Group Singing Usually Sucks...

You know how a large group of people singing usually sounds pretty terrible? There are lots of people singing who really shouldn't so it all ends up sounding like a convoluted mess vaguely resembling a popular song. That is, of course, unless the large group of people singing are all theatre people, and therefore sing all the time. I was fortunate enough to witness this a couple of weeks ago at Districts. Owl City came on before Closing Ceremonies, and the room burst into song. Actually, we'd already been singing, because they played Lady GaGa right before that, but I digress. We'd gotten through the first stanza when the music cut out. But to room kept singing...on key, and in perfect time. Some were even singing the harmony. It sounded great.

Just one reason why theatre people are awesome.

Anyway, I haven't been writing much of anything lately. I tend to shy away from this blog when things get busy out of a sense of guilt. Why should I spend any amount of time on blogging when there is work to be done? But I've just spent the last couple of hours wasting time, so why not spend a little more, eh? I felt like I should post something, if only to remind the internet that I exist.

Another One Bites the Dust

This weekend was a serious fail as far as NaBloPoMo is concerned, however, I blame it on The Foreigner and am resolved to try to continue for the rest of the month (until I get busy again).


Speaking of Foreigner, it's over. Two months of hard work has come to an end, and the only thing that remains are memories and dried droplets of paint on the black stage from careless brushes. And maybe some stickiness from spilled Coke. That reality is one of the hardest things about theatre in my opinion. It's so temporary. You work on it for a set amount of time, then you do it, then it's over. I don't think I would want it to keep going much longer, but I still miss it when its gone. For me, taking down the set is the hardest part. We spent weeks putting it up, getting it to where it needed to be, painting, building, taping, painting some more, hour after hour; the whole thing came down in three.


The only thing that makes it easier for me is knowing that there is another show coming in a few months. There are already things I'm working on and planning for December and January. I have not one, but TWO one acts in the works, one with 6th period as an in-school performance, one with 4th period for Districts. I'm only sort of directing them, acting more as a consultant/producer for student directors. I wanted to put it in my student's hands and see what happens. Hopefully they will rise to the occasion.

21 Hours and Counting

"The Foreigner" goes up tomorrow night, yet I'm strangely calm. Maybe it's because I've done this before. Maybe it's because I fell strangely detached because I've had to be at ESOL class two nights a week rather than at rehearsal. Maybe it's because I'm just having a hard time caring this year. Maybe it's because I've lowered my expectations. Regardless, I'm calm, and I'm trying to decide whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

I've realized that regardless of my mental/emotional state, the show will go on, and it will probably be relatively good. Sure, the run time might be a little long, but that's okay I guess. There's nothing I can do about it at this point, so why should I worry?

In fact, I think this is the most comfortable I've felt about the technical side of things. We actually programmed light cues this year. I have three reliable people running the boards. I think I can actually sit and watch without having to worry about the house lights not coming up. Or maybe I do. Maybe I'm being foolhardy.
Anyway. There's that.

Baby Steps

Someone asked me in the first few months of teaching what my goals were for my Drama program. I didn't really know how to answer; my best response was basically that I wanted it to be like the drama program when I was in high school. That was my goal two years ago, and still is, to a certain extent. But now I approach the question with a slightly more educated and realistic eye (is that the best way to say that? I don't know). My ultimate goal is to be able to put on excellent productions that are primarily student run. I want to be able to sit in the front row and watch, without having to worry that there will be some disaster backstage that will require my immediate attention.

That is a pretty lofty goal, especially from where I'm standing. But I think it's doable. Here are a few steps we need to take towards excellence:

1. Establish a sense of pride in the program as a whole and in the quality of work. At this point, we don't know what a really excellent program or even an excellent production looks like, nor do we know what it takes to get there. I need to start showing my students what excellence looks like. We need to go watch other people who are being excellent. This has its pitfalls. The tendency might be for them to compare themselves, rather than take it as inspiration to do better.

2. Get out of the mindset that we can wait until the last minute to pull it off "because we always do." I think this is what has killed us with "The Foreigner." A few strategic people have established the attitude among the cast that later is okay, so we've taken far too long to get off book, and find costumes, know our cues. In today's rehearsal, we were where we needed to be about two weeks ago because two weeks ago, I was still yelling at people to be off book, and they were still making excuses. This is a great segue into my final point.

