All good teachers possess a metaphor, a way of describing the subject that’s dear to them.
Steven Burrichter often has used a diamond.
When directing students in Sandburg Middle School’s drama department, Burrichter compares the hours of rehearsal, the days leading up to the production, to the work of a jeweler.
“As you polish it, (a diamond) gets brighter and brighter. As it changes, the more it catches the light,” he said. “Off and on, I’ve had students ask, ‘Where are we in the diamond?’ As we block it off and work on our lines and the music, we continue to make it more beautiful.”
The same metaphor might apply to the drama department itself.
Over the last three decades, Burrichter has taken Sandburg Drama from a handful of kids to a club that employs dozens of students, parents and faculty members. Today, two casts of students perform large-scale productions such as “Annie” and “The Wizard of Oz.”
“It was something I felt we should have,” said Burrichter, who ran the department’s first few productions out of his own pocket. “We had this beautiful auditorium, and it seemed like a good thing to start.”
After a 37-year career with Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205, the 58-year-old English teacher plans to retire this spring. Sandburg’s production of “The Sound of Music” this weekend will be Burrichter’s last.
“I will miss it very much,” he said. “I love working with students, watching them learn and make their part come alive and feel comfortable in front of an audience. That’s a very important thing because the rest of their lives they will have the opportunity to be in front of people.”
Since creating the club in 1973, Burrichter’s influence on students has run deep. One of them went on to perform on Broadway in New York; another played the starring role in “Phantom of the Opera” in Chicago; a third works in Hollywood.
“It started out with a group of interested students and me,” he said. “As time went on, other adults (began to volunteer) and we expanded into musicals. Ten to 15 years ago, we began double casting.”
To understand the depth of the drama department’s roots, take a look at Carmine Grisolia. While playing the Cowardly Lion in “The Wizard of Oz” more than 20 years ago, the Elmhurst resident met his future wife, Jennifer.
Today Grisolia is an ensemble member of the Strawdog Theatre Company, a storefront theater in Chicago. His daughter, Cecilia, has a role in Sandburg’s production of “The Sound of Music,” which premiered March 1.
“He had such a deep, booming voice,” Grisolia recalled. “Students had a great deal of respect for him. It was such a long time ago, but I remember he always seemed very stern but very gentle. That was key for him, a mix of strength and gentility, and it got him great results.”
Another key was choosing popular shows that upheld good values, Burrichter said.
“As a Christian, I’ve always tried to choose shows that support family values and show people what should be done. Anybody can relate to that. And the parents have appreciated that,” he said.
A father of three and part-time instructor at Elmhurst College, Burrichter said he’s being tugged in a new direction, although he’s not sure where it will lead.
“I feel the Lord saying it’s time to try something new and so I’m going on. I really have to wait and see what he provides.
“The point is,” Burrichter added, “Sandburg Drama is not me. It’s the students and the parents and, Lord willing, it will go on after I’m gone. I just happened to be the one that started it. The students are the important part.”
When he leaves, Burrichter will bestow on Sandburg Drama his rights to a version of “A Christmas Carol,” which he adapted into a musical a number of years ago. His greater gifts are not so tangible.
“It’ll be a great loss,” Grisolia said. “His leadership will be a great loss, but he’s done a great job of preparing the younger teachers to sort of take up the reins. I think his legacy will be that he nearly single-handedly built the program and anything going forward will rest on his enormously broad shoulders.”