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  • McCarthy Drama Club 2026-27 Musical Commitment Contract

    Frozen Jr. -- January 29 & 30, 2027

  • Hey there, McCarthy Students & Parents!!

    Welcome to the 2026-27 McCarthy Drama Club production of Frozen Jr. !!! We are going to have a great time bringing this story to life, but it's going to take a lot of work to put on the best show possible.

    Our show will debut the last weekend in January, 2027

    WHEN
    • Friday, January 29th, 7PM
    • Saturday, January 30th, 2PM
    • Saturday, January 30th, 7PM
    WHERE McCarthy Middle School Auditorium

    To be sure everyone works together and supports each other over the next several months, we need to make sure that everyone is on the same page about what being part of the McCarthy Drama Club Musical means.

    The information below outlines what will be expected of all our participating students and parents. STUDENTS AND PARENTS SHOULD REVIEW THIS FORM TOGETHER BEFORE SUBMITTING and be sure they understand all items.

    ** Without a complete & signed form, students will not be permitted to participate in any part of the production.**

    If you have questions about the information or The McCarthy Drama Club, please email richardsonj@chelmsford.k12.ma.us .

  • STUDENT COMMITMENT

     

  • Format: (000) 000-0000.

  • RESPECTFUL CONDUCT REQUIRED

    Participating in a drama production is a big commitment! In addition to attending scheduled rehearsals, learning lines/songs/dances, and maintaining good academic & behavioral standing in their classes, ABOVE ALL STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE RESPECTFUL TO ALL DIRECTORS & PRODUCTION TEAM MEMBERS AT ALL TIMES.  Students are also expected to give respect to their fellow students at all times.

    Students who act in a disrespectful manner will be given a warning, and any continued or further disrespectfulness may result in the student being removed from the production.

  • APPROPRIATE USE OF TECHNOLOGY & TOOLS

    Good conduct also includes appropriate use of technology & tools in person and on digital platforms.

    Students should only use their mobile devices and chromebooks for school or rehearsal related activities during after-school rehearsal time, or to contact a caregiver. If a student is not needed for active rehearsal and has finished their academic work, they should ask what other production tasks they can help with.

    Students should review & use the Google Classroom Ettiquette to guide their participation on the McDrama Google Classroom forums. The Google classroom is a school-sponsored resource and conduct online should be "school appropriate" as content & posts could potentially be seen by other students, teachers, and/or your principal. 

    • Positive Posts including praising one another’s creativity, thoughts, and work
    • Appropriate language: Use the THINK strategy and avoiding negative language or inappropriate words
    • Relevant Posts & Questions: Be sure your post directly relates to the task or topic (don’t just post to post or trying to be funny)
    • Proofread & Avoid non-academic writing, text lingo, or slang (ie. meow, lol, jk, bruh)

    If a student is not using the technology and communication tools appropriately, they will be given a warning, and if their behavior does not improve, they may be removed from the production.

  • AFTER SCHOOL "ACTIVITY CARDS" REQUIRED

    Students need a CPS Student "Activity Card" to participate in any after school club, including the McCarthy Drama Club musical production. This is not a literal "card" but rather an online registration with a small fee that helps to pay for teacher stipends & transportation.

    Information about obtaining a student "Activity Card" is available on the CPS website: https://mccarthy.chelmsfordschools.org/about/activities-and-clubs/(This link still lists 2022-23, but the instructions under "Register and Pay Online" are current for MySchoolBucks.com to purchase the item "Student Activity Fee-McCarthy Middle School".)

    Families must obtain their student's "Activity Card" online by November 2nd, or they will not be permitted to continue to work on the production or attend other McCarthy Clubs. We will work with the front office to verify registrations (no need to send or print a copy).

    If you have concerns about obtaining an Actvity Card, please email Ms. Richardson (richardsonj@chelmsford.k12.ma.us) to discuss options.

  • REGULAR REHEARSAL SCHEDULE

    Rehearsals will take place after school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays

    • October & November will end at 4:30pm.
    • December rehearsals will end at 5:30pm.
    • January rehearsals will end at 6:00pm.

