Buckeye Valley Middle School’s production of “Bye Bye Birdie” last weekend marked director Ann Burkham’s last production as a teacher at the school.
Burkham currently teaches eighth-grade science and will retire at the end of the school year. Although she will no longer be teaching, she said she hopes to continue to be involved with the school’s theater productions in some capacity.
According to Burkham, she has worked on nearly 20 theater productions at Buckeye Valley Middle. She said that, with this show, “this is an exceptionally talented cast. … Every actor and actress brings so much energy and personality to this show that we can really believe we are in Sweet Apple, Ohio.”
The cast seems to have gained just as much from the show as they have brought to it. Peter Som, an eighth-grade student at Buckeye Valley Middle, played the character of Albert. He said that theater has helped him to learn how “you can create your own character.”
Haden Houdeshell, a seventh-grade student at Buckeye Valley Middle, played the title character. He said theater “helps us be brave and go out and try something new.”
For seventh-grader Jason Stephens, who played Hugo, “being on stage has been a dream of mine for a long time.”
