One evening in 2004, a group of parents at Oakland Technical High School organized a turkey dinner fundraiser.
The nonprofit that ran an after school drama program needed funds to continue for another semester. The parents had a grander idea: What if they could rally enough support to revive the entire performing arts program at Tech?
“By the end of the night, we had a performing arts committee,” said Katrina Brekke-Miesner, a parent of two Oakland Tech alumni and a member of the committee.
What began as an effort to raise money for some part-time drama and music teachers became a 20-year endeavor to give the program modern facilities to perform in. The group of parent volunteers, which morphed over the years as their children graduated and moved on, ultimately raised $1.4 million to outfit the school’s auditorium with state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems and new seats, Brekke-Miesner said.
Last week, the school held a ceremony to commemorate the work and unveil the upgraded digs.
Some current members of the Oakland Tech PTSA auditorium committee on a recent work day include (from left) Amy Hood, parent and committee chair; Ayaan Sheft-Lin, student; Casey Fern, Tech drama teacher and sponsor for Tech Techies; Jeff Basch, alum parent, Katrina Brekke-Miesner, alum parent; Daniel Brekke, volunteer project manager and alum parent; and Pat Williams, alum parent. Credit: Paul Brekke-Miesner
New seating was the final upgrade for the Oakland Tech auditorium. Credit: Sean Brekke-Miesner
“I am so excited that we now have this special place that can be part of our community, that could be a place that we can all come back to,” Denise Saddler, Oakland Unified’s interim superintendent, said at the ceremony. “We have Oakland Tech on Broadway.”
The state takeover and austerity measures of the early 2000s in Oakland Unified School District decimated the performing arts program at Oakland Tech. At the time, Oakland Tech could only afford to pay a choir director by seeking grant funding, said Sheilagh Andujar, who served as the school’s principal from 2003 to 2013.
“We all thought, ‘This is ridiculous. Here we are in Oakland, such a center of creativity, and we don’t have a performing arts program,’” Andujar told The Oaklandside.
Over the next few years, the school community raised $225,000 to hire music, dance, and drama teachers, Brekke-Miesner said. But the performing arts program had been dormant for so long, the auditorium had become dilapidated and used more like a storage room than a stage. The list of needed repairs was long: new chairs, new paint, a carpet, modern lighting and sound systems, and a new projector and screen.
The Oakland Tech auditorium previously had rickety old wooden chairs, as seen in this image of a Prescott Circus Theatre performance in 2022. Credit: Amir Aziz/The Oaklandside
The parent group in 2006 formed an auditorium committee and reached out to professionals for their advice on acoustics and equipment, said Daniel Brekke, who served as the volunteer project manager for the auditorium upgrades.
Seats in the Oakland Tech auditorium are engraved with messages from alumni. Credit: Ashley McBride/The Oaklandside
The last piece of the project was purchasing new seats, which were installed this year. The committee sold seat plaques to help cover the costs, and today engravings appear on 259 of the auditorium’s 336 seats, honoring Tech alumni from as far back as 1934.
“Every time our team of people would build something, kids would come in with these wide eyes and say, ‘Thank you. Thanks for realizing that we need something more than what we have,’” said Brekke, whose children attended Oakland Tech between 2004 and 2014. “My message back to them was always that I’m here now, but in the future, it’s your job to give back as well, all in due time.”
The committee is still accepting seat sponsorships, and donations will support an auditorium maintenance fund.
With new facilities, the Oakland Tech community hopes the school’s performing arts program can grow and provide students with creative outlets — not only on the stage, but behind the scenes through the school’s Tech Techies program, which gives students experience in sound, lighting, costumes, and other technical arts. In January and February, Oakland Tech is inviting the community to a student production of Joseph Kesselring’s 1941 play, “Arsenic and Old Lace.”
“We have students with amazing talent and performing arts and fine arts is just as important as the academic program,” Andujar said. “It motivates the students to come to school and be part of something big.”
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