In September of 2025, I got an email that would change my life. Or, at least, what the rest of my senior year would look like. It was an email from Dowling’s own Mrs. Raymond, asking me and Megan Freeman to be the co-directors of St. Theresa’s annual middle school play. 

At first I was hesitant. Even though I went to St. Theresa for elementary and middle school, the place has changed a lot since I was there and I wasn’t sure how I’d be received. But I took the offer, and was plunged immediately into auditions, schedules, and rehearsals.

We started in October with the first auditions. This was the first of many challenges. It was an incredible experience to see the amazing talent that was on display at St. Theresa, but made it difficult to create a cast list that would feature everyone and give us the best show possible. Eventually, after a hectic week of discussion and organizing audition forms in the back of my car, we had our cast list. The next challenge was creating a schedule.

The main responsibility of coaches and directors alike is their ability to create cohesive schedules that account for every individual’s other commitments while still keeping enough time for practice. This was a big challenge for me and Megan, because the prior commitments of students (as well as us) definitely got in the way of our available times to practice.

But after we overcame those first few challenges, we slowly started to get into a proper rhythm with our rehearsals. These were by far my favorite part of the process, and the most fun. Every day we had rehearsal, Megan and I would stop by Starbucks (not sponsored) on our way to St. Theresa and get a little treat. We’d show up to the parish hall around 3:45 and begin rehearsal. Surprisingly, the kids were fairly professional. I walked into the first read-through expecting the worst, and these kids completely blew me out of the water. Obviously, we all spent time goofing off and having fun because at the end of the day that’s what a program like the middle school play is for. But the kids approached every day with a great attitude and positive mindset that encouraged both me and Megan to keep going.

However, the process became fairly repetitive: practice twice a week, due dates for lines were established, and practice times stretched further into the evening the closer we got to our performances. This part of the process was monotonous, and I’ll admit I did start to lose passion for this activity when practices entered into the third month.

Though, as the process continued and everyone became more comfortable in their role, the amazing work the students were doing is what kept me and Megan going all the way through the performances.

Which presents the final and most fun hurdle, the performances. Our performances were in the evenings of February 6th and 7th (to the delight of 30+ middle schoolers) and landed at the end of an eventful week, to say the least. We ended up with 2 sick cast members and 3 sick crew members who, unfortunately, were not able to be at either of the performances. But like they say in the theater, “the show must go on!” and it did. Thanks to a parent volunteer, who already had his hands full, and the stage manager we were able to perform both of our shows.

There are so many more people that I need to thank because I certainly did not make it through this process alone. First, the parent volunteers (specifically Mr. and Mrs. Gerk) who made this process go so smoothly. I underestimated the amount of work that they would be willing to take on, but also the amount of work that simply needed to be done by them. Second, a huge thank you goes to Ms. White, the middle school language arts teacher at St. Theresa. She was the coordinator of the entire activity, and without her everyone would have been lost. Finally, and most importantly, I need to thank my co-director Megan Freeman. Megan is also senior at Dowling this year, and shared a lot of my hesitations at the beginning of this process. Though, we made it through together. She encouraged me when I was ready to quit, and handled the things (like the thousands of reminders to the kids that their lines needed to be memorized) that I couldn’t. I was so incredibly lucky to have her as my partner in crime, and truly would not have survived without her.

So yes, this process changed not only my “plan” for my senior year, but my life; and certainly for the better.

Gallery • 6 Photos

Katie White

The cast and crew pray their way into their final performance, emulating a Dowling performing arts tradition