About Us

Varsity Letter Requirements

We strive for those who earn their Dexter Drama Varsity Letter to represent an individual who strives to possess a comprehensive experience of the theatre world.  These requirements will help ensure students exiting the DHS Drama program are at the very least exposed to different aspects of theatre.

Requirement 1: Involvement in 3 productions in at least 2 different areas of theatre. Example: Acting and Pit Orchestra or any combo of Sound/light/costume/props/running crew or any designer position, etc.... Combinations are endless!

• Note: The 2 areas can be earned during the same production.  For example, you could be on a tech crew and play in the winter musical pit orchestra. A second tech area for cast members can only be counted if the commitment to this position exceeds the already required set build hours. For example, a student could perform in a production as well as make props on Prop Crew.

Requirement 2: Passing one of the DHS performance or literature courses: IB Theatre, IB Film Studies or the Video News Production consortium. 

• Note:  It is understood that this requirement will be difficult for certain students to fit into their schedules.  Thus, a 4th production can substitute for the course requirement or performance in 3 improv shows.

Officers

Presenting your 2020-2021 Drama Club Officers!

President: 
Maggie Needham

Vice President: 
Jackson Helmholtz

Communications: 
Antonia Butka
Clara Gauthier
​
Sergeant at Arms: 
​Emmy Rhizal

Thespian Liaison: 
Kesley Walter 

Tech Liaison: 
Noelle Whipple

Improv Captains: 
Joey Hill
Marisa Leadbetter

Pit Liaison: 
Emma Brooks
​

Dexter Drama Club Advisor: Erin Palmer

Contact the officers via email:

Maggie:
margaret.needham@dexterschools.org
​Jackson:
Jackson.helmholtz@dexterschools.org
Antonia:
antonia.butka@dexterschools.org
Clara:
cegauthier1@gmail.com
Emmy:
emma.rhizal@dexterschools.org

Kesley:
kesley.walter@dexterschools.org
Noelle:
 noelle.m.whipple@gmail.com
Joey:
joesph.hill@dexterschools.org
Marisa:
marisa.leadbetter@dexterschools.org
Emma:
​brookse2603@gmail.com
​
​

OR to send an email through the website to any officer, Ms. Erin Palmer or our booster club 
click here

2020-2021 Drama Club Officers!

Maggie Needham
​President

Maggie is so incredibly excited to be your Drama Club President in the 2020-21 school year! When she’s not in rehearsal, she enjoys writing, working on short film projects, and baking LOTS of cookies. She can’t wait to be back in the theater with everyone and do her part to make everything run as smoothly as possible. Please don’t hesitate to reach out! :)

Jackson Helmholtz
​Vice President

​Jackson is very excited to be the Vice President. This is his 6th year in the club and he is excited to continue helping this club become a better place! Don’t be afraid to contact him if you have any questions or if you just want to talk with someone!

Antonia Butka
​Communications

​Antonia "Toni" Butka is one of your communications officers this year! She is a junior and is thrilled to be in her third year with the drama club. If you have any questions or concerns, she would love for you to contact her. She is excited to help this club grow and create a loving, creative community for everyone!

Clara Gauthier
​​Communications

Clara Gauthier is one of your Communications Officers for the 2020-2021 drama season and she couldn't be more excited for this chance to continue to serve this wonderful club! She will be a senior next year, and has been doing drama since 8th grade, and has been on both tech and acted onstage, and she can't wait for another wonderful season!

Emmy Rhizal
​Sergeant At Arms

Emmy Rhizal is beyond excited to be your Sergeant at Arms for the 2020-2021 school year! She will be a junior this year and she can’t wait for her third year in the drama club. She is very excited to see everyone, and hopes that you won’t hesitate to contact her if you need anything! Emmy can’t wait for another wonderful season!

Kesley Walter
Thespian Liaison

Kesley Walter is extremely thrilled to be your 2020/2021 school year Thespian Liaison! This will be her third year in the drama club as a High Schooler, and is excited to spend it as an officer. While she spends all of her time on stage, she thinks that all aspects of theater is cool. Kesley can’t wait for the new members and fun memories of the new year! 

Noelle Whipple
​Tech Liaison

Joey Hill
​Improv Captain

Marisa Leadbetter
​Improv Captain

Emma Brooks
Pit Liaison

Noelle Whipple is a junior this year and is deLIGHTed to be your Tech Liaison for the second year in a row! She LAVed being in her position as an officer so much last year that she just had to come back! She has been in the club since her freshman year and has enjoyed every second, including the highs of the catwalk and the lows of the pit. Noelle encourages you to reach out to her if you have any questions, or just need a friend!
 

​

Joey is entering his fifth year within the Drama Club and is excited to be one of the Improv Captains for this 2020-2021 season. He joined the Improv Club a couple of years ago and he's enjoyed every single moment of it. If you're looking for a good time to share a few laughs with you and your friends, come join him and his co-captain, Marisa, at Improv!

Marisa is a Junior this year and is entering her 5th year in the Drama Club. She’s excited to be an Improv Captain this 2020-2021 school year and to work with all of the other amazing officers of the Drama Club. She hopes to see many new members in the club this year and to welcome back old ones. 

Emma is a senior that has been in the Drama Club since she was in 7th grade. This is her second year serving the club as Pit Liaison and she's super excited to represent the pit and bring more ideas to the table!

Ms. Erin Palmer
Drama Club Advisor

Erin Palmer is enjoying her fourteenth year at Dexter High School as a World History teacher and Drama Club advisor.  She is a proud alumna of Kalamazoo College where she earned a BA in History and minors in Psychology and Theatre Arts. Palmer has also completed her Masters of Public Administration at the University of Michigan-Flint. For several past summers she has taken her passion for teaching out of state and in one case overseas where she has taught English through performance in Poland.  Palmer spent 3 summers in the forests of Oregon where she facilitated teen programs on high and low-rope challenge courses.  As the advisor of the Dexter Drama Club and Improv Club she is the proud sponsor of 4 main productions a year and 5 Improv shows.   Previous directing credits with the Dexter Drama include The Odd Couple, Anything Goes, Hello, Dolly!, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Back to the 80s, A Year With Frog and Toad, Guys and Dolls, Alice in Wonderland, The Music Man, Willy Wonka, Into the Woods,  Disney's The Jungle Book, Crazy For You, Grease, Disney's Sleeping Beauty, Chicago, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Disney’s Lion King Jr., On the Town, Peter Pan, and Little Shop of Horrors, and The Wizard of Oz.  Palmer would like to enthusiastically recognize her student designers and officers for all they do to make the Dexter Drama productions incredible as well as her parent booster club for all their efforts.  A special “shout out” to Jodi Helmholtz, her Parent Booster president who is extraordinary.  Dexter Drama Club would also not be possible without the talents of her “partners in crime”: choir and vocal directors Julie Bassett, pit orchestra director, Brian Rose, and my wonderfully talented Co-director, Elizabeth Champion.