Psst. I don’t want to scare you, but… You’ve been lied to. You know those really popular—iconic, even—young-adult book and movie series you love (or hate)? The one about schools for magic, and the one with the girl-vampire-werewolf love-triangle type-thing? And don’t forget about the one with the teens who find out that one of each of their parents is a Greek god or goddess? Yeah, those ones. 

All true. Yep. All of them. 

But they’re not from around here. What if I told you that the authors of each of those books were actually interdimensional guardians whose mission to keep those worlds from leaking into ours? 

How do I know, you ask? It’s a long story. Okay, it’s actually like a 90-minute play. 

"The Drama Experience" is the student-given name for the drama and theatre program at Nicollet Middle School in Burnsville, Minnesota. We originated at John Metcalf Middle School (nee Metcalf Junior High School) also in Burnsville. The name stems from the students' own statements that "It's more than a show: it's an Experience!"

We are committed to presenting a wide range of theatrical experiences from side-splitting comedies to tearful tragedies--with a healthy dose of serious drama in-between. While we have presented a variety of shows from published playwrights, we pride ourselves on our presentations of original, previously unproduced scripts.

The Drama Experience began in 1998 when Mrs. Cathy Mikel and Mr. Steven Orth began teaching at Metcalf. The solitary production that first year, Tim Kelly's Hooray for Hollywood, was presented in the choir room to a packed (and perspiring) audience. The second season's lone offering was Krazy Kamp, also by Tim Kelly, our first in the Metcalf Gymnasium. The third season featured our first pair of one-act plays "The Mystery of the Silver-Backed Hairbrush" and "The Storm" as well as the comedy, The Canterville Ghost. Unfortunately, Mrs. Mikel's teaching contract was not renewed after that year, but her character and contributions will be neither forgotten nor taken for granted.

After the close of the 2002 season, a new idea emerged: what if Nicollet Junior High and Metcalf worked together on a fall comedy or drama and again in the spring for a musical? Shows would be rehearsed and performed on the Mraz Center stage at Burnsville High School. It wasn't long before Nicollet students were invited to join the Metcalf one-acts. Once Mr. Orth convinced Mr. Day to host an evening of one-acts, Nicollet and Eagle Ridge junior highs both began annually producing their own one-acts.

When a health scare impacted his family, Mr. Orth stepped away from the fall "Micollef" shows. Several other directors stepped in to continue the program, but that and other challenges eventually ended the fall productions.

As this program has always intentionally been about family and not merely a show, Mr. Orth learned relatively early that there was more to be taught and experienced than he could handle on his own. With the return of Drama alum Robyn White  to direct the winter one-act, "Saturday Matinee," a new path formed in our tradition. Since then, a series of dedicated (and uncompensated) alumni have reinvested in the program while in high school and beyond. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Robyn, Naseem Rafiei, Cassie Greenlund, and Maria Martin for their extra years and contributions.

In 2010, we were unable to convince alum Katherine Carman to stop showing up at Metcalf Drama, so she designed the award-winning set for As You Like It. The next fall, we gave Katherine the title of Technical Director and added Alyssa Palmer as our first Artistic Director and Hannah Sponsler (for two years) as our first formally-titled Stage Mom. (Though Margaret White lays rightful claim to being the first Metcalf Stage Mom.) Since then, our Artistic Directors have been Rachel Torralba (3 years), Sarah Jasa, and Kiana Kalli; our Technical Directors have been Alex Hanson (2 years), Sarah Jasa and Emily Metzger; our past Stage Moms have been Malee Xiong (2 years), Rachael Kane, and Cassidy Fox. Our final leadership team at Metcalf consisted of Emily Powers as Artistic Director, Sarah Jasa as Occipital Director, and Hawa Salad--Drama alum and then Metcalf teacher--as Stage Mom.

While the Drama Experience proudly presents every show we stage, we are especially proud of our rich history of original and premiere scripts, beginning with Mr. Orth's first one-act, "Walkin' Home." The first alumnus to pen an original script we produced was Katherine Carman, for "Masks." Since then Sarah Jasa has written three one-acts, including "Spy-Outs," "Before the Prom," and "Spying for Dummies." Ree Ford's "Ava's Shadow" was featured during the 2015-2016 season.

In 2019, the news dropped that Metcalf Middle School would close in June 2020. Months later, a truly remarkable cast and crew shared the stage with several of their older Drama brothers and sisters in the serious drama, Letters to My Self. What we did not know when the show wrapped in January was that would be our Metcalf finale. 

March 2020 began with auditions and casting for All Things Are Possible: The Legend of the Drama Experience; however, we never reached our first rehearsal. The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 ended the school year as well as the Metcalf Drama Experience.

In the midst of the long night called COVID, a few brave Nicollet Middle School souls stepped forward for our first all-digital production, making a movie of the one-act comedy, "Stuck at Home."

Through all we have accomplished and achieved, we believe that the past matters little if we don't connect it to our present as we strive for the best possible future of our program, of our family. This mandate has never mattered more than in the coming season as we will find out whether All Things Are Possible as we launch the next iteration--if not evolution--of The Drama Experience.