u/FarWestEros

I’m new in my town.

Moved here in August just before the start of the school year after 2 decades abroad teaching English at university and focusing on my family.

Got a job as a substitute teacher in my kids’ school district so I could match their schedules with my work until I found something better.

Went to a town hall last December for the local Shakespeare festival because I was hoping to work with them (got my MA in theater with an emphasis on Shakespeare and classical performance).

Discovered they did not have a school outreach program in place.

Volunteered on the spot to do it for them.

Was told by the Artistic Director that there wasn’t time or money.

I felt a quality touring show could’ve put together in 4 months for a few hundred dollars + cost of actors, so I expressed my confidence in my ability and reiterated my willingness to do it for free… or whatever else they needed help with.

Found out they had auditions that coming weekend and slapped together the 3-minute Trinculo monologue they had for sides.

Was not off book. Did not give a good audition by my own standards (but certainly displayed strong working knowledge of the text and language). Was not invited for callbacks.

Sent an email to the AD reconfirming that there were no hard feelings about not getting cast, but was anxious to work in any other way, from ushering to teaching workshops, to helping with the school outreach program.

Never got a reply.

Spent winter break cutting a 30-minute sci-fi version of the Tempest that could be performed by 3 actors with a cliffhanger ending (no Acts IV or V) to try to drive student interest and traffic to the festival.

Offered again to produce this for the company.

Was told it was too late, and they were too busy and “good luck”.

Spent the last 4 months producing.

Talking to all the principals and superintendents and curriculum directors in the District, troubleshooting issues with scheduling, and gaining support from parents with a drive for old sheets and clothes to use for the set and costumes.

Received interest and sometimes even help from teachers in English departments and others, but was told by the high school theater teacher that such a project was not possible and that neither she nor anyone in the department would be able to help because they were too busy with their own projects.

Since I knew it *was* possible and had a mandate to proceed from people in the district who outranked her, I assured this teacher that I wouldn’t ask her for any help, and that the program was only additive and that I wasn’t trying to step on anything she was doing, but that it might be nice to let the students have an opportunity to help on some design or construction if they felt they had the time.

No reply.

While subbing a chemistry class and talking with some of the the drama students in it about their heavy workload, I was informed they weren’t *really* that busy and if I had a costume issue I should talk to the assistant librarian who runs the costume crew.

Great! Other teachers had been helpful, maybe she would be, too!

I went to talk to her, told her I needed to construct a MineCraft Creeper costume from scratch that should be pretty easy, but wasn’t in my wheelhouse, and wondered if she knew anyone who might be interested in helping cut and sew a green sheet one afternoon in exchange for credit and snacks.

She invited me to the costume club after school to ask her students.

I got there before her by 15 minutes and started talking to the students who I recognized from other classes I had subbed.

Discovered they did indeed have time to help, and they seemed interested in my project. Told one of them to email me and we’d talk about details.

Never got that email.

The next time I came to school and saw the librarian walking down the hall towards me, I smiled and explained I had found help and said thanks.

She could not make eye contact with me and barely said a word in reply.

Later in the day, after school was over I was walking down the hall and noticed the drama teacher walking towards me. I smiled. She leapt into the nearest classroom before we could get to each other.

That room’s teacher was closing the door as I passed.

When I next saw the student who had wanted to help me, I waited until the end of class and told them I needed an answer about help, and that no was fine, but I needed to know so I could make other plans.

The student was very nervous while informing me that the librarian was supposed to have emailed me.

I got the picture, and asked one last question about where this student would put Velcro on a shirt/blazer combo for a quick change. The student excitedly sketched out a pattern on the whiteboard and happily helped answer my question. The tension was obviously not about me or my desire to get help.

When I talked to the librarian, the tension was palpable. I was told the students were too busy to help.

Further encounters with her have also been very tense.

Encounters with the students have been tense.

Encounters with other drama teachers in the district have now become more tense, as well.

I have a good sense of vibes, imo, and everyone who is attached to this one drama teacher has changed their attitude towards me over the past month or so.

It is leading to an uncomfortable work environment, to be honest.

I’m just trying to put on a great show for the kids to raise awareness of Shakespeare and direct traffic to the festival.

But it feels like this teacher is trying to stop me for some reason.

I have a feeling it may be related to the fact that the AD of the festival won’t return my messages.

After I had confirmed with the AD and his staff that I would continue producing this on my own if necessary, he had told me they could rent me some costumes if I got to that stage of production.

Once I wrote back asking for costume help, I was pressed by his underling for exact performance dates and places.

When I replied I didn’t know those yet, all other communication from his staff ceased.

Everyone in the city I’ve talked to (including the Mayor) thinks that having Shakespeare in schools is a good idea.

The only resistance I’ve received are from the 2 people whom I’d most like to be working WITH… but it feels like they are not only not helping, but potentially actively hampering my efforts to bring the students the best show possible.

Is this an HR issue?

As a new substitute in the district, would anyone even care that this teacher seems to be purposely obstructing my production?

Or should I just keep my head down, ignore the haters and keep producing the best show I can?

Opening is in about 2 weeks, I’m stressed about everything else on my plate, and don’t want to worry about this, but I also don’t want other people to hear stuff about me that makes me a toxic element.

Already, the middle school drama teacher, who I initially had a great relationship with has stopped looking at me or talking to me and canceled me from taking one of the classes I was going to sub for him.

I have no proof it is related, but it sure feels too coincidental to not be.

Really don’t know what to do.

Any advice?

Can I make the action button play a sound?