With a swift motion Theater IV student Marina Lee opens the door to the theater room, her eyes forced to blink as she is overwhelmed by the transformation. From top to bottom the room has been modified, and she would soon find that the whole program had been altered. This alteration was carried out by new theater teacher Mr. Joshua Ansley.

“The theater department has definitely experienced its fair share of challenges over the past four years. Ansley genuinely cares for the well-being of the department, and that’s clear in his focus in improving all aspects, from acting to set to publicity. He also takes student input into consideration, which improves the overall theater vibe as well,” Lee said.

Ansley, a previous english teacher, has now taken on the role of being the theater teacher and the director of the fall play.

Although his previous job was an English teacher, Ansley has always felt like his favorite classroom to be in was a theater classroom.

“I’ve always been kind of comfortable in front of people. I enjoyed it as a young kid, being in plays and stuff like that. In college, I really liked writing and that’s probably what I’m best at still. But with that skill I felt very lonely and isolated. So I got involved again doing some theater and performing and my interest grew over time,” Ansley said.

Ansley also has college experience in theater, taking a multitude of classes at Sierra College and participating in shows there. He also has experience professionally in the acting field.

“I have been on a show called the OC, a show called Close to Home, House, CSI Miami, Brothers and Sisters, and a movie called Spring Breakdown with actors from Saturday Night Live,” Ansley said.

As Ansley looks away from the past and into the future, he envisions positive changes that he will be making to the program, including adapting the program to hold a reputation of prestige and professionalism.

“There’s still a lot of work to do. Two huge things are that I kinda stripped down the room and redecorated. Those are the physical aspects, the other thing is just slowly creating more of a professional atmosphere with classes and also with shows, so that it’s student run. I want students to be involved and really be more a part of the process but also understand that there has to be a hierarchy of authority and accountability,” Ansley said.

Along with these changes he has focused on making the theater program well known, focusing on publicity in the community. To help with this, he has appointed student Gabe Taggard as publicity manager.

“Essentially what I do is reach out to local businesses and sell advertising pages in play books for the show. The hope is I can successfully get around 10 to 12 businesses to pay for advertising for our show,” Taggard said.

Since the start of the school year in his new teaching position, Ansley sees the progress he has made not just in the environment he has put in place, but his new students as well.

“My favorite part is watching students, when I give some directions to do something and they take it a little bit further. And just watching their own passion, which is even greater than mine” Ansley said.

Ansley is also in the process of developing the system for auditions for the fall play “The Importance of Being Earnest.” The play auditions will take place Sept. 13 and 14.

Ansley said, “People will come with a monologue on the first day, perform that, and I’ll make some cuts from there. I will post that and then people will come again. Before I make the final cut I’m going to talk with my assistant directors and stage managers, just find out about their past in the program. We will have some serious conversations over each individual that I plan to have in the show.”

by RACHEL MARQUARDT