On Wednesday, April 8, 2015 through Sunday, April 12, 2015, CHS students and families filled the Black Box theater each night to watch their family members and peers perform in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”   

This production, performed every spring at CHS is unlike any other: it is run completely by students.  The Student Run Musical, or the SRM, is student directed, choreographed, conducted, costumed and designed; the only part of the production not created by students at CHS is the script itself.

Instead of writing their own script, students use scripts of already produced shows.    

However, the SRM was not always this way.

Andy Neiman, CHS alumni of 1991, was involved in the SRM all four of his years at CHS, performing in the show his freshman and junior years, co-writing the show his sophomore year and directing the show his senior year.

“It was always original,” Neiman said.  “It was always original music, it was always an original script.”

The SRM tradition of writing original musicals existed years before Neiman.

“There were two producers, two writers, two composers and two directors so there was a team of eight of us who put it together from scratch,” said Wayne Saloman, CHS alumni of the class of 1966. “So we weren’t drawing from musicals and then producing them ourselves, it was literally from nothing.”

The SRM was always this way, that is, until the year of 2000 when CHS drama teacher Kelly Weber decided it was time for a change.

“It wasn’t very well organized, they didn’t rehearse for very long and it just wasn’t taken very seriously,” Weber said. “I knew it needed to change after the year that literally the kid who was composing was writing the music on the way to rehearsal.  And they were three note little jingles, and I was like, ‘we’re done.’”

Since the year of 2000, Weber has chosen an already produced show for the SRM and given students the responsibility to direct, choreograph, design and conduct the production with little to no help from the administration, allowing for the tradition of the student driven show to be honored without the stress of creating original material.

Although the change was a risk, the integrity and difficulty of the SRM was not lost.

“As soon as we started doing published musicals, all of the sudden kids had really good material to work with and I felt like the production was a much different challenge,” Weber said. “Rather than the challenge of creating the piece itself, now you have all of this difficult music, this difficult material to get through.”

Weber has also found that the change has allowed for students to really focus on the responsibility involved in creating a show.

“Since we’ve changed the format, I have found that when the material is real, it has made the project more authentic, so students are more willing to listen to their peers as leaders,” Weber said. “It is like we have been entrusted with this show to put on. There just seems to be a lot more respect from people to their student leaders.”

Another factor that has changed over time is how these student leaders are chosen.

In the 1960’s, SRM directors and leaders (all of whom were seniors) were chosen by the administration. “They chose us because of our affinity for theatre,” Salomon said. However, as time progressed, this formal process was lost and directors were simply chosen by the student director from the previous year.

“It was kind of a friend passing on kind of thing,” Weber said. “There were no requirements, I mean the person who directed it the first year I was here had never taken a theater class and she wasn’t even in any of the plays that year. It was weird.”

Since Weber changed the format of the SRM, there has been a strict application process to become a director, choreographer or musical director. In addition, positions are not excluded to be for only seniors; any student from any grade can earn a leadership position.

Despite the new format of the SRM, the tradition of a student written SRM has not disappeared completely. Although the past decade of SRMs have been mainly professionally produced shows, the option for a student to write an original script still remains.

“I would never ever want to stifle kids’ creativity for actually writing a musical,” Weber said. “I think that is the way the SRM started and I think it should be honored.”

Honored it was in 2007 when “The Adventures of Average Man and Normal Boy” was the first student written show since the change.

“It was wacky and weird and everything but the music was phenomenal, the book was great and we were nominated for a Cappie for it,” Weber said. “It didn’t win, but to just to be nominated, I couldn’t have been more pleased.”

Since the success of “The Adventures of Average Man and Normal Boy,” Weber has been waiting for someone to take on the challenge of an original script again.

“I am kind of hoping in the next couple of years someone takes the bull by the horns and writes another one,” Weber said. “I think it would be great.”

While directing an SRM is a difficult feat, being a student leader in the SRM is more than just a challenge. The responsibility of leading a show at such a young age plays a major role in the development of the individual.

“It was the first time that I was [in charge of] the play and I had to learn to deal with my peers in a way that wasn’t entirely grotesque which I think informed what I did later,” Saloman said. “And now I’m really proud of the way I direct plays, because I never raise my voice, ever. It doesn’t matter what chaos there is, I’ve learned a different way because of the fact that people were willing to empower me with this position because they trusted me.”

Bobby Miller, CHS alumni from the class of 1968, has used his experience from the SRMs at CHS to further his professional theater career.

“The show taught me discipline, leadership and certainly furthered my acting and directing skills, strengthening my confidence to go on to theater school and a stage and TV career,” Miller said.

For years the SRM has been inspiring students, pushing them to reach further, be braver and try something new.  The spirit of the SRM lives not only in the Black Box theater, but in all of those who carry their SRM memories with them.

“CHS prepared me for the rest of my life,” Saloman said. “I just wasn’t very successful at it then. Later, when I began to appreciate it more and I thought of the plays I did and the small parts I played and the response that the audience gave me, that I carry that with me every day. Empowering students in any way that you can, especially in something as difficult as theater, is good.”

Janet Hochman, co director with Saloman in the SRM of 1966, took similar life lessons from her time in a leadership position.

“I learned that bonding occurs with people of like minds, interests and passions with whom you share a lot of time and experiences,” Hochman said. “I have loved every minute of what I have done and continue to do with theater and music. It’s pretty much who I am.”