We have new teachers very often in school, but do they really get recognized like how they should? Mr. Dement is a new teacher at the high school; he came here just this year to teach theatre in hopes to grow the program. 

Some pieces he’s worked on in the past are, ALICE as a director, A play about a dragon as a director, Bull in a China shop as a director, Pippin as a director, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast as a co-director, Snoopy the musical! as Charlie Brown, Little Shop of Horrors as Mr. Mushnik, Almost, Maine as Phil, Anything Goes as Rev. Henry T. Dobson, PUFFS as Voldy, and so much more. He was also a member of The Riverside Players in 2020 which is an adult theatre group. 

Mr. Dement wanted to teach theatre because when he was in school here he was in theatre, but there weren’t very many people in the program. He was also an alumni student here. He decided from then on that he wanted to make a living out of his love for theatre and to help the program grow. This is why he came back to our school because of his love for theatre and desire to get more kids involved. At his old school he designed a theatre room and they built one using his design. This shows how eager he is to grow his program because who would want to leave a place they designed themselves? He teaches the basics and history in theatre class. He is also the teacher of stagecraft. In that class it focuses on the backstage work of theatre such as lighting and costumes. He is also the teacher of speech, competitive speech, and radio & television. Speech, competitive speech, and radio & television focus on public speaking. Competitive speech is his favorite class to teach. In that class they put together speeches and perform them competitively. They are currently working on getting their pieces together for a competition in October which he is very excited about. 

Mr. Dement is very excited about being here and wants to make PHS theatre groups and speech groups the best in the state! 

He is also working with Mrs. Lewis on the musical. Mrs. Lewis was his old teacher. He said it’s a little odd working with your old teacher but it’s always been his dream to direct with her and he’s very excited about working with her. 

As you can see he has a lot of experience and his expectations for his classes are very high. Students in his 6th period say he is going to have an amazing year.