Photos Provided Towngate’s Artistic Director, Dave Henderson, shows students how stage designs are drawn in chalk prior to set building during a field trip by Union Local School District’s ninth grade college prep English classes to Towngate Theatre on Tuesday.

BELMONT –Union Local’s students are putting their education into practice and working across multiple disciplines in partnership with an area theater.

English teacher Katie O’Brien said the initiative is taking off.

“My ninth grade English students are collaborating with the Towngate Theatre over in Wheeling,” she said. “My ninth-graders are really helping serve as part of the production team for Towngate’s upcoming play ‘All My Sons’ by Arthur Miller,” she said.

She said her two college prep classes have taken notes while reading the play and taken a practical hand in learning layers of skills, including interpreting a script, conducting research and writing papers, as well as practicing group dynamics, communications and technology skills.

“They took notes about what costumes people might be wearing, where there might be sound effects, what kind of props they would need to stage the play. The students have been using the script and doing research on the 1940s, which is when the play is set, and they have pitched ideas to Towngate Theatre that are under consideration to be incorporated in the May production,” O’Brien said.

She added that there are also social studies elements to the lessons, such as the influence of World War II on clothing choices, architecture and music.

“We just finished pitch videos. Towngate’s watching them,” she said.

A field trip is scheduled for early April.

“The kids are going to spend the day at the theater. We’re going to be digging through costume rooms and pulling costumes and thinking about, ‘Can we modify this to make it work for this production?'” she said.

“Starting to figure out what the props are going to be, helping with some of the stage and scenery stuff. Some of the kids have selected music and sound effects that are going to complement the play, so they’re really doing real-world problem solving, not reading a script just to read it, but reading it and thinking, ‘How do I turn this into something live on the stage?'”

O’Brien is part of a rural teacher fellowship providing mentoring, support and funding for projects. They also partner with the foundation Building Bridges to Careers out of Marietta, Ohio, aimed at introducing students to opportunities close to home and building real-world experiences and encouraging interactions with the community.

“The purpose of the fellowship is really to find ways to help kids see connections in the local community. A lot of times in rural communities, people think that they have to leave to accomplish big things, and when students see that you do have arts here in the local Ohio Valley and ways you can start to get involved in that, and then it’s also giving them an opportunity to interact and learn more about theater,” she said.

She said Towngate is reviewing the students’ videos.

“They’ve been excited because it gives them 33 new ways to think about this play,” she said, adding that theater officials are also providing mentoring in how to think “outside the box” and make do with what is available.

“The Towngate folks have been out to my class twice to interact with the students, to share with them props they’ve made for other productions and showing the kids that what looks real fancy on stage could just be a bunch of cardboard, duct tape and spray paint, and really helping the kids think creatively with their problem-solving. When you have a budget, you can’t just go to Amazon and buy everything.”

O’Brien said the theater members are also excited.

“There’s just a lot of energy around it,” she said.

Tim Thompson, director of performing arts for Oglebay Institute and the youth theater director for Towngate, said he and fellow theater professionals appreciate the chance to instruct students in the work that goes into pre-production.

“They’re working on pre-production, which is sound, costume, set and props,” he said. “They’re actually working on backstage things, the production crew, and they’re learning. … They’ve already put a month-and-a-half of work in, so it’s really helping us.”

He said a successful production calls for skills such as carpentry, painting, costume and hair design.

“They may find an interest in working backstage,” he said. “They’re learning a lot of skills and research about a different era, and I think it’s something new and exciting and we hope to continue to do it annually.”

According to Towngate Theatre’s website, the curtain opens at 8 p.m. May 5-7 and May 12-13. A 3 p.m. matinee takes place May 7.