Rudyard Area Schools

In 1975, RHS presented the musical, "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" with Mr. David Erfourth as musical director. It was not until 1997 that Rudyard Area School's Fine Arts Department began presenting musicals again. "Snoopy" was presented at the Kinross Depot Theater under the direction of Mr. Joseph Rose assisted by Mrs. Sandra Rathwell (music and choreography), Mr. Richard Guimond (technical and set design) and Mrs. Sally Sloat (costumes). Other musicals directed by this team included "Little Shop of Horrors" (1998) and "Nunsense" (1999).

When Mr. Rose became principal of RHS, Mr. James Taylor took over the role of director collaborating with Mrs. Rathwell, Mr. Guimond and Mrs. Sloat for the production of "Grease" in the spring of 2000.

"Fiddler on the Roof" was the last musical to be performed in the Depot Theater in the spring of 2001. Production staff included Mr. Taylor, Mrs. Rathwell, and Mrs. Sloat (technical and costumes).

In November of 2001, the new Rudyard Area Schools Multi-Use Facility became home to all future productions beginning with "Guys and Dolls." This show was followed by "Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'Cinderella '" in 2002.

In 2003, Mr. Ken Bischoff joined the directing team as technical director. Productions of "Bye Bye Birdie" (2003) and "Oklahoma" (2004) were added to the repetoire.

"Hello Dolly" was presented in 2005 with Mrs. Cherie Sexton joining the production team as costumer.

This was followed by "The Sound of Music" which was presented November 9 -12, 2006.

With the departure of Mr. Ken Bischoff, Mr. Taylor took over the set construction as well as providing direction for the shows. Mrs. Cherie Sexton returns as costumer and Mrs. Sandra Rathwell continues to provide music direction and choreography.

"The Music Man" was the 2007-2008 school year's production.

The 2008-2009 school year saw the production of "The King and I."

"The Boyfriend" was the musical for the 2009 - 2010 school year and was presented in November.

In November of 2010, "Disney's High School Musical" was presented followed by "Once Upon A Mattress" in the fall of 2011.

HONK!!, a musical based on Hans Christian Anderson's "The Ugly Duckling" was the fall production of 2012.

In the fall of 2013, Fine Arts presented "Godspell"2014 the Theatre program did a revival of Grease to rave reviews

and the Fall production of 2015 is Your a Good Man Charlie Brown.