GREENFIELD — Greenfield-Central High School’s new auditorium is set to be complete in October, and the man hired to run it has big plans for the state-of-the-art venue.
Jeffrey Dalstrom previously served six and a half years as Auditorium Director & Technical Director at the Warren Performing Arts Center, followed by six years as Director of Theatre & Drama at Warren Central High School.
He has spent the past three years working for IndyFringe, a downtown Indianapolis performing arts venue which also hosts the IndyFringe Festival each year.
Dalstrom served as associate director of IndyFringe from 2021-2023, and has since served as director of programming and operations for the festival, which averages more than 500 artists, 300 performances and 70 productions each year.
His skill set and experience are exactly what school officials were looking for when it came to replacing the high school’s outgoing drama teacher with someone who could not only teach theater and direct plays, but turn the auditorium as a community-wide public arts venue.
“We think (Dalstrom) is the full package,” said Greenfield-Central’s superintendent, Harold Olin. “We’re pretty excited to have him.”
Dalstrom earned a bachelor’s of arts in theater education and theater management from the University of Indianapolis in 2008.
As a student, he shared the stage in a couple shows with famed actor Adam Driver, who attended the university for a year before transferring to Juilliard.
“He was absolutely brilliant to work with,” said Dalstrom, who himself made it into the top 16 in a national acting scholarship competition his senior year.
Dalstrom is now set to take over the reins at Greenfield-Central’s drama department June 3, when he will oversee the completion of the auditorium and prepare for the coming school year.
In his new role, he will teach two theater classes and lead the school’s drama productions and related after-school activities like improv competitions. The majority of his time, however, will be spent overseeing and programming the new auditorium.
“Having a grand venue like this for the community to enjoy art together, a venue that’s very accessible, that’s inviting,” he said this week.
“It’s so important for a close-knit community like Greenfield. This place will be able to bring large sections of the community together in one place to experience art, and I think that is so important.”
He first got a tour of the auditorium after the school board meeting in May and was blown away by what he saw.
“I could tell the school district put a lot of time, effort and thought into the creation of the venue. So many other schools just build what I would call a ‘cookie cutter’ auditorium that a school architect has put together that is barely usable. I am happy to say that is not the case here in Greenfield … This is masterfully designed,” he said. “All I kept thinking during the tour was, ‘This is going to be so great for the kids.’”
Both he and Olin agree that the students are the number one priority when it comes to the new theater.
“The first priority will always be our school programs,” said Olin, who said the theater will also accommodate community events and professional performances like Broadway shows.
While Dalstrom is excited by the prospect of opening the theater up to such productions, “The kiddos will always come first with every decision that involves the use of the auditorium and the opportunities we can offer to the students,” he said.
He looks forward to giving students the opportunity to work and perform in a state-of-the-art facility, and also hopes to give students the chance to work alongside professional artists.
When serving as director of the Warren Performing Arts Center, Dalstrom ran six to eight professional shows each year, including Ricky Skaggs, Straight No Chaser, Sara Evans, the Purdue Glee Club and The Glenn Miller Orchestra.
“The best part of that season was that our kiddos worked those shows and were our paid crew. In addition to their community performances, the artists partnered with us to provide workshops and masterclasses to students in the performing arts department,” he said.
“For example, one year at Warren we had Broadway actors working with our leads in the musical. Not many students get to say they got their solo from the musical workshopped by the actor that was playing the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. I’m hoping we move in a similar direction where we can provide professional shows for the community while also leveraging that to bring impactful experiences to our kids.”
Dalstrom is looking forward to making a big impact in the greater Greenfield community by hosting both local, regional and national shows.
He admits being excited about the potential for Greenfield-Central’s new auditorium before he even thought of applying to run it.
“When I saw the article announcing the auditorium project…I remember thinking ‘Oh wow, I wonder who they’re going to find to run that place,’” he said.
“Flash forward a few years to last March, and I saw this position posted by the school district. I was shocked when I read the job description because it read exactly like my resume … I knew it would be a perfect fit.”
