Lakota Theater: Three Decades, Two Stages & One Giant Legacy

Nearly three decades after their solo debuts as independent high school theater programs, Lakota East and Lakota West have staged a combined 150-plus mainstage productions. In this time, both programs have earned high quality reputations, catapulting countless graduates into careers in the performing arts and weaving a vast network of talent and lifelong connections that continue to pour into today’s theater students. 

Distinctly separate and each with their own identity, the programs have grown up together, leaning on each other, sharing resources and celebrating each other’s successes. And with Lakota West’s sole director of 29 years on the brink of retirement and Lakota East’s energetic new leader of three years bringing his own vision to life, the future of both programs waits with anticipation in the wings. 

“It’s been an amazing ride and while I know it’s not going to look exactly the same - and it shouldn’t - the show will go on,” said Lakota West theater director Kim Eldridge.  

Setting the Stage

Eldridge remembers the job offer coming during intermission of Grease at Princeton High School, where she spent the first three years of her teaching career. It was the summer before the historic split of Lakota High School and West's first principal was in need of a director. 

When Eldridge first stepped into the unfinished auditorium at the new Lakota West High School that summer of 1997, she wore a hard hat. The space was nothing but cement—no seating, no wood floor, and certainly none of the tools, costumes or props that now fill every crevice of the backstage area. 

Eldridge inherited West’s program near the start of her career just as Lakota High School’s longtime director continued on to Lakota East to finish out his career - irony at its finest, given the same dichotomy between today’s East and West theater programs. Eldridge was just 24 years old, just three years into teaching, and suddenly responsible for building a full-scale high school theater program, practically from scratch.

“I just came in and did the work,” Eldridge said simply – even though there was nothing simple about it. She recalls the theater itself not being completed until that October with the first show taking the stage in November. To top it off, there was no power in the pit either. So, she and her students did what theater professionals do best. “We adapted,” she said. 

Eldridge remembers all the time she invested early on in adapting the curriculum for the two drama classes offered at the time. She rewrote it to fit her own teaching style. Realizing the power and potential of her own professional network, she also called on her “theater friends” during those first few months and years – an approach that would ultimately define Lakota West’s theater program as it is known today. 

“I needed a set builder, a choreographer, a tech director, all the things,” she said, emphasizing that ticket sales alone demanded additional help. In those days, tickets required in-person sales and all paper distribution. “I’m just one person and I quickly realized I can’t do this alone.”

The greater challenge though wasn’t the physical space or the curriculum. It was creating a home. “Theater kids can be quirky. I include myself in that category,” Eldridge laughs. “Finding a space to be creative makes you vulnerable. And if you don’t fit in anywhere else, we have a spot for you in the theater.” 

2026 Spring Musicals
Lakota East	Alice by Heart April 17-18 & April 24 @ 7:00 p.m. April 25 @2:00 p.m. More Show Information Purchase Tickets
Lakota West	Les Miserables April 10-11 & April 17-18 @ 7:00 p.m. April 12 & April 19 @ 2:00 p.m. More Show Information Purchase Tickets

Building a Community and a Reputation

It’s easy in any sport or activity to feel this sense of competition. But I try to have a community that is very supportive of each other and close,” echoed Lakota East theater director Casey Johnson, already a trailblazer for the program during his first three years. 

This outlook is precisely why Johnson dedicates the beginning of every rehearsal to a community building activity and pairs underclassmen up with upperclassmen for every show so they instantly have a “go-to person.” It’s also why he relishes the moments when students take an introductory theater class simply because it fits in their schedule, only to discover a new passion and a group of people where they feel comfortable. 

That sense of belonging and community has become a defining feature of both theater programs over the years. It’s a sentiment echoed by generations of alumni, too.

“West Theatre was my home away from home during my high school years,” said Class of 2006 graduate Lauren Linger (Sprague), who made her Broadway debut in My Fair Lady and is now an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music (CCM) “The second I stepped foot into the theater, I was immediately at ease,” Linger said. “Kim does such an amazing job of creating a team/family environment where we all cared so deeply about each other.”  

