High-school drama departments often are known for being creative—although not necessarily their hiring methods. But Providence High School, a Catholic institution in Burbank, California, recently attracted attention from the Los Angeles Times after it chose to hire two professional actors, rather than educators, to steer its struggling drama department.

A decline in enrollment meant the school couldn’t afford to fill the openings for a drama teacher and a choir teacher at the school. So, when faced with the seeming decision between cutting back the drama department or finding a way to pay two, full-time salaries (ranging from $50,000 to $55,000 a year, plus benefits) the school chose to do neither. It now contracts with Jeremy Kent Jackson (pictured right) and Dominic Catrambone, actors and co-owners of DiscoveryOnstage, a youth theater education program, for $25,000 a year.

The students, school administrators and actors are happy with the results—a strong, vibrant drama program worthy of the spotlight.

Kerry Weber

Kerry Weber joined the staff of America in October 2009. Her writing and multimedia work have since earned several awards from the Catholic Press Association, and in 2013 she reported from Rwanda as a recipient of Catholic Relief Services' Egan Journalism Fellowship. Kerry is the author of Mercy in the City: How to Feed the Hungry, Give Drink to the Thirsty, Visit the Imprisoned, and Keep Your Day Job (Loyola Press) and Keeping the Faith: Prayers for College Students (Twenty-Third Publications). A graduate of Providence College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she has previously worked as an editor for Catholic Digest, a local reporter, a diocesan television producer, and as a special-education teacher on the Navajo reservation in Arizona.