With student thespians busily rehearsing and building sets for the one-act Maine Drama Festival competition in March, as well as other upcoming school musicals and plays, there are great opportunities to see first-class shows in your local high school auditorium.

If you’ve never been to a school production – whether it be middle or high school – you’re missing out. Adults tend to forget how capable teens really are, but the kids perform admirably and some are truly fantastic, giving their Broadway counterparts a run for their money.

If you’re looking for a return on your entertainment investment dollar, admission prices are cheap, too. Students and seniors often pay $5, with adults getting in for $10-$15. You can take the whole family for the price of a good seat at Merrill Auditorium.

While it’s good, inexpensive entertainment, it’s more than that. Ticket proceeds help fund worthy school arts programming, aiding a valuable part of the curriculum that usually gets short shrift come school budget season. The productions are also especially invaluable for the kids who attend the shows since they get to see their classmates in a new light. Younger viewers are frequently moved to new emotions by the storylines or learn to appreciate the arts world beyond what they see on TV, pop music or the movies. The morals of the stories told on the stage also have lifelong impact, beyond their temporary value for entertaining.

And, of course, the lessons learned by the performers – the value of teamwork, mustering the courage to get in front of a packed house, taking direction and finding the discipline to learn lines – are invaluable and pay dividends throughout their professional lives. These young actors get to try out a new persona and live life differently for a few hours, and this virtual experience opens new worlds for them.

High-school arts tend to get short shrift in the media for one reason or another. However, the daily sports pages and nightly TV reports enumerate the accolades of high-school athletes because the community reserves special honor for “scholar-athletes.” An edition without some mention of how the local school teams are faring would seem incomplete in many readers’ eyes. Such is not the public’s expectation with high school musicians, artists and performers.

While sports stars and stars of the stage aren’t treated similarly by the culture, those who have taken part in or attended a school play or musical will tell you that athleticism, drive for personal excellence and discipline are all on display, similar to any sport. Acting is demanding physically, mentally and emotionally. The only difference is no one’s keeping score, except in the Maine Drama Festival competition, which is organized by the Maine Principals’ Association, fittingly the same organization that oversees all school sports in the state.

So, as a Friday basketball crowd brings out the loyal crowds, it’s time to think of the productions at the local high school auditorium in the same way. As we are of our “scholar-athletes,” we should be proud of our “scholar-thespians” and root them on. For upcoming opportunities to do just that, check out www.mpa.cc/index.php for the Maine Principals’ Association’s upcoming schedule of one-act competition. Or see below for your school’s drama or theater club’s information:

Scarborough: At Scarborough High School, productions take place in the Winslow Homer Center for the Arts. The Oak Hill Players, the school’s drama club, has a website, http://oakhillplayers.org/, and Facebook page: Winslow Homer Center for the Arts.

South Portland: Students at South Portland High School are presenting the musical, “Mary Poppins,” in early February. Check out http://www.myticketportal.com/ for more information and to reserve tickets.

Cape Elizabeth: The high school’s theater club’s website is available at https://sites.google.com/a/capeelizabethschools.org/hs_theater/.

–John Balentine, managing editor