This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Arts & Entertainment

YAT Aims to Banish the Boring with 'School House Rock Live!'

The Young Actors' Theatre musical based on the beloved 1970s TV show runs through Sept. 18.

It’s a sad state of affairs when one of the first things offered on the governmental chopping block in times of extreme budget deficits is funding for education.  Sure, education makes up a massive chunk of state and local budgets, and sure, fixing old schools and building new ones, offering decent wages to teachers and administrators, and making sure classrooms are on the cutting edge of technology isn’t cheap—but it should be worth it.  After all, children are the future, as the old adage goes, and a well-educated population is the only hope we have for a future worth living.

Yet there are many who advocate such budget cuts by insisting that the educational system overall is failing to meet expectations and throwing more money at the problem won’t fix it.  In some ways, they are right.  Kids are dropping out of school at depressing rates, and there seems to be much disagreement on how to not only offer a more valuable education, but encourage kids to pursue it.  As times change, so do the methods and techniques for turning pencils and paper and books and crayons into food for hungry, fertile little minds.  Keeping kids’ attention seems to be a top concern—how can teachers make learning fun? 

In the 1970s-1980s, the television show “School House Rock” took a stab at the problem, mixing simple educational lessons like grammar, math and history with catchy music and bright animation—hooking kids in with the fun and then settling the important info into their brains.  While the show is no longer in syndication, it inspires warm nostalgia for many who are now old enough to have school-age children of their own.  In the process of turning the show into a family-friendly musical, the hopes to spark the memories of the older generation in the audience, while introducing a new way to learn things to a younger generation (like the YAT cast, of whom none had ever heard of “School House Rock,” according to the director’s message in the show program).

Find out what's happening in La Mesa-Mount Helixwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In the guise of dreams/hallucinations conjured by a young teacher, Meagan (Meagan Newell), on the morning of her very first day of teaching school, YAT’s “School House Rock Live!” moves from lesson to lesson, led by color-coded “aspects of Meagan’s personality.”  Some well-known favorites, such as “Conjunction Junction” and “I’m Just a Bill” are featured, along with several others that have aged remarkably well (really, though, does counting by five while playing hide-and-seek or unpacking a suitcase full of juicy adjectives ever get old?).

One “episode,” however, was due for a retrofit—“Interplanet Janet,” a tour through the solar system with a sparkly galaxy girl (Stefani Rocca), originally included fun descriptions of each of the nine planets.  However, in 2006 the International Astronomical Union determined that Pluto was a dwarf planet instead of a proper planet, and relegated it to a list of minor planets in the outer solar system.  To illustrate this turn of events, the song was interrupted by Darth Vader’s theme from “Star Wars” accompanied by a judge and a couple of space cops, who forcibly removed poor little Pluto (portrayed by the adorable Sydney Brothers) from the solar system line-up.  It was a hilarious addition to the show and part of the spark that defines the YAT’s unique voice in all their productions.

Find out what's happening in La Mesa-Mount Helixwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Other notable episodes during the show included “Rufus Xavier Sarsparilla,” which highlighted the importance of pronouns (could you imagine having to use everyone and everything’s name all the time instead of using him, it, we or ours?), and “Elbow Room,” a humorous retelling of how America was settled hundreds of years ago.  Additionally, “Victim of Gravity,” led by the lovely voice of Kirsten Hernandez, turned a basic science lesson into a leather jacket-clad, doo-woppy tale of things constantly “bringing me down.”

The obvious theme of the show—make learning fun—was sold not only by the script and the music, but by the enthusiastic performers, many of whom were making their theatrical debuts.  Hopefully, they will all return to school with a new way to memorize the preamble of the U.S. Constitution, a new angle on understanding science, and a musical method that finally makes grammar make sense.  And perhaps there was someone in the audience embarking on the first year of his or her teaching career, and will spread a newly enlightened take on lesson plans and activities to a whole new generation of school kids.

School House Rock Live! runs through Sunday, Sept. 18. Visit the YAT website for tickets or showtimes.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?