    Students may not be required to attend every rehearsal, so please pay close attention to the Google Classroom rehearsal calendar. Students should keep a list of their character's scenes and songs in their script book for quick access. This will help inform them which rehearsals they will need to attend. 

  • Like with any team Practice Makes Performance Ready! While Crew members will not be need to be at every rehearsals after school, this means that every day they are called is precious time. We need to know that we can count on each student to CONSISTENTLY be at the rehearsals & build sessions they are "Called" to attend (unless previously scheduled to be absent). In addition, crew members may be asked to put in personal time at home to complete projects or planning (depending on the team needs).

  • TECH & PRODUCTION WEEK REHEARSAL SCHEDULE

    As we approach the opening of our show, we will need to spend more rehearsal time with students to put final touches on the production.

    Tech week (Jan. 15, & Jan 19-22) is the first of these intense rehearsal schedules, where students will be working with the technical crew to finalize stage positions and movement for lighting & audio queues. Tech Week rehearsals will be Tuesday thru Friday, and will end at 7PM.

    Production week (Jan. 25-28) are the final rehearsals before our opening night (often referred to as Dress rehearsals). These rehearsals allow us to "Run" the show, often with full costumes, to give cast and crew practice at all the staging for the show. Production week rehearsals will be Monday thru Thursday, and will end at 7PM.

    We will be sure to release the kids at the designated times. Please be sure there is a ride home for them at that designated time.

  • ATTENDANCE & ABSENCE POLICY

    Consistent attendance at rehearsals is critical for the success of the show.  It can be very difficult for students to catch up on stage work when they miss even part of a rehearsal.

    It is expected that each member of the show will attend assigned rehearsals and remain at rehearsal until the scheduled end time. This means that with very few exceptions students will not be leaving rehearsals to take the late bus home. If you need assistance with after-rehearsal transportation we encourage parents to reach out to other families involved in the production to set up carpools.

    We do understand that on occasion students may need to leave early to attend a previously scheduled appointment, or even to have unexpected absence from a rehearsal. In these events, we expect families to notify the production team as soon as possible prior to the start of the rehearsal, via email to Ms. Richardson (richardsonj@chelmsford.k12.ma.us) .

    Multiple unplanned absences will result in a warning to the student, and if there are any more absences, the student may be removed from the cast.

  • REHEARSAL CONDUCT, SCHOOLWORK, & SCHOOL CONDUCT

    Students are expected to maintain good behavior at McCarthy at all times, and to remain in supervised areas at all times during rehearsals. 

    Students are expected to keep up with homework and maintain a passing grade in every class. If students are at a rehearsal but aren’t actively needed, they should plan to use the down time for doing homework -- Not Playing Around.

    Disruption of a rehearsal or disrupting students working on homework during downtime, may cause the student to be removed from the rehearsal. Should the behavior happen more than once, they may be removed from the production.

    Any school suspension will result in the student being put on probation for the musical and depending on the severity of the situation, possibly be removed from the production.

  • PRODUCTION SUPPLIES

    There will be some supplies that students will need to provide for themselves for hygeine purposes. The production teams will inform families what they will need to purchase or obtain.

    In addition, students may be assigned responsibility for certain costume or prop items. If you are assigned a costume from school, you will be responsible for coordinating to have it cleaned and returned to the production team.

    Any concerns about items students are asked to obtain should be sent via email to Ms. Richardson (richardsonj@chelmsford.k12.ma.us) .

  • CONFIDENTIALITY & DISCRETION

    By spending time in the schools as a volunteer/visitor, you may see and hear things about students’ work and behavior that need to remain confidential. CPS students have the right to expect that information about them will be kept confidential by all volunteers/visitors.

    • Volunteers must not repeat anything that happens to or about a student to anyone
      other than authorized school department employees.
    • Confidential information may
      not be discussed in any form, including any type of social media.
    • Volunteers should not ask a student personal questions that will invade their right to privacy; however,
      volunteers/visitors should listen without judgment if students wish to share.
    • Though volunteers/visitors should respect the confidentiality of any information a student may
      share, if a safety or at-risk issue is revealed a volunteer/visitor should share this information with the teacher or an administrator.
    • Volunteers will upon discovery, immediately report any breach or suspected breach in confidentiality,
      to Ms. Richardson (richardsonj@chelmsford.k12.ma.us) .
    • Volunteer may only interact with the student(s) I am designated to observe/interact with and no other student(s) in the classroom and/or building
    • A grave medical emergency, in which confidential information may be necessary for a student’s care, is an exception
    • Questions about individual students or
      the content of confidential student records must be directed to to Ms. Richardson (richardsonj@chelmsford.k12.ma.us) .