3. I need to be a jerk about things like missed rehearsal/tardiness, and missed deadlines. I don't know how to do it. I don't have the heart to tell someone who has been in rehearsal for a month that they won't be in the show because they aren't off book, or because they missed 3 rehearsals, or because they were late a few times. How do I tell a parent that their kid is out of the play because they had some kind of obligation and didn't tell me in advance? In reality, I HAVE to if I want the program to succeed. Teaching them that being there sometimes is not okay. Aside from the difficulties of trying to rehearse or block a scene without a character, it also destroys a sense of trust among the cast. How can I expect one person to rely on the other to make an entrance or know a cue if they aren't even at rehearsal?

On the Eve of a New Year

Well, summer has come to end, and I'm staring a new school year in the face. I also have a terrible case of insomnia. Dang it.

I am incredibly un-enthused about this school year. I'm going into it without knowing a lot of things, and with more work than I had last year, and with less room for error just because it's my third year, and not my first or second. Also, we're going back to the 7:20 start time. I'm not a morning person. At all. In one sense, I'm glad that I'll get out of rehearsal at 5pm instead of 6:30, that I'll get to see something other than school in the daylight. On the other hand, anything I do before 9am is basically rubbish.

As frequent readers of this here blog might remember, I'm a worrier. It's what I do. Also, I like lists. So here, in no particular order, are things I'm worried about this year:

- Fall play. I'm not sure what it is yet. Both options have their own separate set of problems.
- I don't have a good strong senior leader. This could be a problem.
- My classes are all a jumble, and they may stay that way all year long.
- I had a couple of GREAT classes last year, and I'm afraid my standards for awesome are completely shot. Forever.
- No strong Senior leader.
- I had some really awful students last year, and I don't want their kind again. Ever.
- Musical. Don't know what it is yet. Also, no seniors (it seems ridiculous a little, but they're REALLY important).
- One Act. Don't know what it is yet.
- Certification stuff. Should have done it this summer. Didn't. Will invariably do it on the night before it's due and have Dad proof read it. Just kidding. But seriously.
- Two more preps this year than last year. Didn't do them over the summer (in my defense, I didn't know that I had them, one of them I found out about YESTERDAY, dang it.)
- Did I mention that I don't have a strong Senior leader?

Hello 2009

Well, the new year has arrived, and with it the promise of January 5th--the first day back to school--looming in the near future. I have decided that I'm not a fan of the Spring semester. It brings with it more stress than I'm paid for. In an attempt to stave off the imminent anxiety for just a while longer, I have begun working on the set design for "Guys and Dolls," our spring production.

So, for the first time ever on this blog, I'm showing you something that I've drawn. Pardon the darkness of the photo, I tried it with flash, but it just got really washed out. This is the view of the main location, Broadway of the 1950s. The things with the darker edges are meant to be flats built with a little bit of forced perspective (hurray for the Italian Renaissance and forced perspective!). The lighter stuff is a rough idea of what I want for the backdrop (and yes, I know the Empire State Building is a little weird looking).

Anyway, I'd love to hear what people think.

P.S. The cat is asleep next to/half on my pillow. I don't want to move him because he's so darn cute, but he's kind of in the way.

Odd Couple from the Other Side

Odd Couple is now over! I'm extremely proud of my students, and I'm especially happy that I actually got to sit and enjoy the show this year (for the most part), which means I'm nearly to the point where they can run it themselves, without having to consult me at every turn.

Of all the nights, I'd have to say that Thursday and Friday were the best, mostly because the crowd was the most responsive those nights. I was worried at the beginning of the week that they wouldn't be able to pull it off, but on Thursday it all seemed to come together, and they gave sterling performances.

The cast for the Sunday performance experienced one of the things that makes live theatre unique from other dramatic forms: audience responsiveness, or in this case, the lack thereof. When I stepped on stage for the introduction, I felt the lack of energy and excitement in the crowd. The audience hardly laughed for the entire first act, even with the other cast and myself doing our best to seed the laughter. Despite this, the cast persevered and the audience loosened up a little bit in the second act.

All in all, I think the show was a success, but I'm glad that it's over. I spent this entire last week coming home early, well, at the same time as everyone else, and sleeping.

Show Week

Pardon the retroactive post publishing. I don't know why I didn't publish this when I wrote it. Maybe I felt it was too short.

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Show week is here. This is the first time that I feel almost ready. Last year, we were still trying to get off book the Monday before the show. But right now, I think well be okay, despite having some hick-ups along the way. We were supposed to have new lavaliere mics, but the order got bogged down in purchasing, so we will most likely not get them in time for the shows. I'm frustrated to say the least. We will get through it. The cast just needs to learn to project. A lot.

We will be ready, whether we're ready or not.

