Mr. Gillespie, take your bow

STERLING HEIGHTS — For yearly 25 years, Jonathan Gillespie brought his love for the theater to students enrolled in the Warren Consolidated Schools Performing Arts Program at Sterling Heights High School.

In honor of his years with WCSPA, school officials recently renamed the program’s “Little Theatre” to the Jonathan Gillespie Studio Theatre. A ceremony was held Jan. 31 with Gillespie and alumni in attendance.

“Jonathan Gillespie was the heartbeat of the WCSPA program,” Superintendent John Bernia said in a prepared statement. “Mr. Gillespie always put his students and the program first. He continuously shared his passion for education and the theater with all the students whose lives he touched throughout the years.”

In an email from current WCSPA Artistic Director Erik Hart, the newly named Jonathan Gillespie Studio Theatre will continue to be used as a training theater for WCSPA students.

“It is primarily used as a full-time classroom to teach acting and design but is also used to present smaller scale shows to the public as well,” Hart said via email. “The theater seating was expanded in 2021 from 75 seats to 175 seats to accommodate the growth of the WCSPA program.”

According to a district press release, Gillespie graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in English and theater. In 1978 he became the artistic director of the Dillard School of Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he redeveloped the program, curriculum, and directed more than 50 productions.

In 1987, he returned to Michigan where he was educational outreach coordinator at the Boarshead Michigan Public Theatre. Gillespie became the WCSPA artistic director 1995. He retired in 2019. In 2008, Gillespie was inducted into the National Educational Theatre Association Hall of Fame.

Following the renaming ceremony, WCSPA students presented Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express” in the high school’s Performing Arts Center, an auditorium that has a capacity of 775 people. A second performance was held Feb. 1.

All WCSPA classes are offered as part of the regular high school curriculum and are open to students from all three district high schools: Sterling Heights, Warren Mott and Cousino, and school of choice students.

The Performing Arts Center is a shared theater that is used for large performances by the WCSPA program in addition to many other district events including band performances, guest speakers, large meetings, and community gatherings. The PAC is also rented year-round to outside groups for various entertainment events.