Eldridge became her mentor—coaching her through the Overture Awards, college auditions and even helping her secure a spot in the national high school cast of Ragtime, School Edition. Years later, Eldridge sat in the audience as Linger stepped on to the stage at Lincoln Center. “That was an amazing moment,” Eldridge says. “Before the curtain even opened, a few tears were shed.” She also fondly remembers the invitation backstage, where she was introduced by Linger to all of her friends and colleagues as “the person who taught me everything I know.” 

“I am so thankful that I had someone in my court like Kim at that young age that believed in me, encouraged me to follow my gut as a performer and gave me opportunities to practice the craft in such a remarkable environment,” Linger said. 

Lakota East Class of 2020 graduate Alex Pletikapich, who also landed a spot on a national Broadway tour of The Addams Family (a show he did at Lakota East too! - pictured left), credits his own success with the theater community that surrounded him at East. In fact, he says his career officially launched at his first introduction to choir in junior high school. “I don’t know where I’d be if I hadn’t landed in the seventh grade choir at Hopewell Junior with Jennifer Akers,” he said. 

Entering high school, he found “his people” in the East theater program. “There are so many friendships that have lasted until now,” he said. “When you spend that much time and sometimes have to do these crazy funny scenes together, there’s an instant connection.” 

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Over the years, community-building has extended across Lakota school lines, too. Like a microcosm of the theater industry where ideas, props, costumes, sets and even people are swapped on the regular, both high schools and their four junior school feeders are constantly sharing resources. But beyond that, they also simply support one another. 

Eldridge and Johnson have begun bringing their students together for each other’s final dress rehearsals, sharing questions, ideas and encouragement. Both high school directors also attend the junior school performances regularly too. “We are fortunate that our feeder schools have such strong programs,” says Eldridge, who has worked hard to expose students to performing arts as young as possible, staging their productions in Lakota’s elementary schools and even hosting a summer theater camp. “That helps us so much and creates an enthusiasm that students carry on to the high school level.” 

Johnson is quick to credit Eldridge for her mentorship and generosity since stepping into his role at East: “Kim has been a great resource for me in how to build a program. She’s been really insightful and a great coach.” 

Both also point to strong working relationships with their counterparts in choir and band, as well as a supportive administrative team, for their success so far. “I know some directors don’t have that,” Eldridge acknowledges. “I count myself lucky for that.” 

Professional-Grade Programs

That same spirit of collaboration extends beyond colleagues to a shared network of alumni, designers, choreographers and arts partners that have elevated the student experience, giving them direct access to professionals. 

“I am an extrovert. I love people and bringing people together,” said Eldridge, whose professional work in the Cincinnati theater community beyond her “day job” has yielded an extensive network of theater contacts. This includes being an assistant director for the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and completing her Masters in Directing through Roosevelt University's summer fast track program. This instantly widened her network to professionals across the country. 

“I lean on the people I meet to pour into our kids,” she says unapologetically. 

Over the years, Eldridge has invited into her classroom and shared with others at Lakota hundreds of guest choreographers, actors, directors, cinematographers, lighting technicians, set designers and the list goes on and on. Many of them also alumni, visitors have been known to do everything from run musical theater workshops and master classes to help juniors prepare for college auditions to teach students how to use a rigging system to “fly” on stage. (And yes, Eldridge has staged several shows that feature flying over the years!)

“The rigor and level of expertise that students are exposed to is absolutely what sets the program apart,” said Linger, who has returned to teach master classes and even perform alongside students during the program’s 25th anniversary concert. “She is a professional and has professional lighting designers, set designers and choreographers come in to work on the shows and the students work hand in hand and learn from real world professionals. That is unheard of in the high school setting.” 

Similarly, Pletikapich remembers his own interactions with professionals from the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, a partnership that continues to this day. Like Eldridge, Johnson connects his students with local mentors who are choreographers, costume designers and set designers. Lakota East students have the privilege of working alongside full-time professionals from Playhouse in the Park, the Children's Theatre of Cincinnati, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati and more. 