Making the Magic: Flying Plate of Spaghetti

In theatre, we have to do things that would never ever happen in real life, like throwing a plate of spaghetti...sorry, linguini, at a wall four nights in a row (plus rehearsal). The problem is that spaghetti, when thrown, goes everywhere. The noodles don't stay on the plate, and the poor techie on the other end of the flying sauce-er (bad joke, I know) gets a large mess to clean. Compounding the problem is the need for one of the actresses to take a bite of the soon to be flying spaghetti.

The solution to the problem: Elmer's School Glue and tape. You cook the spaghetti first, then put it on a plate, toss with glue and nuke the heck out of it. The resulting pasta is rubbery and sticks together, and most importantly, can be taped to the plate. Spread a little bit of fresh (i.e. not glued and rubbery) spaghetti on top of the glued spaghetti (hurray for non-toxic glue) for the actor to play with, add a little red sauce, and no one is the wiser.

The picture to the right is the spaghetti post nuking, before the extra glue dried. The white stuff is glue. Yum!

The Odd Couple

Here's the info on the bottom if you don't want to click on the image and read it in the pretty font:

The Odd Couple (Female Version) by Neil Simon
Colonial High School Performing Arts Center
November 13, 14 & 15 @ 7:00PM
November 16 @ 2:30PM
House opens 30 minutes before curtain
Tickets $5

Be there! Or just give me $5 bucks!

Oh, and 6 posts in October! Whohoo!

Possibilities

Now that Arsenic and Old Lace is over, thoughts of next year have begun flooding my mind. The ever-present question of what to do for our fall play, one act and [gulp] the spring musical looms over my head. I have all summer to decide these things, but with students asking almost daily what we're doing next year, throwing out suggestions, and begging to design the set or be technical director, I can't escape it. So, I've begun searching. Well maybe not searching--because that would require effort--but definitely downloading musicals from iTunes to expand my library and hopefully fall enough in love with one of them to do it next year.

I'm currently rocking out to Godspell, which, I have to admit, is pretty groovy. I saw it a when University did it ages ago, but didn't remember much about it, other than who played the lead as well as a freshman who got a long solo, and that it had that one song that DC Talk covered. Anyway, I'm digging it. I'll have to see if I can get my hands on a script. I talked to Mrs. D at State, and Godspell was her first musical, so it can't be too bad of an option. Also, Stephen Schwartz wrote the music for it, and I happen to adore one of his more recent works, Wicked.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum was also suggested by another District V sponsor, but I haven't heard it yet, so I will reserve judgment, although the thought of a musical comedy is quite appealing. It is also written by a famous composer/lyricist, Stephen Sondheim (Sweeney Todd, West Side Story lyrics, Gypsy lyrics, Company, Assassins, Into the Woods).

I've got some options. Why I'm worrying about this instead of the fall play, I'm not sure. But plays are so much harder to find because there so many of them.

Flexing the English Muscles

I saw Miss Saigon at University High last night, where the theatre is always good. During the drive home, Dad and I talked about the function of the Engineer. Why is he the lead male role? Why would they put so much focus on this one character, who (at least in this particular production) was primarily the comic relief?

Here are some thoughts:
- In a show as heavy (depressing) as Miss Saigon, the audience needs comic relief, and quite frequently. Imagine jumping from Kim killing Thuy, to Bui-Doi, to the Fall of Saigon, to Chris finding out there's a kid, to Kim finding out there's a wife, to Kim killing herself. Imagine sitting through that one after the other without the interjection of commentary and humor by the Engineer.
- He provides a glimpse of the mindset of those in Saigon who aren't falling in love at the time. He is an exaggerated character who communicates to the audience the utter desperation of those in his situation, and the hope they have for America. I suspect the authors intended for his songs to be heard with irony, since his image of America is more dream than reality, and since he will most likely never get there anyway.
- Kim needs him. She is a passive character, allowing things to be done to her, rather than doing them for herself. In the opening scene, the Engineer discovers her and gives her a job, the other girls put her in a dress and make her up, John buys her for Chris, Chris takes her to live with him, etc., etc. Without the Engineer, Kim wouldn't get anywhere, the story wouldn't move on, and we'd be dealing with a dead Kim by the end of Act I.

I don't really like the Engineer. His music is only okay, and many of his songs feel as though they were shoved in there as buffers between all of the songs in the Kim-Chris-Ellen story. Heavy with synthesizers and generally staccato, the music clashes with the epic orchestrations of the main story.

Anyway, I'll keep thinking about it. I'm still recovering from "Arsenic and Old Lace," so my brain function isn't up to its normal capacity. If you have an opinion, chime in! I'm dying for some intelligent debate!

