First year sans Lagniappe earns praise from New Trier theater students, teachers

A year after New Trier High School officials announced the end of the longstanding Lagniappe-Potpourri variety show and its restructuring into a student-led board, staff and students involved in the production recently told the School Board the change has been positive.

Two teachers and four students, including two who had been involved in the previous incarnation of the show, provided the update to the board on March 23.

As previously reported by The Record, New Trier officials announced in late 2024 the end of the 86-year-old student-led variety show, Lagniappe-Potpourri. Denise Dubravec, the Winnetka campus principal/assistant superintendent, said at the time that the main reason for the show’s cancelation was declining student involvement, which reportedly caused adults to fill positions that students would typically have occupied.

In its place, the district launched a student-led leadership board to oversee the production of the freshmen/sophomore musical, which this year was an adaptation of the film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” running under the title “The New Trier Performing Arts Division and Lagniappe-Potpourri present Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka.”

The decision to end the variety show drew significant opposition from alumni, parents and students, including an online petition that drew more than 2,500 signatures from supporters and multiple public comments at board meetings.

But at Monday’s meeting, the staff and students who spoke praised the new model and shared how it became a positive experience for all involved.

Matt Temple, New Trier’s director of bands and a Lagniappe co-sponsor for the past nine years, said during the transition to the new model, those involved discovered that the previous incarnation may have actually been more restrictive than the current model.

“The show was always about New Trier,” he said, referring to the variety show format. “The costumes were, basically, you were either a student or a teacher. The set was a static one that didn’t really change a whole lot from scene to scene, and we usually only had four colors that defined the entire show.”

That changed when the format switched to producing a musical.

“A book musical like ‘Willy Wonka,’ on the other hand, immediately offered many more possibilities for costuming, set design, props, lighting, so on and so forth,” Temple said.

Senior Charlotte Crocker was a producer on this year’s board and previously was a Lagniappe cast member. She said the new board provided opportunities that will benefit her in the future.

“I truly believe that the leadership roles that are provided through Lagniappe really reflect a professional setting, and I’m really excited that I had this opportunity to do this work in high school and realize that I want to do it in college and professionally later in my life,” she said.

Crocker added that she was involved in the transition to the new format, which she called “a smooth transition from Lagniappe’s past.”

“I really believe that this was a very effective change, especially for our current student body,” she said.

Another former Lagniappe cast member, senior Mo Riley, was a director this year. She expressed appreciation for the collaborative process, both with the board and with the adult mentors.

“I was very lucky to have a mentor who kind of guided us through the process and allowed us to kind of throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks, while keeping us realistic about our goals and what was possible on stage,” she said. “Overall, I felt that we were really able to make the show our own and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

Sophomore Harriet Otto, who was an actor in “Wonka,” said the collaboration was beneficial to her as a performer.

“I loved working with the juniors and seniors, and we formed such close relationships,” she said. “We really got to know our strengths and our weaknesses and our skills in acting, singing and dancing.”

Freshman David Aul, another actor, said he was nervous when he first signed up for the play, but those feelings disappeared once he met the board.

“The first thing I did when I got there was to say ‘Hi’ to everyone, and every single one of the directors knew my name,” he said. “And that just really jumped out as just a whole new idea in that there’s a sense of belonging for you out there.”

Hilerre Kirsch, New Trier’s director of theater and the head sponsor of the Lagniappe-Potpourri Student Board, said the new format took the past traditions “and we made something that was more accessible to them, that would continue to help them grow and take them into their next stages.”

Kirsch said it was particularly important that the students felt empowered.

“We wanted to make sure they had real ownership, and I believe that was probably one of the elements that students were afraid about in this new model, that it wasn’t going to be theirs,” she said. “And we worked very hard to make sure that they understood that this is the portion that you have full control over. You have a mentor, you have your student producers and the other people on the board to run ideas by. Make sure you’ve made really good choices and that you feel like you are supported in that, and then it’s yours.”

In response to board questions about providing student opportunities to write sketch comedy, Kirsch said an existing comedy club, which had focused on improvisational comedy, was reimagined to add a sketch comedy element to it. But despite plans to have a comedy showcase, it was canceled because of a lack of student interest.

She said that, during the next school year, the performing arts team will pilot a “three-week improv comedy intensive” at the beginning of the year, and if there is interest, there may end up being a comedic performance.

The students and staff were praised by School Board members as well as Superintendent Dr. Peter Tragos.

“You did amazing work,” he said. “It is very difficult to take a risk and try something new that you haven’t done before. And you really demonstrated what it means for adults and students to come together with a task like creating something new and reinventing. When you ask creative people to do things like that, magic happens.”

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