Staples™ x The Broadway Beat: Your Theatre Kid Back-To-School Shopping List

by Zach Raffio. @zachraffio.

The dog days of summer are waning and it’s about to be “curtain up” on a brand new school year—and we at The Broadway Beat have partnered with Staples™ to craft the perfect back-to-school shopping list for the theatre kid in your life. Pencils up—and yeah, we got those too ;)

1. Lined notebooks

Jot down director feedback, scribble your lines, or just rank all your favorite Evan Hansens. No matter what your note-taking needs are, Staples™ has the perfect pages for you. 

Plus, with over 15 amazing, technicolor covers to choose from, you’ll think these notebooks were made by Joseph himself. 

2. Pencil cases

Staples™' new line of extra-sturdy pencil cases can hold up to four pounds of goodies—that’s a lot of eyeliner and cough drops!

3. Glue sticks

Hmm ok, I mean this one’s pretty good for gluing headshots, I think? Yep, if you’re a theatre kid who has to… who has to glue something… then Staples™ definitely has you covered!

4. Big eraser

You can erase the Evan Hansen ranking you wrote before I guess? 

Just to be clear, when we got this list of items, we were asked to come up with theatre kid uses. But what could a theatre kid use these for as opposed to any other student? And why did they have to specify “big”? 

5. Backpack

Ok, yes, this one we can work with. Keep an extra headshot (or 10!) in your Staples™ brand backpack, so you can stay audition-ready no matter what—even if it is chicken patty day!

6. Big backpack

There they go with “big” again. What does this mean? How is this theatre-related?

7. The hat Nathan Lane is wearing in his Wikipedia photo

The hat? Like they’re selling the exact one? Or do they have multiples of the hat? 

8. Three-ring binder but the rings are the ring of keys from Fun Home

This is what the actual product is called. We checked their website and it’s written exactly like that. I mean this one is explicitly theatre-related, but feels specific in the wrong way. 

Recommended for ages 9, 19 and 43. 

9. Calculator

Ok, good, THIS we can work with. Us theatre fans may not always associate ourselves with math, but sometimes you just gotta Do This Thing. Use this fantastical math machine to count 5,6,7,8 and all the way to 525,600! Plus, they come in so many colors, you’ll think these calculators were made by Joseph himself! 

Phew, ok, let’s take a look at our final item.

10. Big version of the hat Nathan Lane is wearing in his Wikipedia photo

Never mind, we’re not doing this.