- Stage Craft will join Lynbrook’s drama department as a new elective in the 2026-27 school year.
- Drama teacher Larry Wenner will teach the class, which covers stage production fundamentals.
- The class was added to provide students with the necessary knowledge needed to help out backstage in plays.
Stage Craft will join the drama department as a new elective in the 2026-27 school year. Taught by drama teacher Larry Wenner, it will cover stage production fundamentals such as set design and building, lighting and sound control, marketing, hair and makeup, costume making and stage management.
Wenner hopes this elective will expand Lynbrook’s current offerings of Drama, Advanced Drama and Advanced Drama Honors. Students with technical skills are essential in producing plays, Wenner said, but not many students have this exposure.
“Students can expect a lot of hands-on activities,” Wenner said. “Hopefully, it will train them to the point where, if they want to do this as a career, it’s something they could pursue after the class.”
In FUHSD, the process of implementing electives is lengthy. The school and the district hold discussions on why the class is needed and whether students would be interested.
“We’ve had students taking time outside of school to help Mr. Wenner create props and manage the lighting for shows,” Assistant Principal Yukari Salazar said. “We want to give them proper credit for that, and Stage Craft will be a way for students to be able to have it on their transcript and say they did something unique on our campus.”
Fremont High School, Homestead High School and Monta Vista High School already offer Stage Craft, making the approval process for Lynbrook simpler. To boost enrollment, ASB put up posters around campus and advertised the class in the morning announcements.
Wenner volunteered to teach the class, but plans to retire soon and pass the class to a different teacher. He hopes that enough students will be involved by then to assist in leading the class if necessary.
“Whoever takes over probably won’t have the same experiences I have, so I don’t know if the class will be able to continue,” Wenner said. “I hope it will be able to, because it’ll help get more students involved.”
Students currently taking drama said they are excited to have more people involved in the production of Studio 74 shows backstage.
“We definitely need more people doing tech for our shows,” junior and stage manager Anvitha Krishnan said. “With the current amount of people we have, the workload is pretty high, so getting more people involved is a good idea.”
Stage Craft aims to encourage collaboration between students and involvement in school shows.
“I’m excited that there will be another way for kids to get their arts credit,” Wenner said. “It’s also an opportunity to challenge myself to help promote the drama program.”