A Tired Bunch

It's Sunday night, and I feel as though I haven't had a weekend. I spent both yesterday and today working on the set for "Arsenic and Old Lace," and I am exhausted. So, in lieu of writing something, which would require thinking and some kind of effort, I'll just post some pictures of the progress.

This is the set we've had for the last three weeks or so. Due to usage by other groups every weekend, we could not put a more permanent set up until Saturday afternoon.

The first wall is up! The top of that flat is 14 feet high. Initially, the height worried us, but after we put it up, we discovered it was totally fine! It's very sturdy up there.

Here's what we have as of Sunday night. Notice the moulding on the top of the flats. This gives it a finished look. Without it, the eye doesn't know where to stop, and it inevitably looks awkward. Riddel High from last year's production of "Grease" is visible in the background. During the show the upstage traveler will hide that.

The view from the audience of what we have thus far. We are very close to being done. Once we've finished painting stripes on the last flat, we can put everything else up and finalize it all. I estimate that it will take a few hours. Then again, I estimated that we could have the set finished Saturday before 8PM.

Anyway, come see the show this coming weekend, if only to look at the beautiful set.

Here's the info:
Arsenic and Old Lace
Colonial High School Performing Arts Center
April 24, 25, & 26 @ 7:00PM
April 27 @ 2:30PM
Tickets $5 pre-sale, $7 at the door

News and Notes

'News and Notes,' wasn't that the title a few posts ago? Why, yes, observant reader, it was. In my busyness and abject laziness, I've temporarily given up on writing creative titles for the seemingly endless stream of posts whining about my job and have place in their stead a consistent title. This will no doubt help you in knowing what to skip when surfing through your Google Reader feed in the mornings (or whenever it is that you have the luxury of sitting down and reading the assorted offerings of the world wide web).

Anyway, I have my first official observation tomorrow with my supervising AP. I'm understandably anxious about it. The butterflies currently setting up camp in my stomach are akin to those which took their vacations from the wide open spaces to my gastrointestinal tract on the evenings before a presentation or performance in high school. Pardon me while I go freak out for a moment. All this anxiety stems from my lack of experience (hey, that sounds familiar) with this particular situation. Although I've been teaching for 4 1/2 months, I have yet to be evaluated objectively; I don't generally count the "you suck"s and the "this class is boring"s as objective or accurate feedback.

On the upside, the Grand Poobah himself came into 6th period today, and I thanked my lucky stars that we were for once doing something in the classroom and I actually looked like I was teaching my students something. That's not to say that I don't usually teach my students things, but theatre being what it is, much of our time is spent doing things which frankly don't look very studious or teacherly, like rehearsing, or playing improv games. Anyway, I had the projector on and was writing on the board and everything. It was pretty impressive. I'm sure some of my students were bored out of their minds the moment I picked up the dry erase marker, but I had a good time today, and I think at least a few of them understood what I was trying teach them.

So, tomorrow is a big day. Big day.

Oh, we also finally finished blocking "Arsenic and Old Lace," so we move into run throughs. Let the train wreck begin.

Murphy's Law and Happy Leap Day

Perhaps this example stretches the definition of Murphy's Law, but as I drove home from school today, the "Check Engine Soon" light popped on in the left corner of my dash. How typical that just when Dad goes out of town, my car needs his special talents. I should have seen this coming, since I was having minor difficulties with it a few weeks ago. I thought the problem had solved itself, but no such luck. Then again, I am quite fortunate that my parents just got a new car (much swankier than my own) which I can drive until they get back [wink wink].

On another note, Bard has spent no less than a third of the time since I got home crying in front of the parents room wondering where they are. Right now he's licking the remnants of my salad dressing from the bowl, his tail draped across my wrist. Silly kitty.

Anyway, I'm tired. Really tired. Auditions took a long time, and I'm sure I've disappointed several of my better students merely because I ran out of leads to give them. It was a decision based on their auditions and past experience. In both cases, it added up to a minor role. I loath that element of my job. C'est la vie. Perhaps I can work out a way to double cast a couple of people.

Decision

Having spoken with my colleagues, I can now announce that the spring show will not be a musical.

Now that that decision has been made, I turn my focus to the another great question: what are we doing for our spring show? My initial thought was Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park". It has fairly light humor and a relatively small cast. I thought it was hilarious, and more importantly, I'm very familiar with it. But in polling some of my students, the general vibe I'm getting is that they're not so jazzed about doing "Barefoot." "Why," I ask them. They always reply with copious amounts of hemming and hawing, to which I say, "Do you have a better idea?"

