Montezuma-Cortez High School theater director Nicholaus Sandner has been named the Colorado Theater Teacher of the Year by Colorado Thespians.
Sandner, who grew up in Durango, attended Fort Lewis College as a music major. His theater experience came from Durango Lively Arts and Durango High School before his time at the M-CHS.
“I was involved in community theater since about sixth grade with a company called Durango Lively Arts, and then I went to Durango High School and was in the theater program there,” he said.
After he graduated from FLC, he began doing music directing for kids’ shows with Durango Lively Arts before getting into directing shows with adults and small cast shows. Sandner was planning to become an English teacher in Durango until he got the call that brought him to Cortez in 2011.
He said the call was from the first director he ever worked with as a child, Jenny Fitts Reynolds, who asked him if she could give his name as a potential candidate for the theater program in Cortez, as she was unable to continue in the position.
“I got the call right before the teacher day started, I came over to Cortez to be interviewed and started the very next day,” Sandner said. “I had figured I was going to be an English teacher or something like that. I got my certification in teaching English and then I got the job doing theater over here and I’ve loved it ever since.”
At first, Sandner said, it was a challenge to get students on board and to trust him as a new teacher, but it wasn’t long before the numbers of students who wanted to participate in the program grew so much they had to figure out where to fit everyone.
“I had a group of kids that wanted to be part of it and who started to spread the word,” he said. “People started to see the quality of the productions we were doing and they got excited, and pretty soon the numbers were up.”
A challenge the program still faces is finding resources to use in a rural community, but Sandner said this challenge has also presented the opportunity for the theater program to be more creative.
“We have to be creative sometimes. When we did the musical ‘Little Women,’ we made the skirts, which are huge ballgowns from the Civil War era, and we couldn’t find fabric to purchase here that was wide enough,” he said. “We ended up using bed sheets that we found at Walmart that had patterns that would fit well enough. So sometimes it’s thinking outside of the box to be able to make do with the resources we have.”
The first musical Sandner directed in his role at M-CHS was “Seussical the Musical,” and the first play was the comedy “The Foreigner.”
“From there, we started adding in more Shakespeare, which was really fun. We did the Scottish play, which I’m not supposed to say in the performance space ... bad luck,” he said about the performance of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”
When the theater program performed “Macbeth,” it was done in black and white.
“We actually did it in black and white, in the style of a film noir or an old detective movie,” he said. “We painted everybody using airbrushes in black and white, and then as the murders were done, we’d have red introduced for blood.”
Looking back on the years working in the district, Sandner said a can-do attitude and community support have stood out in Cortez. He prefers being in a rural community.
“I honestly prefer being in a community that has a limit on resources, because I think it encourages greater creativity,” he said. “If I could just go to a store and buy something, then I don’t have to think about how I could create that. I’ve always loved the huge community support and the huge support of the people that I work with, and the students, too. They are so excited about jumping in and trying new things.”
Theater has become a legacy in Sandner’s household as well, with his daughter, Lily, who graduated from M-CHS this spring, participating in theater and choir before her graduation.
Now, his sons are taking up the theater and music torch. Three of Sandner’s sons, Jonathan (junior), Brian (sophomore) and Toby are participating in the high school and middle school theater programs, and his son, Liam, while not into theater, is a drum player in the middle school band.
“Brian is really good at puppet-building and special effects. He is also into videography, so it will be fun to see what sorts of things he can bring to the table,” Sandner said. “Jonathan is a great organizer … he’s a really good singer and dancer so he’s good at bringing a lot to the table, too. I think I’ll see him in more leadership sort of roles in the future.”
Sandner’s youngest son, Toby, is auditioning for his first play in the middle school, and his wife is “a huge part of everything,” as the lead scenic painter and co-designer in the program.
Sandner said he dreams of Cortez having its own performing arts complex that holds community theater plays, concerts, other performing arts and exhibits.
In the school, he said his goal for the future is to keep students engaged and active in a culture that is device driven.
He also acknowledged the honor of being named the Colorado Theater Teacher of the Year, saying that many times, people they meet at thespian-type events don’t know where Cortez is.
“It’s cool to be recognized at a state level ... that’s the most common thing we get is, ‘Where’s that?’” Sandner said. “It’s great for the Colorado Thespians, the Denver branch, to be noticing what we have down here and noticing the cool things that we’re doing in this corner of the state that they don’t even know exists.”
He said he wanted to thank the community, the people who have supported and volunteered, as well as his co-teachers Angela Gabardi, who nominated him for the award, and Marla Sitton.
He will accept his award next month in Denver.
“We are very proud of Nick, who is a true asset to our school and community. He is a fantastic theater director that the kids are so lucky to have,” said high school Principal Jennifer Boniface. “His program is very successful and gives many of our students and members of the community the creative outlet that they need.”
