I have acted many times in community theater, and in school productions, I’ve done a lot of musicals,” Shoemaker said. “My biggest role has probably been as Edna in ‘Hairspray’. I’ve actually performed that role twice. I’ve also done some stage management, but I didn’t really enjoy it.”
Besides his love and interest in theater, the theater teacher also finds the students’ reactions and attitudes toward him to be a significant positive factor in the job.
The students here are great. They’ve got a lot of talent and a lot of promise, and they’ve been really welcoming, so I love it. — Brandon Shoemaker
“The students here are great,” Shoemaker said. “They’ve got a lot of talent and a lot of promise, and they’ve been really welcoming, so I love it.”Being a part of production is no simple task with students having colliding schedules and the chance of something not working or being ready in time for a show. Shoemaker, however, has a positive outlook on the difficulties of his job.
“Obviously there are a lot of challenges, [but] rather than difficulties, they’re fun challenges,” Shoemaker said. “They always force us to think creatively and outside of the box.”
Shoemaker has kept this positive outlook on the challenges of the performing arts with the theater’s current production of “Clue”.
“For our current production of ‘Clue’, we have two different casts that are going to be performing,” Shoemaker said. “We have the challenge of not only managing that many schedules from that many different students, but also looking for character choices between two candidates so that the characters are recognizable.”
Once the production of “Clue” is over, Shoemaker plans on continuing his work with the Tiger Theater Company and helping lead the company to many stunning presentations this year.
