A Shake Up For Shakespeare: In the absence of former director Susan Gubsch, Dundas takes up a new role

The retirement of well-beloved Spanish Teacher and drama director Susan Gubsch last school year raises questions for the drama department in the quick approach of the fall play, Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Gubsch led the drama department at CHS for 21 years, directing over 42 productions. Her departure from the play has left big shoes to fill, but, luckily, her former assistant director and CHS drama teacher Brady Dundas has stepped up to the job. 

Dundas first got involved with drama at CHS in 2010 when Mrs. Gubsch “recruited” him. They had previously known each other from Dundas’s involvement in Leavenworth Summer Theater. At the time, he had started a career doing industrial hardware sales but he missed drama. 

“… I was missing that little extra theater fix during the year.” He said. “She [Gubsch] said ‘Hey I could really use another choreographer, why don’t you come and volunteer some time, and we’d love to have you work with the program.’” 

At first he was unsure if teaching was right for him, but quickly realized he loved it. For about five years he worked as a volunteer for the drama productions. He took some time off to build his family, still helping with plays and musicals sprinkled throughout. 

“… Literally would go teach dance workshops and do rehearsals with my kids in a little backpack attached to my back when they were like, you know, toddlers. Those are special memories.” Dundas says, recalling his time volunteering with drama. 

After realizing that he was looking forward to rehearsals every night he knew he needed to make a change. He quit his sales job and went back to school to be a teacher. He taught for four years in Chelan, still volunteering at CHS when he could. When he was offered a job here about 2 years ago as Mrs. Gubsch’s assistant director, he was overjoyed.

When asked what his and her relationship was like when they were working together, he said “She and I worked very well together, she just has this wealth of experience and she had a very specific system and a way she liked to do things.” 

According to Mr. Dundas, he and Mrs. Gubsch worked extremely well together. He said, “There’s no such thing as a perfect pair in the theater world in my opinion, but we’re pretty close.” He explained how their different skills and talents complemented each other and how the audition process has made him see what he needs to improve on as a director and what she helps him do.

“This is my first show kind of without her. She’s still with us in a mentor capacity which is amazing. I’m so glad that she’s still around and helping me with my vision.” Dundas says, explaining how she is present as a “wise, sage figure” to help him with the parts of directing that he didn’t get to experience and run as an assistant director. 

“I mean there’s always like that ‘Boy am I going to be able to keep things at the level she had them at’, right?” Dundas says, stating his worries about directing without Gubsch. “There’s always that healthy like, ‘okay, Mrs. Gubsch built this amazing program. How do I keep that going?’. . . But I feel like that’s a very healthy thing, right? It’s so important to rely on those who came before us, who laid those foundations for us.” 

He’s looking forward to having more creative freedom and is excited to be working with Mrs. Tankersley, whom he’s worked with for a couple years outside of drama. 

“I’m really excited just to play around with just some new ideas and things that Cashmere hasn’t necessarily done before.” Dundas says, specifically with Shakespeare. He is a self-proclaimed “Shakespeare fanatic” and is looking forward to pushing the actors into something new, something he believes is misunderstood and scares a lot of people. 

When asked about his plan for working with Mrs. Tankersley, he says that because Gubsch left such a good foundation for him, he’s going to jump in where she left off.

“She’s literally handed me the keys to the Rolls Royce and I just get to jump in, fire it up, and go ‘Ooh’ when the engine starts ‘Here we go!’ and take it for a drive.” Dundas said. 

“Her thumbprint is going to be on any production I ever do, just because she was such a dear friend and mentor. I really hope it’s not that different, to be honest, . . . there’s a really good thing going on here,” Dundas says.

Makenna Fritz, a junior who is going into her fifth production at CHS, all with Mrs. Gubsch, said “She’s a fantastic director. She loves all of us and she’s super fair and kind and leads well”.

When asked about her feelings about Gubsch leaving, Fritz said, “We’re definitely going to miss her a lot. I’m really excited to see Mr. Dundas step up.”

Even while feeling melancholy, the actors are still looking forward to the play. Fritz said, “…This is a really funny play and I think it’s going to be really exciting to see everyone show that side of their abilities.” 

It is clear that Mrs. Gubsch will be missed at CHS, but, as they say in the show biz, the show must go on! The new assistant director for the fall play this year is Mrs. Tankersley, who’s been at CHS for 4 years. Tankersley’s experience in drama first came as a drama parent, watching and supporting her son. Outside of volunteering to help with her son’s productions, this is her first time being this involved with the drama department. 

“I would say my worry is … the fact that I’m still learning . . . but I’m excited to work with the kids, Mr. Dundas. Mrs. Gubsch is still helping which I love. Just learning from them, learning from the kids too.” Mrs. Tankersley said when talking about what she was excited about. “Seeing it unfold, like from the beginning to the end. As a parent you see little glimpses and then, you know, they have the opening night for parents to come, so you get to see that, and when I was volunteering I would take pictures, so I got to see little bits.”

When asked about how big of a commitment she thought the play was going to be, she said, “It’s going to be time consuming, but Mrs. Gubsch is guiding us through this, so, you know, she’s had years of timelines ‘Okay, this is what we need to stay on track’ so we’re set up pretty good that way.”

Mrs. Tankersley is looking forward to being assistant director next year as well. “Until they’re done with me. They’re stuck with me,” she joked, speaking of how long she wants to stay involved as an assistant director. “I’m thankful to be able to have this experience. I’m glad that they chose me.”

The excitement for the drama department and the upcoming play is palpable, as well as the love and nostalgia for Mrs. Gubsch and all the great work she did at CHS, not just as a director, but as a teacher, mentor, and friend. Drama lovers can rest in peace knowing that the well-loved CHS productions will be safe in the hands of Mr. Dundas and Mrs. Tankersley.