‘Magic happens’: Teachers from across Portland perform ‘Into the Woods’ in fundraiser musical

Theater and music teachers spend the school year focused on their students’ creative endeavors and passions.

But what about their own? When do they have the chance to sing, dance and act?

Oregon Educators Theatre gives Portland metro area performing arts teachers the opportunity to get on stage themselves.

This year, Oregon Educators Theatre presented “Into the Woods” Aug. 16-18 in the Lakeridge High School auditorium.

“Into the Woods” is a free fundraiser show. All donations go to Oregon Thespians, a statewide organization that supports student theater and performing arts.

“Oregon Educators Theatre started because we as teachers missed getting to perform ourselves since the school year is so busy. We have no time to audition for shows or work for local theaters because teaching and directing take up so much time. We wanted to have fun together, raise money for our students, and make some theater magic,” said Lake Oswego High School drama teacher Bobi Bergh. Bergh is playing Little Red in “Into the Woods.”

Co-founded by Bergh and Oregon City High School theater teacher Jorie Jones, Oregon Educators Theatre hopes to become an official nonprofit as it continues to grow and fundraise.

“Into the Woods” is Stephen Sondheim’s musical collage of classic fairy tale characters colliding in an enchanted forest. Unlike the bedtime stories, “Into the Woods” does not necessarily end happily ever after.

The teachers in the cast learned their lines and music with only two weeks of rehearsal. During performance weekend, the audience is full of their colleagues, families, friends and, of course, their students.

“It’s the coolest thing,” said Jorie Jones. “They (the students) get really, really excited about it. So much so that our first year we had this whole fake feud with them putting up posters with my character from the show all over the theater.”

The cast and crew are made of performing arts teachers from Lake Oswego High School, Lakeridge High School, Tualatin High School, Mountainside High School, Oregon City High School, Glencoe High School, Barlow High School, Gresham High School, Centennial High School, Whitford Middle School, Rex Putnam High School, David Douglas High School, Sandy High School and Portland Christian Jr./Sr. High School.

“We have learned that when you put 20 or more educators together to put a show on in two weeks, magic happens,” said Bergh. “We all work hard to contribute our specialty areas to the process and everything comes together. We also have bonded so much as colleagues and friends over the last three years doing this.”