Performing Arts

Want to catch teens being filmed for their Disney Channel debut in the fall?

The Disney Channel

Western Hills High School students rehearse High School Musical.

They're performing Disney's High School Musical on Wednesday through Saturday at Western Hills High School in Fort Worth. The otherwise ordinary kids in Fort Worth's joint summer theater program of Arlington Heights and Western Hills high schools are the subjects of a documentary about two rival high schools coming together to put on the hit Disney stage production.

It was a little like winning a lottery without even realizing you had bought a ticket. Co-directors and longtime drama teachers Julia Worthington at Western Hills High School and Ann Hunter at Arlington Heights High School were stunned when they heard that their production had been chosen for filming.

"It took us totally by surprise," says Ms. Worthington, 53. The teachers had applied in January for the rights to do a June production of High School Musical. They received the call in April that Disney was looking for a production to film during June. Six youth groups across the country were contenders. Academy Award-winning director Barbara Kopple went to three of the schools for site visits.

She narrowed the list to two.

In May, shortly before graduation, Ms. Worthington and Ms. Hunter received The Call. Much screaming ensued from students and teachers.

"Nobody even suspected," Ms. Worthington says. "We just thought we would do a cool play that the kids all knew and loved. Little did we know it would be this big event where everyone would end up learning and sharing so much."

Lauren-Claire Poitevent, 15, of Arlington Heights, identifies with her leading role as Gabriella, the shy, studious girl who takes a chance by trying out for the musical.

"It's so neat to be so obsessed with the movie and then do it onstage. I love this not just because it's going to be on the Disney Channel, but it's so true to real life. It brings out how hard it is when people stick to their cliques. In the end, when they blend, it gives you hope."

After the selection, there was yet another moment of drama when Disney asked for the production to be moved from its small 120-seat space to Western Hills' large auditorium, which seats more than 500.

Ms. Worthington responded regretfully that it couldn't be done. They didn't have the budget for the higher royalty payment for the show in a larger space, or the resources for the more elaborate scenery and lighting the move would require.

"I thought it was over," she says. "I thanked them very kindly for being so generous and sweet. About two days later we were contacted, and they said, 'What would happen if we were to help you put your production on in the large auditorium?' I was flabbergasted and said, 'You would do what?' "

The New York-based Ms. Kopple and her crew have just about lived with the company all month, filming the auditions, rehearsals and, as she puts it, "all the tears and the joy and the passion and the enthusiasm."

What sold Ms. Kopple on the joint summer theater program (also known as Heights Hills Operation or H2O) was the potential for behind-the-scenes drama. By filming "two rival high schools coming together, we thought we could help the kids discover these roles in their own skin."

But the choice, she says, far exceeded her expectations.

"These kids have such a great passion for the arts. It's really blown me away," she says on the phone from Western Hills. "They really wanted us here and made it a place we wanted to make home for the month of June."

And while she has won two Academy Awards for American Dream and Harlan County U.S.A. (Ms. Kopple also directed the popular 2006 Dixie Chicks doc, Shut Up & Sing), she sounds just a bit in awe of what Ms. Worthington and Ms. Hunter have been able to accomplish as high-school teachers.

"I wouldn't be the director of high-school musicals for anything," Ms. Kopple says. "They work so amazingly, they are so fantastic with the kids. These women get into these kids' souls, and it's been beautiful. I've seen things transform before my eyes."

Plan your life

High School Musical

Wednesday through Saturday at 7 p.m., Saturday matinee at 2 p.m., Western Hills High School Auditorium, 3600 Boston Ave., Fort Worth. $8. 817-560-5689. The Disney Channel documentary's fall air date has not been scheduled yet.