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You
are here: The Cappies:
Celebrating High School Theater Like Never Before
by Bill Strauss and Judy Bowns
High school theater is the real youth culture in America. Movies? TV shows? Pop music? They're sold to teen consumers, but are seldom the work (and almost never the idea) of teenagers themselves. But high school theater? That's the genuine article. And, these days, there's been a real renaissance in what today's young people are doing on stage. Most people don't know this because, up until recently, high school theater seldom received much attention in the press. High school sports receive big photos and articles in local papers, but school musicals? No matter if they involve over 100 students, or are attended by thousands of people over the course of a run, usually not a peep in the press. Well, that's changing, thanks to The Cappies.
Now in its fourth year, The Cappies are drawing media (and community celebration) like never before for high school theater. Across the U.S., thousands of students are attending each other's shows, as theater critics. And many hundreds of them are getting bylines in local papers for their reviews of these shows. Through The Cappies, the "Critics and Awards" program for high school theater, students are trained as critics, attend and review each others' plays and musicals, publish reviews in area papers, and participate in a year-end Cappies award process culminating in a Tonys-style Cappies Gala.
It's all very exciting, and, often, very big. In the Washington, D.C., area, 48 high schools participate in The Cappies. Over 200 student-penned reviews have been published in The Washington Post--only one of more than a dozen area papers printing reviews with student bylines. School newspapers are publishing reviews of their own school shows written by Cappie critics from other schools. Two television stations have invited students on the air to read their reviews. How's that for "writing across the curriculum"? In Washington, The Cappies Gala is held each June at the grandest venue in town: the sold-out 2400-seat Concert Hall of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The entire three-hour gala, with its performances by a regional select cast, skits and songs from nominated shows, 35 suspenseful envelope-openings for awards (presented by local VIPs), all before a tuxedoed and prom-gowned audience, is broadcast, front to finish, on a local TV station.
The Cappies began in Fairfax County, Virginia, in part as a response to the Columbine tragedy. We felt that high school students, especially the most creative ones, needed more community support (and, especially, media hugs) when they do great things. Also, we felt that the Internet was opening up vast new opportunities for organizing student projects that involved exchange of information. We knew that many high school kids were writing at a skill level far higher than most adults realized. And, especially, we were thrilled with how much better high school shows were becoming year after year. Hence our idea for The Cappies.
We called up The Washington Post, asking if they'd ever publish a 200-word student-written review of a high school show, and they said "How about 300 to 400 words, how about two reviews per show, and how about if we send a photographer?" That was back in 1999, and in the years since, a school's "Cappies night," when all the critics arrive from all over the metro area, has become as huge a deal for its theater program as homecoming has long been for its football team.
Here's how The Cappies work: Each participating school selects a Cappies show for review and awards evaluation. Usually, it's the biggest show of the year, the one into which everybody plans to put the most effort. Each school selects a student critic team of 3 to 6 students who are trained as critics and then assigned, as a team, to attend and review five shows, and evaluate those shows for awards. Each school also selects a mentor, a teacher-volunteer, who agrees to attend two Cappies shows to guide the students' work. Cappies shows usually take place on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. By early afternoon on Sunday, the critics email their reviews to the mentors, who select the best-written reviews, edit them as required, and send them on to the papers. All reviews are then forwarded to the performing school. (It's quite an exciting moment, when the theater director posts these reviews for everyone to read.) Cappies reviews are not always full of sunshine-they're real journalism-but the critics are required to keep their criticisms within bounds. They may not criticize anyone by name. (Yes, they can praise cast and crew by name-which they do, a lot.) Their critiques must be constructive, never sarcastic or belabored. On the whole, their reviews are far more supportive than what you see published by professional critics.
Here in Washington, when the Cappies reviews of a school's show are published in the Post, usually with two or three gorgeous color photos all filling a full page, quite a stir is created around the featured school that day. Some student critics have become quite good, earning numerous bylines and no doubt startling college admissions committees who receive applications stuffed with Washington Post clippings. Most of The Cappies work involves students supporting each others' programs, but the year-end awards process does get competitive juices flowing, too. In May, after the last Cappies show, the critics gather to vote through a very careful digital process-- far more careful than American Idol-- and the results generate a lot of excitement.
The Cappies awards resemble the Tonys, except there are more of them-in such additional categories as vocalist, dancer, and (a critics' favorite,) cameo. There are numerous crew awards too-- and three awards for the critics. All awards are limited to the work of students. Five nominees are announced in each category, 175 nominees in all. In addition, each school's theater director is encouraged to name four additional students as Cappies commendees from that school. As the Cappies Gala approaches, the excitement builds. Area newspapers publish articles and photos of top Cappie nominees, giving them the same sort of coverage "all-met" athletes have long enjoyed. Then the gala evening: picture some combination of the Oscars and a high school state basketball tournament, and you'll get the idea.
Does this increase audiences at high school shows? Many schools that had trouble filling half their houses before The Cappies are now reporting sellouts. In the years since we began The Cappies here in Washington, D.C.'s Virginia suburbs, we've helped launch Cappies elsewhere in America, including Cincinnati, Kansas City, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale, Dallas, El Paso, Eugene, Long Island, and-coming soon-Canton, Ohio, and Queens Borough of New York City. Last summer, we gathered several top Cappie winners who had earned honors as lead actresses or actors in musicals as a Cappies National Theater company. Together, they work shopped three musicals at a small theater on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. This summer, we're hoping to expand on this idea and bring Cappies National Theater to the east coast.
How can other areas start a Cappies? The way to begin is to look through The Cappies web site, at www.cappies.com. Read stories about The Cappies from The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and other national newspapers. Read some of the student-written reviews. See our schedules, rosters, and rules. Learn more about what Cappies shows and Cappies galas are like, from the point of view of teachers and students. Then email us, at cappies@cappies.com. We can send you a video of televised news coverage of Cappies shows and galas, along with a media kit that will show what kind of splash high school theater and young writers are now getting in their local newspapers.
The Cappies is not a business, but a national network of volunteers, approved as a 501c3 tax-exempt organization by the I.R.S. It's exciting, it's fun, but make no mistake: It takes a lot of work. You don't need to wait until the start of the new year to apply for a Cappies charter. Programs in Cincinnati and Eugene started in midyear. Any time is a good time to get organized. All it takes, sometimes, is for one person to step forward and say "I'm going to make this happen," and--- yes-- it can happen. Today's teenagers are America's next great theater generation.
Judy Bowns, Theater Arts Resource Teacher for Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools, is National Chair of The Cappies. She has taught English and theatre for thirty-two years, mostly in Fairfax County public schools, and is currently a Theatre Arts and Dance Resource teacher. Judy is a current member of The Kennedy Center Metropolitan Arts Council and is on the board of Kids R First.
Bill Strauss, director and cofounder of the Capitol Steps, is National Director of The Cappies. He has coauthored eight books about history, humor, and contemporary America, including Generations and Millennials Rising. Bill has written two musicals (MaKiddo, a satire on today's high school; and Free-the-Music.com, about music file-sharing), and has advised numerous public and private institutions (including MTV and the U.S. Armed Forces) about current youth trends.
© October 2002 New Horizons for Learning
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