About Us

Varsity Letter Requirements

We strive for those who earn their Dexter Drama Varsity Letter to represent an individual who seeks 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: Drama, IB Theatre, IB Film Studies, Musical Theatre Workshop, 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 2021-2022 Drama Club Officers!
Contact them by clicking on their names!

President: 
Toni Butka

Vice President: 
​Emmy Rhizal

Communications: 
Owen Carlson
Weston Myers
​
Sergeant at Arms: 
Kennedy Lint
Thespian Liaison: 
Shelly Beach 

Tech Liaison: 
Noelle Whipple

Improv Captains: 
Ryan Grant
Elliot Portice

Pit Liaison: 
Delaney Christy
Dexter Drama Club Advisor: Erin Palmer
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!

Toni Butka
​​President

Toni Butka is so excited to be your Dexter Drama Club President this year! She is a senior and is thrilled to be in her fourth year with the drama club. If you have any questions or concerns, she would love for you to contact her. Seriously, she would want nothing more than for you to contact her. She is excited to help this club grow and create a loving, creative community for everyone!

Emmy Rhizal
​Vice President

Emmy Rhizal is beyond excited to be your Vice President for the 2021-2022 season! She will be a senior this year and she can’t wait for her fourth year in the drama club. She encourages everyone to contact her for anything, because nothing makes her happier than helping you all (and being given chocolate)! Emmy can’t wait for another wonderful season with this amazing club! ​

Kennedy Lint
​Sergeant At Arms

Kennedy Lint is your Sergeant at Arms for the 2020-2021 drama season!! She’s a sophomore going into her fourth year with the club. She is absolutely ecstatic to be leading and organizing the social aspect of drama, and thinks that hydration is very important!

Owen Carlson
​​Communications

Owen Carlson is one the two Communications Officers for the 2021-2022 drama season. He is a junior and entering in his 4th year as a member of the club. He is ready to receive any questions you may have. He is also quite excited to create a wonderful drama club presence online and is pumped for this upcoming season.  

Weston Myers ​Communications

Weston Myers is a senior this year and is one of the two communications officers, he has been in this club since he was a freshman and has enjoyed every second of doing tech and acting. If you have any questions about the Dexter Drama social media or the website feel free to reach out!

Elliot Portice
​Improv Captain

Elliot Portice is one of two Improv Captains for the 2021-2022 season and he is super excited to be running the club along side co-captain Ryan Grant. They will both be seniors next year, and have been doing Improv since 7th grade! Elliot directed a 3D show with Ryan, and they're excited to work together once again with a beautiful group of young improvisers! ​

Ryan Grant
​Improv Captain

Ryan Grant is one of two Improv Captains for the 2021-2022 season and he is super excited to be running the club along side co-captain Elliot Portice. They will both be seniors next year, and have been doing Improv since 7th grade! Ryan directed a 3D show with Elliot, and they're excited to work together once again with a beautiful group of young improvisers! ​

Noelle Whipple
​Tech Liaison

Noelle Whipple is a senior this year and is deLIGHTed to be returning as your Tech Liaison for the third and final time. 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 outside. Noelle encourages you to reach out to her if you have any questions, or just need a friend! 

Shelly Beach
Thespian Liaison

Shelly Beach is your Thespian Liaison for the 2021-2022 school year and she couldn’t be more excited to serve you in this role! She is a Junior and participating in her 5th year as a part of the drama club, she has been both onstage and offstage and can’t wait for another year!

Delaney Christy
​Pit Liaison

Delaney Christy is excited to be your Pit Liaison for the 2021-2022 drama season and absolutely cannot wait to see what this year brings! She is a senior this year, which will be her 3rd year with the DDC. She's a proud member of the pit orchestra, and has enjoyed being a part of tech and cast as well. Here's to another wonderful year of theatre!

Ms. Erin Palmer
Drama Club Advisor
Erin Palmer is in her fifteenth year at Dexter High School as a World History teacher and Drama Club advisor! Palmer additionally teaches the US History course populated with many exchange students each year.  She very much enjoyed teaching an online course for her Chinese students during the 2020-2021 school year even if it was at 9pm to accommodate for the time change!  Palmer is a proud alumna of Kalamazoo College where she earned a BA in History and minors in Psychology and Theatre Arts. Palmer also holds a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Michigan-Flint. In past summers she has taken her passion for teaching and theatre overseas where she has taught English through performance in Poland.  Palmer has spent 3 summers in the forests of Oregon where she facilitated teen programs on high and low-rope challenge courses.  She worked as an inclusion specialist and specifically with the foster system of Portland, Oregon to provide more student opportunities outdoors and help ensure accessibility. 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 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, Hercules, 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, Little Shop of Horrors, and The Wizard of Oz. During the Covid-19 pandemic outdoor performances included Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood, and Disney’s Tarzan.  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 and Dexter Drama Club producer who is extraordinary.  Dexter Drama Club would also not be possible without the talents of her “partners in crime”: choir and vocal director Julie Bassett, pit orchestra director Brian Rose, and my wonderfully talented program choreographer Amanda Webster.