Port Townsend High School’s production of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” is steeped in nostalgia. Its director, Jennifer Nielsen, herself acted in the play when she was younger, playing Rosalind. Now, her youngest daughter, Cece, performs in that role. The show also marks Nielsen’s 30th, and last, production at the high school.

“Make sure to take care of yourself this weekend.”

Jennifer Nielsen is speaking to a group of high students. It’s late on a Friday afternoon, and she’s wrapping up a rehearsal of “As You Like It” a week before opening night.

As she talks to the students about some technical things – such as issues with costume changes – and answers last-minute questions ahead of pre-production tech week, she alights again and again on the importance of taking care of oneself in the “exciting but also exhausting” days leading up to opening night.

For the past 15 years, Nielsen has looked after numerous high school students as Port Townsend High School drama director. She has provided a space for them to explore their talent and reach their full potential, and has been both mentor and friend.

“She was always there to joke with or to build you up,” recalled Emily Huntingford, a 2013 graduate of Port Townsend High School.

Now, Nielsen is ready to retire from the program. She has directed every show on her to-do list – 30 shows in all – and, with her youngest daughter, Cece, going off to college, this year seemed the right moment to take a last bow.

“I’m ready for a new adventure,” Nielsen said. “When I think back over the years of directing and the students who I’ve worked with, I am happy and proud. Happy that I got to know them and proud that I had a part in helping them discover their potential.”

TRUST

Students and colleagues of Nielsen said she put incredible trust in her students.

“That trust has carried me through a lot,” Huntingford said. “We were all treated as adults and equals. Our ideas and thoughts mattered, and we had a direct hand in how the shows turned out.”

Ian Coates, who graduated in 2017 and was supported by Nielsen when he both wrote and directed his own play last year, also felt that trust in his abilities.

“(She) really trusted all the students,” he said. “She gave us opportunities for acting, directing, stage managing and everything else involved with theater, knowing that we’d all do a good job.”

Her trust in students’ abilities was recognized by the adults who worked with Nielsen, too.

“She has a lot of trust,” said Angela Agnew, a parent who has been on Nielsen’s team as the hair and makeup designer since 2003. “(She was) able to trust them to get it done.”

Trusting in her students is what allows Nielsen to step back on opening night.

“At some point, you give the show to them,” she said. “They run it themselves, and boy, what independence, what a confidence booster that is for the kids. They take ownership.”

FROM FRESHMEN TO SENIORS

Nielsen’s first PTHS play was “Grease.” Since then, she has watched many a freshman join the theater and then leave four years later.

“The most rewarding part is seeing students go from shy, unsure freshmen to confident, self-assured seniors,” she said. “By the time they get to be juniors and seniors, they’re leading the other kids.”

In 2016-17, Nielsen had a whole crew of talented seniors who graduated all at once to pursue drama in college and elsewhere. “(Jennifer) has helped to create a whole new generation of actors,” Coates said.

Many of those have come out to help with productions.

This year, she has only one senior, Cece, who is leaving to go to Western Washington University in the fall.

“She’s grown up in this theater,” Nielsen said, recalling a photo she has of her daughter at age 5, sweeping the floor backstage so she wouldn’t get in the way.

Cece was very much one of those “shy, unsure” students. “I didn’t jump right into it,” Cece said.

Her first official theater assignment was operating the follow spot (or spotlight) during a production.

“And then the follow spot broke, so I did nothing,” she said, laughing.

Sometime later, she acted in a small part in “West Side Story.”

“I had a really small part with one line, but it was really fun,” she said. “And then I was just – less afraid.”

Now, she’s playing the lead of Rosalind in “As You Like It,” a role her mother played in college.

“It’s really fun to see her in that part,” Nielsen said.

A TEAM

Nielsen expressed gratitude for the support she’s received from the community and especially from the team of adults that she’s worked with over the past 15 years, including Agnew, Jim Guthrie and Steve Arbuckle.

“I feel really fortunate,” she said.

Guthrie worked with students to build sets for every play.

“She made drama fun; she made the plays fun, and she made high-quality productions,” he said, reflecting on what Nielsen brought to the theater. “She put people in the right place to succeed. (Jennifer) poured so much of herself into the drama department ... I’m in awe.”

Agnew has been working with Nielsen since her first show.

“She’s like, one of my best friends,” she said. “I loved her goals for the kids and what she was teaching them ... she gives them a lot of freedom on stage to create their character.”

Agnew noted Nielsen has chosen many challenging plays over the years, for instance, the musical “Bat Boy.”

“Sometimes, I do look at her and I’m like, really? We’re going to do this? ... And we do it, and it’s wonderful,” Agnew said. “It’s been 15 years of absolute fun working with her.”

NO DRAMA CLASS

While her daughter’s departure for college presented an opportune time for Nielsen to step back, her decision to leave the drama department also was influenced by the continued lack of arts and theater programs at the high school.

Unlike in the past, there no longer is a full, thriving year-round program to support and lead up to the biannual plays.

“In many ways, the district and my principals here have been very supportive of my work,” she said, “but there’s no drama class anymore, there’s no choir class, there’s no theater tech class, there’s no shop for us to build the sets – so we build them right on stage here.”

The classes, Nielsen said, were all cut in 2008, and though there were attempts made in 2010 to bring the drama class back, the mission was unsuccessful. The middle school drama program was also cut.

“They have so many choices for the students in science and technology, and then we don’t have hardly anything in the arts,” she said. “Oftentimes they’re not caught early and given the bug for theater ... it really diminished the number of students who participated in theater.”

She said she does feel optimistic about the department’s future in terms of continuing the biannual productions under a new director, though she doesn’t see the classes returning anytime soon.

“I’m just ready to let that go and let someone else take it up,” she said.

LIFE-CHANGING SKILLS

Teamwork, confidence and leadership are some of the skills the theater nurtures, Nielsen said.

“Even if the kids don’t go on to do theater ever again, they have gained such experience of life-changing skills that you cannot get in technology and science and math,” she said.

Noah Morningstar, a 2016 graduate who has gone on to work in technical theater, looked back on his experience working with Nielsen in high school. “I really respect the effort Jennifer put into creating a community where students felt they could explore new things,” he said. “I gained a tremendous amount of self-confidence from theater,” said Morningstar.

Huntingford, who now works in theater in Seattle and has appeared in multiple shows at Key City Public Theatre, reflected, “While working with (Nielsen), I learned to trust my instincts and make brave choices – in life and on the stage.”

Cece Nielsen is planning to study math and science in college, on her way to becoming an astronaut. But, she said, she plans on continuing in the theater, too, maybe in stage management. She explained being in theater has helped her observe and better understand the people around her, both on and off the stage. “I think (theater) leads to more empathy,” she said.

Guthrie added, “I think I speak for many in saying we all appreciated the opportunity to work with Jennifer – students and staff alike ... being part of something greater than ourselves is a strong need for humans.”