As one player exits the stage of Benicia High School’s drama department, a new one emerges. Nathan Day is ready to demonstrate that the show must go on.

Day is the new head of Benicia High’s theater department, and he is taking the reins from Christine Mani, who recently left Benicia High to become a full-time theater instructor at Solano Community College. Some might view this as a difficult transition for students who had worked with Mani the previous year, but Day says they have been very welcoming.

“There’s been a lot of enthusiasm,” he said. “Any time you’re going to a new campus, it’s difficult but when you’re taking over a program where you’ve got kids involved in that program for all four years and they’ve been a part of it and had this great teacher in Ms. Mani, there’s always that nervousness of ‘What’s their reaction going to be?’ But it’s been great. There was excitement, not fear and dread.”

Day has been involved with theater since he was young and chose to become a drama instructor after being inspired by past teachers.

“Part of it was working with great teachers and great instructors and directors that I’d worked with, and knowing how much I’ve grown as an artist and a person from those experiences and going through those shows and those classes, and being able to be that same person for other people as well and helping them in their artistic journey,” he said.

Eventually, Day began running the theater department at Rodriguez High School in Fairfield. Among the plays he directed were “The Exonerated,” “Blithe Spirit,” “The Laramie Project,” “Steel Magnolias,” “No Exit” and “Rumors.”

“I try to pick shows that I think are not only going to be enjoyable for the students but shows that are trying to teach them something and challenge them so that they can learn while doing as well,” he said. “When I can find shows they can relate to, it just makes it that much more enjoyable and an important experience for them.”

Every year, Day’s shows and Mani’s shows would frequently win Arty Awards, which honor theater productions in Solano and Napa counties. Eventually, the two had talked about creating a community between the two departments where they would view each other’s work.

“The last couple years, we’ve really tried to start creating a community between our two programs, even though we were in different districts and on different campuses,” he said. “It’s something that we wanted to build, and even with her being at Solano now, we’re hoping we can continue to build that community and do things where we can get programs together and communicate with each other.”

This community-building allowed Benicia High drama students to become familiar with Day, which he says made them feel more comfortable about having a new instructor.

“They get to be taught and directed from a different viewpoint which is important,” he said.

This year, Day is teaching two Drama 1 classes, an advanced drama class, a musical theater class and drama productions, which deals with the technical side of theater. One of the things he tells his beginning drama students is to not worry about making mistakes, especially as students are coming in from different levels.

“It’s more about if you make a mistake, how do you work through it?,” he said. “Don’t let it hold you back. I’m more interested in seeing improvement than, say, the best acting that I’ve ever seen in my life. As long as they keep moving forward, that’s what I really care about.”

Additionally, Day will also be running the improv department, in which students perform unscripted comedy in the Performing Arts Building on select Fridays throughout the year. Next week, there will also be auditions for the fall play “12 Angry Men,” a court drama based on a 1954 teleplay by Reginald Rose which was famously adapted into a 1957 film by Sidney Lumet.

“It’s a classic, but it’s a really good one for the kids to be working on,” he said. “It deals with events that we’re still dealing with in this country, so it really gives them a chance to dig into the subject matter.”

Day is also excited about the spring musical, although he is still trying to obtain royalties to perform it, so he will not reveal it yet. Nonetheless, he believes it will be great show for them and is excited to direct a musical, something he was unable to do at his previous school.

“At Rodriguez, we weren’t at a place where we were able to do musicals yet,” he said. “Part of it had to do with space and budget, but at Benicia they’ve been in that arena for a while, and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Day is looking forward to running Benicia High’s drama department. His goal, he says, is not to change what Mani had helped build but expand on it.

“Knowing Christine and what she did here and the work that she put in, it’s a matter of just continuing to build on top of that,” he said. “Knowing that this community wholeheartedly embraces the arts in this town and that the shows here are community shows, I’m excited to get to know the community and see them coming to the shows. I’m also excited to continue what’s happening here and keep it moving in the same direction while still moving forward.”