Sedona-Oak Creek School District had 15 teaching vacancies to fill after the 2017-18 school year and Superintendent Dennis Dearden decided an improved process would be necessary to fill them.

“Traditionally, this district has started their recruiting process late. They didn’t do their budget until later, so you couldn’t offer contracts. And it’s June, July and by then you can’t attract the very best,” Dearden said.  “We started March 2, and we had all of our administrators involved and all of us sat through 75-plus interviews to get the very best that we could.” 
Near the top of the list of teaching positions was the theater arts opening, which was part-time last year, but funded full-time this year. The Sedona Performing Arts Center seats 750 guests in a two-tiered auditorium with 5,300 square feet of glass-enclosed lobby space. 

“Why would we not want to have a showcase in there doing plays for the community?” Dearden asked. 
To fill the position of theater arts instructor, SOCSD’s search was for someone with expe­rience in performing arts. Maxwell Peters carried a strong resume, with expe­rience working for Disney and Hollywood casting agencies, along with teaching experience in Los Angeles, but was out of work. 
“I was in a little bit of a crunch mode as for figuring out what I was going to do,” Peters said. 

A recommen­dation came from a local source.   “He [Peters] came with very high creden­tials Mingus [Union High School] theater arts teacher James Ball … he’s won some awards for his program … even he recom­mended Maxwell Peters.” Dearden said. 

“I had a couple of offers but seeing that whole administrative team … take time to sit down and really get to know a candi­date is something I didn’t see at any other place I was interviewing,” Peters said. “It speaks volumes to the kind of people they are. The whole team, they just made me feel welcome from the very beginning. 
“In education, often times, there’s so many things that get in the way, but this just felt right.” 

Peters is no stranger to inter­views. He started right out of college working for Disney. 
“I thought I was living the dream, getting to meet all these people that I had watched and working with all the directors and producers who worked on shows I watched when I was a kid,” Peters said. 
He worked his way up the ladder but he said the experience seemed empty. 
“Working in the enter­tainment industry, I real­ized something wasn’t clicking fully — I didn’t feel fulfilled by the work I was doing because I didn’t know at the end of the day, will this stand the test of time?” Peters asked. 

His transition to educa­tion changed his life. 
“I saw an ad for a teaching position through this organization called the Miracle Project — started volunteering there teaching musical theater classes for kids with autism and other special needs. That was the first time I realized — that’s what I was supposed to be doing.” Peters said. 
With experience in hectic Hollywood and teaching in the giant Los Angeles Unified School District, Maxwell is happy with the peaceful solitude of Sedona. 
“This is a place that, you come and you immediately feel at ease. Everyone is so welcoming and so appreciative of what we are trying to do here at the high school,” Peters said. 

He has big plans for the the Theater Arts program at Sedona Red Rock High School. 
“Over the past few years they were doing two shows a year,” Peters said. “This year we’re doing five.” 
Peters is teaching five hours a day, with classes in theater appreciation, three levels of acting classes, a section of computer coding and a new class in filmmaking. 
On stage a production of “Puffs,” a new take on a Harry Potter-style script, a Christmas performance of “Romeo and Juliet,” and in the spring, exclusive access from his Disney connections, for produc­tion of “Frozen Jr.” 

“We will be one of the first schools to get the rights to perform the Disney version, which is crushing it on Broadway, and I have a few connections in that show, so we will have some people from the Broadway cast Skype in and tell them about their experiences and inform them about those performances,” Peters said. 
The SPAC is perhaps Peters’ greatest resource, but he took the job before he had had a chance to see it. 

“I knew there was something special about this place from seeing the pictures, but the pictures don’t do this place justice,” Peters said. “That’s what’s exciting about heading into this year and being able to have this beautiful space. The opportunity is limit­less here.” 
 limit­less here.” 

Don Eicher can be reached at 282-7795 ext 126 or by email at deicher@larsonnewspapers.com