  • Student Acknowledgement

    By signing here, I acknowledge that I have reviewed the information & expectations above, and I agree to adhere to these policies, follow the instructions of the Directors and their production team, and do my part to make this production a success. I understand that failure to meet these expectations, or to heed warnings from the Directors, may result in my being removed from the production.

  • PARENT COMMITMENT

  • Format: (000) 000-0000.
  • Format: (000) 000-0000.

  • While we can't completely process a CORI form for you, we can try to make the process of submitting the form a little easier. If you complete the fields below, we will place them on a PDF of the CORI form that you can then print out and take to the appropriate office of Chelmsford Public Schools.

    **NOTE: There will still be some fields you will need to manually complete after printing the form.

  • CORI Values
    Rows
  • CORI License
    Rows

  • PARENT MEETING

    At least one caregiver from each family is expected to attend the McCarthy Drama Club Parent Meeting, where we'll introduce key members of the production team and discuss the many areas of need for Frozen, Jr.:

    WHEN

    WEDNESDAY, October 14th

    ** 6:00PM - 7:00PM **

     
    WHERE McCarthy Auditorium

    If you are unable to have any caregiver attend the parent meeting, email Ms. Richardson (richardsonj@chelmsford.k12.ma.us) .

  • PARENT SUPPORT TO STUDENTS

    Our production cannot succeed without the support of parents/guardians & caregivers. First and foremost, we need your support for all the students involved in the show, regardless of role or ability. Second, we need you to support your student in the role they are assigned, including helping them with learning their lines, songs, or staging.

  • PARENT SUPPORT TO PRODUCTION

    We appreciate the volunteer information that parents provided on their student's audition forms. We know volunteering is a big idea for some folks, but we hope that with the many different types of volunteer opportunities that we have that there is at least one area that you can find the time to help out.  (If your availability has changed since auditions, please let us know at the parent meeting.)

    ldeally, we would like to find at least 2 parents to co-lead each area of production support --  one (1) McDrama veteran & one (1) Parker Drama veteran. This will help us to bring together the best ideas from both programs to get the most out of our limited volunteer time.

    We will discuss the areas of support we need at the Parent Meeting, but if you have a particular team you would be willing to help lead, please reach out to the McDrama Production Coordinators (mccarthydramaclub@gmail.com) now, so they can be sure to loop you into the planning process, ASAP.

  • PERFORMANCE CHAPERONE

    In additon to production support, we are asking that each cast family commit at least one (1) adult volunteer to help in the Lobby or Backstage during at least one (1) performance of our show. This small effort by each family will allow all parent volunteers to watch their child in at least one live performance.

  • POST-PERFORMANCE ASSISTANCE

    While we put a lot of focus on getting through the show performances, the McDrama Musical production doesn't end when the curtain goes down on the last night of the show.

    After the show closes, we need to dismantle and clean up the stage &  production areas to make way for other productions to use the McCarthy stage -- AKA "Strike the Set". This requires a significant amount of manual labor and organization to complete.

    ALL CAST & CREW MUST ATTEND STRIKE for at least 1 hour from 10AM to 2PM . We will also need Adult assistance with supervising and attending to large/heavy set pieces. STRIKE DATE WILL BE SET in coordination with Parker Middle School.

    If you have a conflict or concerns about attending Strike, please email Ms. Richardson (richardsonj@chelmsford.k12.ma.us) .

  • Parent Acknowledgement

    By signing here, I agree that I have reviewed the information provided above and the expectations outlined for me and my student. I have ensured that my child understands these expectations and I agree that my child may participate in this production. I understand that if my child fails to meet expectations, or to heed warnings from the Directors that they may be removed from the production.

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