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Budget cuts are a reality that students at West Linn and at schools nationwide face. One program that has been impacted by the cuts is the theater department.
The theater program has been a part of West Linn since 1922. Over the past 103 years, the program has put on a variety of plays and musicals.
Eventually, theater classes became a part of the theater program. In the 2024-2025 school year, there were a total of 12 classes in the theater Career and Technical Education (CTE) program. Today, that number lies at eight, with four classes being cut for the 2025-2026 school year. Costuming for the Stage, Dramatic Literature, Tech Pro Costuming, and Playwriting were all cut from this year’s program.
The classes that do remain have been changed. The Advanced Theater Production and Acting 1 class periods have been cut down.
Steven Beckingham is the theater arts program director and also teaches the acting, the film classes, and co-teaches Technical Theater classes with Sarah Wrobel, the Performing Arts Building Technical Director.
“When we don’t have things like an acting class in the first semester, that’s tough, because the younger students are not getting that opportunity. It’s a through line,” Beckingham said. “It’s like an arc. ‘I did this in middle school, and now I get to do this, and then I graduated, and I was doing shows.’ So right now, it’s not an arc. It’s sort of like a dip.”
Tealia Jud, senior, is one of the International Thespian Society captains, and has been participating in productions since freshman year, she is stage manager for this year’s production of “Fiddler on the Roof.”
“So far, it hasn’t had too much of an impact, but I worry that at the end of this year and then following years, it’s gonna get worse, because the people who have the knowledge are going to graduate, and then we’ll have more people without knowledge,” Jud said.
Classes like Advanced Theater Production and Tech Pro, Costuming, take what would be a lot of time outside of school and make it a learning experience that also gets work done. Beckingham will continue to teach Technical Theater with Wrobel, but now some classes that branch off from it are gone.
The classes that are now gone are the ones that Annie Kaiser, Performing Arts Building Events Coordinator, was teaching. Her role in the building was changed as a result of the 2025-2026 budget cuts, and she is no longer a theater class instructor.
“We touch on each little department, tech skill, but Costuming for the Stage, which is a class that was cut that Kaiser was teaching [was] focused on costumes,” Beckingham said. “So those students are like, ‘I really like technical theater. I really like costuming,’ [they] could take that class and then take another and really get to know costumes. That’s not an option anymore. [Now] the only chance they would have is to maybe work backstage on a production, which then means, ‘oh, okay, now I have to commit after hours. I can’t have this knowledge or skill set learned during the day anymore.’”
The theater program may help prepare students and the sets for shows, but it may mean something greater to the students involved.
Cadence Cox, senior, is the co-president of the International Thespian society, and has also been a part of the theater program since her freshman year.
“I have fallen in love with [theatre] in every way possible,” Cox said.“It is a place where you can go to belong, but also a place you can grow in. So the version of you that enters is not the same version that leaves, but you’re loved all the way through and pushed in lots of different ways, because it can be difficult to fail at things, but it’s a good community to do that in.”
Despite the challenges they’re facing, the theater department continues to persevere and make the best of what they have.
“We don’t have a lot of control over it, and neither do the teachers, really. It’s just been a sort of worry about what’s going to happen and just disappointment.” Jud said.
For now, the department will continue to put on shows, starting with “Fiddler on the Roof” as the fall musical for this year. Students can watch their performance from Nov. 7—15.
