Covered Bridges Half Marathon
Each June, Yoh Theatre Players and their parents are part of the Covered Bridges Half Marathon volunteer team! Players help set up and maintain the tent that provides runners with food and beverages at the end of the race.
Graduation Speakchorus
At the Woodstock Union High School graduation ceremony every year, graduating Yoh Players perform a speakchorus to celebrate their class. Speakchorus, an art form created by former Yoh Theatre director Harriet Worrell, consists of quotations, poetry, and original prose content written by the creator(s) of each individual piece. The WUHS graduation speakchoruses always include brief descriptions of every graduating senior, as well as themed content drawn from a variety of sources.
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
In August of 2018, 19 Yoh Theatre Players traveled to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to perform their rendition of Anne Carson’s Bakkhai. Each year, Edinburgh, Scotland, welcomes thousands of performing arts groups to its theatres, streets, churches, and back rooms to make up what is billed on the Edinburgh Fringe website as “the single greatest celebration of arts and culture on the planet”. As part of the American High School Theater Festival within the Fringe organization, the Yoh Theatre Players were able to perform Bakkhai, meet other high school theatre groups, and attend various productions by high schoolers and professionals alike.
Vermont Young Playwrights Project
For several years, WUHSMS students participated in the Vermont Young Playwrights Project through The Weston Playhouse. Students worked with a visiting professional playwright to brainstorm and create 6-10 minute plays, several of which were chosen to be read by a mix of professional actors and other high school students at an evening presentation at the playhouse. In addition to the students who participated in the workshop, several Yoh actors often attended the reading and participated as actors and directors for different plays.
Masters Trip to the Stratford Theater Festival
Stratford, Ontario
During their visits in 2017 and 2019, students saw:
- Bakkhai by Euripides, a new version by Anne Carson
- Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
- Guys and Dolls based on story and characters of Damon Runyon, music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, book by Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling
- Billy Elliot the Musical by Lee Hall, with music by Elton John
- The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare
- Private Lives by Noël Coward
Several times pre-covid, Yoh Director Marcia Bender traveled with her upperclassmen and Yoh Theatre Masters to the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario (a tradition she eventually hopes to revive).
Students traveled together with Ms. Bender and costume designer Diane Martin, saw three professional shows over two days, ate dinners together in Stratford restaurants, and stayed at the As You Like It Motel.
Students also had the opportunity to visit the Stratford Perth Museum, a small but well-curated museum of local history, and on the return journey home across the Canadian border, were able to stop and enjoy the Niagara Falls view.
VAMLE and rowland conferences
Yoh students often have the opportunity to present and participate in various conferences around the state of Vermont. A group of Yoh students has presented a speakchorus several times at the annual conference for the Vermont Association for Middle Level Education, and presented a speakchorus-like condensed version of The Laramie Project at the Rowland Conference for Vermont educators in 2017.
Yoh Theatre 