New High School Theater Director Debuts with Play

For Danielle Miller, becoming the theater director at was a dream come true.

"I feel like I won the lottery," Miller, 30, said in a recent phone interview.

Miller—who has filled the theater position that former, and highly popular, director Paula Ohaus vacated after her contract wasn't renewed—is in the process of directing her first high school production. The play, Voices from the High School, is scheduled to open on Friday night.

With Voices from the High School Miller said she hopes to make a good first impression. With the play, Miller said, she hopes to "learn how things work," before it's time for the Spring musical. (The students are doing Footloose)

The play, written by Peter Dee, features monologues and scenes about high school-aged students. The 17 Hoboken High students in the play all have multiple roles, Miller said. She said she picked a play with a lot of parts, so that "a lot of kids could be involved."

Other topics in the play include teen pregnancy and teen suicide. Some of the topics may hit home, since the students are playing characters their own age.

"I commend the kids for being brave," Miller said.

Since September 1, Miller said she read about 50 plays to pick out the appropriate one to do with the students. "I wanted to do something that had meaning," Miller said.

For the audience who may have left high school a long time ago, the play could be an "eye opening experience about the harsh realities of high school."

Before coming to Hoboken, Miller taught part time at a middle school in Stanhope, NJ. While she said it was hard to leave those students behind, "it was time to move." After looking for a full time job in the field for three years, she said she is happy to be in one place. Miller received a degree in theater from Montclair State and has several years of experience as an actress.

While Miller is the director of the play, she said the roughly 25 students working on the production are very involved. "I want the students to feel like it's their show," she said.

But that doesn't take away some pre-show jitters on her own part.

"A lot of eyes are staring," Miller said. "I hope people come out and that it's well received."

Voices from the High School is playing on Friday Dec. 9 at 7 p.m., Saturday Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. and Sunday Dec. 11 at 2 p.m. at Hoboken High School. For a voice from one of the students from the play, check out Alex Yoon-Hendricks' blog post about the production.