JEFFERSON HILLS, Pa., June 10, 2024 -- The West Jefferson Hills community celebrated a milestone and 65 years of theater at Thomas Jefferson High School during an artistic and informative event in the TJ Theater.
The primary focus of the evening was to celebrate 50 years since the founding of TJ's ITS troupe. Troupe 2333 of the International Thespian Society launched at TJHS in 1974. Students performed "The Wizard of Oz" and "You Can't Take it With You" in the spring of 1974 and "Rumpelstiltskin" that fall.
Current and former TJ students who are members of ITS Troupe 2333 performed during the showcase with songs, dance, monologues and excerpts from an original play by TJ student Gavin Hart, titled, "Forgetfulness." The show was produced by TJ teacher Julie Tipton, with recent graduates Eli Fisher and Evana Matulula serving as emcees. Students also served as stage manager, the lighting and sound crews.
The celebration also included an amazing historical slide show on 65 years of TJ theater that has been compiled and created by TJ graduate Floyd Schuchert. He was a member of the Drama Club for all four years at TJ, serving as president as a senior in 1975-76. He began digitizing the content in 2008.
The slideshow covers nearly 200 Thomas Jefferson musicals and fall plays that date to the spring of 1959 and the production of "Our Town," the year before the opening of the old Thomas Jefferson High School. The stage was operational before the high school opened the next fall. Schuchert said TJ's first all-school musical was "Annie Get Your Gun" in the spring of 1986.
The database Schuchert has compiled includes more than 16,000 pages of material. The slideshow includes a wide variety of source materials, much of which has originated with several decades of scrapbooks compiled by TJ Drama Club Secretaries. The materials include photographs, programs, posters, advertisements, memorabilia, Monticello yearbooks and The Statesman newspapers. "This is a passion for me," Schuchert said. "I got a great education at TJ," mentioning one of his teachers, Bob Morgan.
Schuchert said more than 4,000 TJ students have been part of the drama and musical theater productions and are credited in the slideshow, including nearly 1,000 Thomas Jefferson ITS members. There are a combined total of 16,500-plus student credits in all the productions.
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Schuchert has enlisted the assistance of former students, teachers and others during his compilation of 65 years of material. Among those who've provided significant help and direction are some of the founding and current members of TJ Arts, including founder Karen Suszynski, Carolyn Bourgeois, Dawn Walters, Julie Tipton, Michele Stoicovy and Schuchert's sister, Kathy Goettler.
During the Showcase event, Schuchert announced the launching of a TJ Theatre Memories Facebook group, which will provide public access to the slideshow. The Facebook page is run by TJ Arts and can be found at: www.Facebook.com/Groups/TJHSTheaterMemories.
Photo, from left: Dawn Walters, Chair of TJ Arts, Karen Suszynski, Kathy Goettler and Rockie Sours
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