New Theater Takes Center Stage
By LILY PARKER
The Tower
As Manteca High grows, so do our facilities on campus.
Manteca High’s theater is currently going under an extensive remodeling to bring new modern features to our performers and audience. The renovations aim to not only bring the building up to code but make it more accessible for the theatre program.
The project, which began in January, will wrap at the start of the 2026-2027 school year. The changes include a new lighting system, stage, and seats. Handicap-accessible bathrooms will also be added, as well as a new fire system.
“It’s still going to have a really good fresh feeling about it, and I’m very excited about that.” Dawn Coyan, the theater teacher on Manteca High’s campus claims.
In the meantime, Coyan’s classes have been moved to a portable on the south end of campus. It's a much tighter space without the amenities of a normal theatre. Students rehearse, change, and observe in the same space. There are no seats.
Students and teachers eagerly wait for the remodeling to be done.
“I’m excited to perform on the new stage, I think it’ll be cool.” States Jacob Ribberal, a junior and performer at Manteca High. “I think we’ll gain more opportunities.”
To learn more about the exciting upcoming changes to Manteca High, The Tower sat down with Dawn Coyan to get insight and expectations of the new theater.
The Tower: What is the biggest challenge of not having a stage?
Dawn Coyan: Biggest… well there were several… but I would say the rehearsals are harder for one thing. You know, we taped out the stage for this room but then when we got to the stage that we borrowed (Woodward Elementary), it was different. Not that the space was different but just where we needed to be on the stage. So that was very hard to prepare for. But then the people that aren’t on stage at the moment, when you’re rehearsing, are like, crammed into a few square feet on the side, because, you know you have to pretend there are wings. So, just, I think, spacing was a really hard thing. The other thing was figuring out how to stage stuff without having the same props that we would normally have. So, a lot of things were like, do you really need a prop for that? Because everything we were going to pick up and carry and haul to a different location, so all our sets were smaller, and we had a lot fewer hand props than we would have normally had.
TT: Yes, it would have been more difficult due to the students not having a set place on stage to memorize.
DC: Yes, it’s challenging.
TT: When will the theatre be done?
DC: So, the theatre is supposed to be done by the beginning of next year, they just have to do a lot of things inside the walls to bring it up to code. So, the whole fire system is being redone and building a new, you know, handicapped accessible bathroom. In addition to redoing the lighting system, which is what the whole thing is about. But we also will get, you know, new paint, and it’s going to look nicer, even though it’s not really just the seats were already new, and the curtains were already new, carpet as well. But it’s still going to have a really good fresh feeling about it, and I’m very excited about that.
TT: Um, will the timing of construction affect future shows?
DC: Well, I have one more show this year, and that is going to end up being in the cafeteria. So yeah, there’s that. That’s the musical theater showcase and normally my introduction to theater class puts a show on. Um, but they’re not going to do one this year because it’s just too hard for the new actors to try and figure that out.
TT: Yeah, I feel that it would be hard to adjust, especially your first year class, so how has rehearsing changed?
DC: Um, I feel like I haven’t been able to keep everybody busy as well, like the people offstage, because there’s just no place to put them. So, I don’t think the, you know, the people who don’t have major parts weren’t as efficient with their time. And so that, I think, translated a little bit to, you know, the ensemble. It took them more time to get up to speed once we were ready to perform. And then I mean, it’s just different. It took us a while to realize we needed to mark, like where exactly the center of the stage is. And then we have the mirrors here to help simulate what the audience would be looking at.
TT: How will the theatre change, you already answered that but any more details?
DC: Yeah, the biggest thing though will be the lighting. And we really didn’t talk about that, but there’s going to be more lighting positions. The lighting will be, I mean, it’ll be LED instead of the old school stuffs. The thing I’m most excited about, well, besides there being a lot more lights, so we’ll be able to focus on them and see better. But also over the stage where you plug in the lights, they’re going to be on hydraulics that come down to stage level, and so ... my tech students, will be able to work on focusing the lights themselves, which they haven’t done before.”