By Neil Gregory,
Staff Writer.
Santa Rosa High School’s ArtQuest program is one that draws in students from all over Sonoma County. Students and their parents choose Santa Rosa High School’s ArtQuest program for the various creative opportunities it supplies, allowing students to put their skills to use in a special learning environment. ArtQuest theater is one of those many programs.
Due to recent budget cuts, however, ArtQuest classes have been in danger of removal alongside their teachers, and theater is among the affected classes.
In the 2025-2026 school year, Jeremy Anglin led the ArtQuest theater class alongside Danielle Cain. In the years prior, Beth Craven, John Craven, Kate Vickie Carpenter and Sheri Lee Miller all taught ArtQuest theater. Today, only Cain remains with the responsibility of teaching all levels of theater at the same time, meaning she doesn’t get a prep period.
If budget cuts continue to affect SRHS, such as cutting ArtQuest theater’s block periods, Cain believes that, “We won’t be able to mount productions with a single period…the students will not get the rigorous training that has been a hallmark of the program.” As one could imagine, cuts continue to threaten the stability of theater, its ability to create new productions and its ability to teach students the acting skills they seek as they rely on block periods.
Cain is now tasked with juggling the teaching of all levels of theater, including grading triple the paperwork, adjusting her teaching to match the different levels of students and dealing with constant noise while managing the classroom.
But is it all bad? Absolutely not.
Instead, Cain feels that teaching all three levels is more streamlined with her grading more consistent than ever despite the increased workload. “Yes, it’s stressful, because I want to do it right,” said Cain.
Cain is excited to watch her students grow this year. In prior years, she taught level ones and had to watch them move on, but now she can stick with her students and establish a stronger relationship. According to Cain, “The things that make it harder to teach all the classes… are outweighed by all the positives of being surrounded by passionate, creative students.”
While Cain doesn’t believe one teacher should be teaching all of ArtQuest theater; she is undoubtedly ready for this year’s adventures with her excellent students.
According to senior Soul Whitaker, an ArtQuest theater student, “ArtQuest has a positive future with the students being so passionate… fighting for what they love,” remarking that Cain is doing an excellent job at teaching all three levels despite only having experience teaching level one.
Is new work and responsibility pressuring ArtQuest teachers like Cain? Will it prevent her and the passionate ArtQuest theater students from being efficient? Only time will tell what ArtQuest theater will eventually look like. Their dedicated and resilient teacher, alongside the creative students, will continue to progress towards a schedule that gives students their opportunity to learn and teachers their opportunity to prepare.