He appreciates seeing Johnson strengthen the alumni connections at Lakota East too. “This is so important, not to replicate an alum’s trajectory, but just to see the possibilities through people who went through the same program,” Pletikapich said. He is equally excited to see Johnson tackling more obscure works of musical theater like the upcoming spring musical, Alice by Heart.

“I was shocked to hear they are doing that show in high school. I studied it in college,” Pletikapich said. “It’s great to see him stretching students and not just defaulting to the classic shows. Students get a well-rounded experience that way.” 

Eldridge and Johnson agree that the depth of the curricular side of their work is what sets them apart from other high school theater programs. Students can now choose from five different courses spanning different acting levels and even technical theater experiences. This is paired with a variety of opportunities – inside and outside of class – to apply what they’ve learned on stage through one-act plays, student-directed performances and main stage dramas and musicals. 

“You can do acting exercises everyday and prepare a scene to perform for your class,” Eldridge says. “There’s definitely value in that, but unless they’re seeing it from page to stage, they’re not getting the full theater experience.” 

A Xavier-trained theater educator with deep experience in both performance and technical design, Johnson has embraced a philosophy centered on student ownership. Under his leadership, East students design and build major elements of each production—lighting, sets, props—often operating equipment many teens never get to touch.

“We really try to lean on students to bring a lot of the aspects of the production to life,” Johnson says. “There’s guidance and leadership, but we’re giving them the experience to design and build on their own. That means a lot of redoing because it wasn’t done right the first time, but that’s all part of the process.” 

He says that students who don’t make a cast list are immediately encouraged to join crew so they remain part of the community. “The most joy for me comes when something clicks,” Johnson says. “When they start making their own acting choices and bring ideas forward that make it into the production.”

Such an approach has helped launch countless students into artistic careers. Beyond Broadway, Lakota alumni have become Disney performers, opera singers, stage managers at Second City, lighting designers leading global teams, film cinematographers, directors and choreographers, for instance. Eldridge says she stays in touch with plenty more who are still chasing their dreams in the big cities. 

At the same time, she is equally proud of the students who have come across her stage and used their skills to prepare for jobs in law, education and the business world, for example. “I am helping you become storytellers,” Eldridge tells her students. “It’s not always preparing them for Broadway. The confidence and skills they learn here will carry them forward no matter where you go next.” 

Curtain Call: The Next Act

Across both schools, memorable productions make up the fabric of their long histories. The rhythm of their show selections is neither preset nor cyclical, each one staging productions that best fit the style and talent of their current group of students. “And sometimes we are just overdue for a kids show, so we go that direction,” says Eldridge, who loves the fact that many children’s first theater experience is at Lakota West. 

Eldridge remembers West’s “Beauty and the Beast” selling a record-breaking 5,000 tickets across eight performances (the last one was added last minute.) and Little Women, which showcased a powerhouse ensemble, four of whom are now professional performers. Both schools have balanced community hits like Mamma Mia and Frozen, for example, with deeper cuts in the musical-theater world with headlines like Hadestown and Macbeth, where they know their students can handle the more complex content and expand their artistic range.

After nearly 30 years, Eldridge is preparing for her final curtain call as director of the school's spring musical, Les Miserables. But it will not be her last act in theater. “My blood is red and black,” says the Lakota alum. “I’ve had opportunities to go to many other schools. I never went because Lakota has always been my home.” In retirement, she looks forward to more time with her young children - and to founding a children’s theater in West Chester and Liberty townships. “With my 32 years, I have a few things to offer,” she says with a smile.

As Johnson continues shaping his vision at East and Eldridge prepares to pass the torch at West, the Lakota theater legacy stands strong. It’s built from sawdust and stage lights, yes—but also from the courage of first-time performers, the grit of their leaders, the wisdom of mentors and the generations of alumni who still show up.

And under all of it, the enduring truth holds: There will always be a spot for you in the theater. The show will go on.