By Melanie Kafka
The lazy days of summer have passed us by and school is back in session. With that brings new opportunities to support local student theater in an auditorium, lunch room, or gymnasium near you. For this first month of the school year, I’d like to highlight the Theatre Teacher and Director at Wellington High School, Mrs. Cassandra Truelove. On the first day of school this year, I had the pleasure of spending some time on campus with her talking about her role at WHS, a little about her background, and some of the great things in store this year.
This is Mrs. Truelove’s second year teaching at WHS, and if you missed her productions last year, they were incredible! Each year, the extraordinarily talented students in the Fine Arts Choice Program Academy along with other student cast members put on a theatrical piece in the Fall and musical production in the Spring. This Fall, Mrs. Truelove will direct the students in a performance of Radium Girls on stage at the WHS Auditorium from November 7th-9th.
As students pass through the doorway to Mrs. Truelove’s classroom, they leave high school behind for a little while to enter the theater. The walls throughout her room are adorned with countless playbills and huge tapestries with quotes from famous plays, many of which are precious gifts or hold special memories for her. It feels like another world rather than a classroom, far from the rote stress of an ordinary day in high school in the safe haven she provides for these drama kids. As whimsical as this all may seem, it’s a busy day in the life of one very special theater teacher who ushers five lively classes through this space all week long.
So where does Mrs. Truelove get the patience and expertise to be in the director’s seat with so many theatrical personalities? Well, in addition to being an amazing mom to her spectacular kids, she has an extensive background in theater and working with children. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Theatre and Communication Studies from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota then went on to tour with national theater companies where she spent much of her time engaging with audience members in educational performances. Of course, as a mother, life sometimes asks us to slow down to play another role, and so she did take those breaks in between her professional life on stage. Upon her return, Mrs. Truelove has done extensive volunteer work in theater, in local schools here in Wellington, and also very rewarding work in ministry.
When I asked Mrs. Truelove about what made her want to come teach at Wellington High, she said she “loves the opportunity for kids to express themselves. They go through so much emotionally, it’s a safe outlet to create art. It’s a beautiful experience for the performers and the audience.” Then we stood in her doorway as the last bell rang. The frenzy of the end of that first day of school blazed past, but not without an occasional student popping by for a quick hug and a “hi, Mrs. Truelove” and some quick smalltalk before rushing to catch the bus or car line. And that’s how true legends are made in show business – every beautiful moment carefully crafted by the director with love.
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Melanie Kafka has been a Wellington resident since 2011, which she decided was the perfect place to raise her two daughters after returning to Florida from serving in the United States Navy. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Palm Beach Atlantic University while developing her career as a Senior Project Engineer in the aerospace industry. She is also co-founder of the Wellington Ladies Golf Club, which serves to welcome women and girls into the sport of golf while promoting an atmosphere of inclusion on and off the course.