Burlington High School students are returning to the stage this month to perform their first musical in a brand-new, state-of-the-art auditorium.
The BHS Drama Club is staging a production of Guys and Dolls, which runs from November 19 through 21, according to Seven Days. This performance marks a significant milestone for a program that has maintained a 30-year legacy despite several years of intense instability and shifting environments.
For the students and staff, this moment follows a period of profound disruption. The school community has dealt with a series of logistical and environmental crises that fundamentally altered the high school experience over the last six years. Seven Days reported that the journey began in 2020, when the pandemic forced a sudden shift to remote learning.
The challenges deepened that fall when the New North End campus closed due to PCB contamination. This forced the school into a temporary, unconventional home: a former Macy’s department store located downtown. The “high-school-in-a-mall” era became a viral story, but for the students living it, the reality was far less glamorous. The windowless, noisy environment of the downtown space proved difficult for many to adapt to.
The School Moves into Its Permanent $204 Million Facility
This August, the school finally moved into its permanent, $204 million facility. The 256,000-square-foot building sits on the site of the old high school, offering a level of infrastructure that was previously unavailable to the drama program. This transition comes at a critical time for the club, which faced dwindling participation and leadership changes during the years spent in the mall.
Leading the program’s revitalization is BHS alumnus Peter Bowley. Bowley, who served as the new drama director, has a long history with the school; he was famously featured in a 2013 “Stuck in Vermont” video during his time as a student. His return to the program aims to restore the momentum the club held prior to the campus disruptions.
The transition from the cramped quarters of a retail space to a professional-grade auditorium represents more than just an upgrade in acoustics. It is a symbolic reclamation of the school’s cultural identity. After years of being displaced, the ability to host a large-scale musical production serves as a marker of stability for the student body.
The production’s significance was highlighted in a recent episode of the video series “Stuck in Vermont.” In that episode, Seven Days senior multimedia producer Eva Sollberger toured the new campus and observed a rehearsal of the upcoming show. The series, which has been a staple of Vermont storytelling since 2007, captured the energy of the students as they inhabit their new creative home.
The upcoming run of Guys and Dolls is scheduled for November 19 through 21.
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