She’s hoping this wall does more than look good on social media. Gina wants alumni and long-time supporters to see where the program has been and to feel a bit of pride.

When Gina first started at Lemon Bay, her students stumbled upon a storage bin hidden in a closet. Inside, they found scrapbooks, show programs, and posters going back decades. The oldest treasure? A playbill from “Hello Dolly” in 1981, staged in the old gymnatorium. “It was like opening a time capsule,” she says. 

Together, she and her students pieced together stories about past directors, traced the evolution of the shows, relived student day-to-day life, remembered theater trips to New York, and looked back on the start of the competition troupe #0257. They scanned everything, every program and news clipping they could find, and made digital archives for the website and Facebook.

Four years ago, the students pitched the idea of decorating the Performing Arts Center walls with highlights from the program’s past, including posters, playbills, and news articles. At first, the timing wasn’t right. They were told to wait. Now, four years later, they’ve brought that dream to life.

It took four weeks to get everything up. As people came through for the Summer Stock shows, reactions said it all: surprise, nostalgia, and plenty of happy memories. The wall features articles, show programs, and posters from “Hello Dolly” in 1981 right up through the most recent “Shrek KIDS.” Yes, a few shows from the early years are missing. Gina hopes as word gets out, alumni with old programs tucked away at home will consider donating them to fill in the gaps.

Gina has a message for anyone who ever took part: stop by for any event at the performing arts center, especially a theater show, if you want to see it. If you want a peek during school hours or after, just check with the school or whoever’s directing now.

And there’s a special shout-out to Englewood Jewelers, who donated a director’s plaque for the 2022-2026 section (the years Gina’s been at Lemon Bay). They loved the project and wanted to add their own touch.

Gina hopes the finished wall sparks joy and floods everyone, alumni and newcomers alike, with memories from the past 45 years of Lemon Bay Theatre. She can’t wait to see what comes next.

The post All the World’s a Stage: How One Teacher Brought Decades of LBHS Theatre Magic Back to Life appeared first on Englewood Review.