During the Take A Bow—A Tribute to Robyn Metchik’s Retirement event at the Clark Center, the drama teacher at the heart of it all will have plenty to reflect on.
Metchik has directed or produced shows such as Grease, Bye Bye Birdie, The Diary of Anne Frank, Fiddler on the Roof, Pirates of Penzance, Macbeth, Sweet Charity, Aida, and many others. She brought the first San Luis Obispo County production of Les Miserables—Student Edition to the Clark Center. Her oldest son, Aaron, directed. She’s watched numerous students graduate and continue on to successful careers in theater and film. Under her direction, the Nipomo High School Drama program was selected over 3,000 other schools to perform at the Fringe Festival in Scotland in August 2011.
And she never set out to be a drama teacher.
Initially a self-proclaimed drama mom (as opposed to a soccer mom), Robyn Metchik started staging productions for her kids’ classes, but she became a drama teacher by demand.
She’d always been theatrical in some way. Growing up with five sisters and one brother, Metchik sang along with her siblings and took piano lessons. Unlike Nipomo High School, Metchik’s high school only had one annual theatrical production.
“We did one show a year, but for that one show, we had so much fun,” she said. “We had a blast.”
Though she went on to do some more acting after high school and dinner theater after college, she gave up being on stage herself after she had children. She started directing.
Metchik was surprised when she was asked by principals to put on shows for their schools because she was happy being a drama mom to her kids. But she answered their requests, and she didn’t disappoint.
Nipomo High School Principal Michelle Johnson called Metchik a visionary and irreplaceable. She said the school’s drama department has drawn acclaim and accolades from near and far because of Metchik and because of the student performers she’s cultivated.
“We are going to do our best to find a magnificent candidate to fill the position because the program she has created is a cornerstone for our school,” Johnson said. “It’s a huge priority for me to maintain the level of excellence she’s created for us because that’s what the community expects and that’s what the kids expect.”
Metchik has a career full of numerous drama productions for Paulding and Mesa middle schools, and Nipomo High School. In 2011, her Nipomo High School class performed Nunsense at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, and other classes have competed in national thespian festivals, acted on cruise lines, and performed at Disney World.
Given such a portfolio of success, she was understandably stumped when pressed to choose just one highlight of her career.
“I think just watching the students graduate and move forward in life,” she said. “Especially the ones who continue to do theater or film and how confident they are and how proud of them I am.”
Nipomo High School drama graduates have been accepted at many prestigious colleges and universities, including PCPA, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Harvard, Cal Poly, Pace University, and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York. One student is starring in a Michael Jackson stage production in London, another toured with Peter Pan, and, of course, there’s Zac Efron, film star of the High School Musical series.
After a little more thought, she reconsidered her broad answer. She can narrow down her history to some of her favorite moments. Fiddler on the Roof was one of them. It’s a perpetual favorite of hers, and the fact that Metchik is Jewish made that production special for her. It was also perfectly cast and performed stunningly by the students, she added.
Her absolute favorite, however, was the first time the school performed Les Miserables. Her son directed that production, and they had the turntable, the costumes—everything was just right.
“It was such a bonding experience with that show,” she said.
Metchik just finished a Mesa Middle School production of Schoolhouse Rock—Jr. Edition and is in rehearsal for The Laramie Project at Nipomo High School, set for May 3, 4, and 5 with Don Stewart as guest director. Her final show, Best of the Best, will be held May 17 to 19 at the Clark Center.
For Metchik, work is seven days a week, 12 hours a day. Retirement has been on her mind for a couple of years, but that doesn’t mean it’s been an easy decision.
“I thought I was going to be ready this year, but as it gets closer, I’m starting to get crazy,” she admitted. “It’s like sending your first child off to college; it’s a big change, but I’m ready.”
First item of business? Getting her house in order. She said she wants to spend the first six months cleaning her house and focusing on herself.
“Maybe walking on the beach,” she mused. “How nice would that be?”
Mary Barrette was the costumer for Nipomo High School for the last 10 years, working alongside Metchik, and she’ll be stepping down alongside Metchik, too, even though the oldest of Barrette’s children graduated in 2008.
“She’s affected our lives in a whole bunch of ways,” Barrette said.
For one, Metchik makes her supporters feel connected. Barrette said when someone becomes a part of the drama family, he or she enters into Metchik’s personal family. It’s a feeling that encourages both her students and parent supporters to give their all. It helps that Metchik leads by example. If parents and students are building sets on the weekend, Metchik is there. Late rehearsal? Metchik is there. Everyone around her knows she wouldn’t ask her students to put in more effort than she would herself, and that attitude brings out the best in her students—and it shows in her productions, Barrette said.
“Her philosophy is anything worth doing is worth doing to excess,” Barrette explained.
Selyn Barrette has been a student of Metchik’s since the fourth grade. She auditioned for Alice in Wonderland when she was at Dana Elementary, winning the part of a dormouse. She graduated from Nipomo High School in 2005 and continued helping Metchik with her productions.
“Personally, Robyn has always been one of those to inspire and motivate anyone she talks to. She’s one of those creative personalities you just want to work harder for. That’s what drew me to her,” Selyn said.
Metchik divides her time among three schools, which means work on three productions can be happening simultaneously. Between classes and set building, costumes and rehearsals, Metchik is constantly on the go. She generally works from 8 a.m. and doesn’t get home until about 8 p.m., sometimes later.
Even Selyn, who admits they’re nearly inseparable now, doesn’t know how Metchik keeps up such a hectic pace.
“I think she has one of those time lapse things where she slows things down and speeds them up when she needs to,” Selyn said. “I think she’s hiding something from us.”
Selyn’s mother Barrette wonders the same thing: “I don’t know when she ever sleeps. She’s a crazy lady.”
Metchik said some days are better than others, but for the most part, she just has more hours in the day than most people.
“I’m really lucky; I don’t require much sleep. I really don’t sleep much more than five hours a night,” she explained.
She has a core group of dedicated and talented people she depends on, Selyn said. This includes people who have come back even after their kids graduated.
Selyn said one of the highlights of working with Metchik all these years was performing in Nipomo High School’s first production of Grease. She said the closing performance had students sitting on the tables because there weren’t enough seats.
“It was insane,” Selyn said. “It was amazing.”
That amazing insanity that happens with the best of shows is both a blessing and a curse. It’s the thing that’s kept Metchik going for so many years, but it’s also what has made her ready for retirement.
“The same things I’m going to miss are probably the same things making me go away,” she said with a laugh.
She’s enjoyed watching her students develop, form friendships, and mature as people and as thespians. She said she’ll also miss her core group of parents who have been with her the last 10 to 15 years.
“It’s really become a total family,” she said. “We will still be friends and socialize after this.”
As an example, most of those previously mentioned still-involved parents also have some part in the upcoming wedding of Metchik’s daughter. From music to refreshments to building projects, several parents volunteered the same enthusiasm and effort to Metchik’s daughter’s wedding as they do to Metchik’s productions.
That loyalty and support is a testament to Metchik’s ability to bring people together and inspire them.
However, even with such a dedicated group of students and parents behind her, Metchik said productions are always difficult and chaotic, with lots of running around and attending to last-minute details.
But there is one moment that keeps her going and that she said will likely keep her involved in community productions, even after her retirement.
“When that curtain comes up and you see what they’re doing, you forget about all the hard times,” she said, “and you just go, ‘Wow, I love these kids.’”
Arts Editor Shelly Cone can be contacted at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 19-26, 2012.