The Virtual Experience of Theater Coming Together, Navigating Social Distancing, and Virtual Musical Theater with Rebecca Hanson If, in 2019, you had told Rebecca Hanson that in one year’s time she would be directing Island School’s plays to be performed on iPads to an audience of empty chairs, she would have been appalled. Rebecca Hanson, Island School’s theater teacher, is not one to shy away from a challenge. A COVID-19 school year, however, is a challenge that no one could have prepared for. Rebecca grew up in Minnesota, where she entered the world of theater in high school, through set design and technical production. It wasn’t until her second year of college, getting her degree in Theater Arts, that she performed as an actress in her first play. After college, Rebecca worked as an Assistant Company Manager for My Little Pony Live, and a performer on a production of Sesame Street Live. Her first teaching job was as a tap-dance instructor for three year olds, where her first thought was, despite the anxiety that comes with one’s first year of teaching, “I’m meant to do this.” Rebecca discovered that teaching was her passion, “I thought to myself, if I can teach three and four-year-olds how to tap-dance, I can do anything!” Rebecca first came to Kauaʻi in 2011. She left in 2012 to pursue her Elementary Education degree while returning each summer to work with Hawaii Children’s Theater. She returned to Kauaʻi for good in 2016 and, when the opportunity arose to teach theater at Island School, filling the shoes of Founding Mother and drama teacher Peggy Ellenburg, she knew it was where she was meant to be. Rebecca puts on three major plays each year, one each for middle school, high school and 5th grade. It is safe to say that no one was prepared for the adaptations required to teach during COVID-19, especially not a theater teacher, where in-person participation, large group settings and close collaboration are all integral parts of the curriculum.
With so many outside factors, such as copyright licensing and ever-changing COVID-19 restrictions, Rebecca was unsure if she would be able to host a performance or transition her students into online production. Our students were looking to her for solutions she didn’t yet have. Due to copywrite laws, Rebecca had to wait while production companies slowly released their scripts with rights to be streamed online.
