The High School Auditorium

By Gary White (CVHS, Class of 1955)

Cedar Vale High School building was both ingenious and disfunctional in its construction. Built on a hillside with the main entrance on the north and the auditorium on the south, one could approach the building on different levels. This allowed for two entrances to the main floor of the auditorium on the south and two entrances to the auditorium balcony through the main entrance on the north—very ingenious. However, the difficulty came in the fact that the gymnasium was directly over the auditorium, making it impossible to schedule any serious activities in both spaces simultaneously. In addition, the gymnasium had large open windows on three sides looking into the upstairs hall with the business, typing, study hall, library, English, choir, and social studies classrooms on the other side of the hall. This must have caused much gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair for the administration of the school. Our administrators didn’t have too much of either to spare as I recall. The conflicts would have been fairly manageable in the fall, when football was in season, and in the spring, when track kept the athletes outdoors. But during basketball season, which was a very important sport in Cedar Vale, the scheduling must have been horrendous.

My first memory of the high school auditorium was when the grade school did a production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and we got to use the big auditorium. We were all in elaborate costumes that our mothers’ had made. The production was at least as wonderful as the Walt Disney version we had all seen at the movies, or so it seemed to us. I was Grumpy—one of the seven dwarfs—I believe that Wayne Woodruff was Doc. Jack Foster, Bob Cable, and Bob Hays were some of the other dwarfs. Don Shaffer was the Prince, and I think one of the Stone girls was Snow White. I remember that the production spilled over from the stage to the aisles and areas below the stage, and there were elaborate sets throughout the auditorium. We had definitely made “the big time” in show business with that production and our parents were lavish in their praise.

My second memory of the auditorium was when, in seventh grade, I was promoted to a place in the high school band. We rehearsed and did concerts there. Again, the auditorium spelled “the big time” for me and I always maintained a certain respect for and awe of the place.

Once I got to high school the auditorium became the place for school assemblies, programs of traveling guest lectures, and the like. In particular, I remember a program given by a Native American man who was lecturing against the use of tobacco. As part of his presentation he took a section of auto inner tube and inflated it to bursting with his breath, thus showing the strength of breath a nonsmoker could achieve. I think he may have come on more than one occasion during our high school years. I also recall those occasions when all the girls met in the auditorium and the boys in the gym for elementary sex education. There was an air of secrecy and intrigue about these meetings, with each sex not knowing what the other group was discussing.

The auditorium was also where we put on major cultural events and the aura of the arts hung about the place. Mrs. Morris, our vocal instructor, put on two major productions in the auditorium. The most elaborate was a production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Mikado. The production was double cast and there were two performances, one with each cast. Mrs. Morris had meetings in her home, outside the rehearsals, for the cast, where she played recordings of the operetta and showed pictures of the costumes. The history of operetta in England was presented, and we were thoroughly indoctrinated about the importance of what we were about to do. Costumes were rented from a theatrical rental place in distant Kansas City. I well remember when the costumes arrived in trunks and we all tried them on. We had definitely arrived in “the big time” with this production with its wonderful costumes and sets. Mrs. Morris was the one-person orchestra. She was an accomplished pianist, and the production was probably the best vocal production that was done by the students of CVHS, at least in my memory.

On another occasion Mrs. Morris put together a vaudeville-like review, with a script she wrote herself and songs drawn from the popular repertoire. This was a much lighter affair, but it was great fun for all of us.

Of course, the auditorium was the scene for band and chorus concerts. There were special concerts for those students who were performing in the district and state music festivals.
As a special dispensation, I was allowed to go to the auditorium during my study hall periods to practice my trumpet. In my senior year, Mr. Barr, our new business and typing teacher, would sometimes join me there to accompany me on the piano. Mr. Barr was a gifted amateur pianist who played mostly by ear, made up his own songs, and enjoyed having me play them with him. He wore a hearing aid in one ear and was otherwise quite distinctive to me because he was the first professed agnostic I had met. I remember having serious religious discussions with him and feeling some pity that he was bound for hell. He seemed like a perfectly reasonable and caring human being—except for that fatal flaw.

In our junior and senior years we gave class plays in the auditorium. The stage was fitted with a compete set that we all got together to paint. In particular, I remember our senior class production of Arsenic and Old Lace. I had great fun playing Teddy and running about the stage blowing a bugle.

When I think about the range of cultural productions we managed to produce with our tiny student body, I am amazed at how we did it all. The auditorium was the cultural center of the town, and we were kept very busy and engaged much of the time. The town of Cedar Vale was blessed with much creative talent, and we made real contributions to the quality of life there.