Following the involuntary transfer of Julian Lazarus, beloved theater director and teacher, students were filled with a mix of emotions about what the future of Patriot Players, the school’s theater program, would look like.
Lazarus’s impact on the theater program and community was immense. He took students, scared of public speaking, and turned them into stars on stage. He developed the talent of students, bringing them from playing trees in the show their freshman year to lead role actors their junior year. According to students, Lazarus was not just a director, but a friend. “Lazarus gave his own individual time to every student, and that was so helpful. He just knows the theater like the back of his hand, so his input was always correct. I’m going to miss that,” senior member of Patriot Players Amal Shaikh said.
Being that Lazarus was a man who could do everything in the department, from building to painting, to casting, and directing, it was a hard adjustment for the program to know he was not returning this fall. “Lazarus’ leaving felt like despair. He announced it at our banquet, and he started crying, and then everyone else started crying; it was so bittersweet. Everyone felt his loss,” Shaikh said.
Drama Club representative Ahmed Ibrahim also felt the emotional rush of Lazarus’s goodbye; however, he saw it as a great opportunity for the theater program to grow. “Honestly, the reactions to Laz resigning were all over the place. A lot of people were very angered, kind of annoyed that Lazarus is not here anymore. Some people still are to this day. I myself was upset at first, but I’ve come to be content with knowing that the program will excel under new leadership,” Ibrahim said.
Taking on the role of theater director is the school’s a cappella teacher and SGA sponsor, Keith Schwartz. Schwartz is an alum and was involved in extracurricular theater, not only when he was a student, but also alongside Lazarus the past few years. His past ultimately drew him to take the leadership position in the theater program. “I was really involved in the chorus program and the extracurricular theater and did all the shows here, so it was important to me that when we lost Dr. Laz, somebody who knows this school, community, and program took it over. I think Dr. Laz was such a great teacher and great director, and I knew that students would miss him a lot, and I wanted to make sure they also had someone they were familiar with in that transition,” Schwartz said.
Knowing that Schwartz had experience in the theater and a passion for the art of drama made students eager to see what his leadership would bring. “I’m excited for Schwartz to take over. Mostly because he was a theater kid himself, so I think he just knows it well. I’m also excited to see what he does because he’s known for doing big, big stuff in a cappella, so I’m hoping he does something big with our department too,” Shaikh said.
