Merced Union High School District

The text message Kaeley Cullen received this spring from Amber Kirby, Golden Valley High School’s CTE Arts Media and Entertainment Program Director, seemed ominous. The text simply read: “I need to talk to you.” Cullen’s first reaction was is everything Ok? Kirby came to Cullen’s classroom. Cullen is also a Golden Valley CTE Arts Media and Entertainment teacher. “She just was quiet,” Cullen said. “And so I was like, ‘Oh my god, things are falling apart.’ Then (Kirby) says, ‘’We got it!’”

It turns out, everything was great. The Golden Valley theatre program had been chosen as a Disney on Broadway School of Excellence. Golden Valley was one of just 21 schools chosen nationwide, which grants free licenses to the winning schools to select a Disney musical to perform. The Disney on Broadway School of Excellence program was established in 2024 to recognize middle and high schools across the country for their exceptional student-led involvement in theatre production. The nationwide competition called upon schools to demonstrate creativity, leadership, and student engagement in theatrical disciplines such as stagecraft, direction, performance, choreography, and design.

“Something the community may not know, for theater in general, whenever you see someone produce a show, assume that show costs $10,000 to put on, just on average,” Kirby said. “Behind that is fundraising, parent help and grant writing, and that's not counting everything that goes into putting the show together itself.” The Disney on Broadway School of Excellence grant will save Golden Valley approximately a $4,000 to $5,000 licensing fee. Kirby and Cullen have selected “High School Musical” as their Disney musical with auditions scheduled to start early in the school year with Opening Night coming in February. This is the latest grant Kirby has secured to help the GV theatre program. She’s also received grants to help fund her annual student field trips to Los Angeles to visit art colleges and studios. 

Kirby was named the 2024 MUHSD Teacher of the Year for consistently going above and beyond for her students and program. “I've been working with Amber for over 10 years, from where she has started taking over the program to where we're at now, she has provided so many opportunities for our kids, things we would not have even dreamt about, like this one,” said Golden Valley principal Mike Richter. “This is another step in her advancing our program to give kids from Merced an opportunity.” The theatre program has done recent performances of “Legally Blonde,” “Hadestown,” “Puff’s,” “An American Werewolf in London,” “Percy Jackson” and “She Kills Monsters.”

Elise Bruening graduated from Golden Valley this past spring and worked on all those recent shows. She says it’s great to see their program rewarded for their hard work. “It's crazy seeing us get the recognition for how much work is put into it, because everything's student-run pretty much,” Bruening said. “I didn't know that wasn't the norm. We've always had a student costume designer, a student light designer, student sound directors and student props managers.” “We're expecting this to have the most auditions of any show, just because it's so well known,” Bruening added. “That's why we're starting so early with auditions. I am so proud of Ms. Kirby, of the kids who are still in the program, and of the kids who were in the program before, who made this possible.”Kirby says GV athletic director Matt Thissen has been requesting the program perform “High School Musical” the past couple years. “Serendipitously, Mr. Thissen is retiring this year, so I thought, what a proper send off to let him in,” Kirby said. “So the hope is that he will do a cameo as coach Bolton. So it’s a little special sendoff and a little special connection with the athletic department and the theater department.” The opportunity to do “High School Musical” is a full-circle moment for Cullen, who will serve as director for the show. When Cullen was a senior at Golden Valley her senior class chose “High School Musical” for their skits for homecoming and spirit jam. It was also her favorite show as a kid. Cullen says the excitement is growing. “I’ve had students already telling me, ‘Oh, my mom signed me up for dance classes because I want to be ready,’” she said. “So the interest is definitely here.”

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media and can be reached at sjansen@muhsd.org.