But in an attempt to find a show which will let me have more people involved, I've decided to browse through the meager selection of plays living on the shelves in my classroom in hopes of finding a gem which: 1) is funny; 2) is fairly simple; 3) has a cast of 8-10 (I might double cast the bigger leads).

So, for the next few days, I'm reading plays. I'm currently on Joseph Kesselring's "Arsenic and Old Lace." It's a riot!

Auditions, Take Two

We held auditions for "Once On This Island" last Monday and Tuesday. I had anticipated starting rehearsal tomorrow for my very first musical as a director. We had a grand total of four guys show up for auditions, none of whom were particularly amazing vocally. We postponed callbacks, and decided to hold another round of auditions tomorrow. A very large part of me cries, Please, God, don't let any boys show up! I've been ambivalent about doing a musical since we (the Fine Arts faculty) began discussing it in December. I would really like to get another play under my belt before tackling the immensely more challenging musical. As much as I love musical theatre, I firmly believe that I am not ready for it. I don't think my students are ready for it.

I want to do a play the right way before I try to do something else, and let's face it, musicals are a different animal. "A Christmas Carol" was fun in a flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-hoping-to-God-they-don't-rip kind of way. As glad as I am that we did it (and even more that we pulled it off), I don't want to do it again, and I believe doing a musical at this point would be a similar experience. I think I've had enough of that type of stress for the school year. I'd love to have the luxury of putting on a play which I've read before the night before auditions, and having a set that I've actually thought about and designed, rather than threw together from whatever we had around the shop and what we could find at Goodwill, and that Dad and I built over Thanksgiving break.

I've been looking toward this week with dread; a sensation akin to the feeling I used to get when I had a paper due, or a big assignment for which I had not prepared. Adding to my anxiety is the fact that I need to design the show (which I've decided to put off in case we aren't actually doing the show), fix the lights (the 4th electric doesn't work for some unknown reason, I blame it on the baffling stupidity of my predecessors...6 electrics, honestly, why would that stage possibly need that many?), figure out if I can use the backdrop as a cyclorama, and try to get some much needed maintenance done on the fly system.

Districts and a Week to Decompress

Until Monday, I hadn't gone home earlier than 5 PM since my first few weeks of teaching. I'd forgotten what it was like to spend more time at home than at work. But this week is my relaxation week, when I get to tell my students to leave after 6th period, and find out what the traffic is like coming back from the 9th Grade Center in the afternoon.

The District Thespian Competition was on Saturday, and I my troupe performed pretty well, all considering. We, or should I say they, received four Superiors, three Excellents, and another one that we don't talk about. I can't take credit for any of it, they worked really hard, and did well. Having been through it as a sponsor, I have a list of things I will do different next year:

1. Audition acts long before registration, probably as early as November 1st. This is to prevent any problems with really really bad acting, which we had.
2. Give the performers their Adjudication Forms before we get on the bus so that I don't have to worry about them and it's not my fault if they get lost. In case you're wondering, yes, we had problems with the Adjudication Forms. I left them on my desk at school and found out as the first act was on stage doing their intro. I then lost another set again when I handed them to one of my students who walked off to go watch someone else.
3. Make rehearsal and punctuality absolutely mandatory. Cut acts who fail to rehearse to my satisfaction.
4. Be harder on them in rehearsal. I wasn't nearly critical enough.
5. Read the plays I'm not familiar with.
6. Clearly define responsibilities. For example, assign who is responsible for blocking their scenes/monologues.
7. Require that their stuff be memorized by registration at the beginning of December.

All in all, it was a really great experience. I had a really good time, and I think they did too which is what matters.

Rehearsals for "Once On This Island" are Monday. Here we go again.

Finally, a Break

It's nearly Thanksgiving, yet it feels nothing like it. Sure, the weather has finally taken a turn towards chilly, and the darkness comes faster, but there is a definite lack of--well--something. Perhaps it's that I'm not examining my schedule to see if I can cut class on Wednesday in order to go home on Tuesday. I'm not making Thanksgiving plans. My life has been so consumed with everything else (and by "everything" I mean only one thing: work) that the thought of stopping and doing something other than think about the long list of things I have to do to get "A Christmas Carol" up by December 6 is ridiculous. On top of all that, I have to worry about fund raisers for International Thespians Society and registering for District Thespian competition at the end of next week.

Despite all of the stress and endless lists of things I have to do, I'm having fun. Each day I spend at work, the more I am convinced that I have to best job in the world. It has it's downsides, not the least of which are money and paperwork, but everything else is a blast. There are problems to solve, it's challenging mentally, physically, and emotionally. I'm being stretched as a person, and I'm loving it (in a non-McDonald's kind of way).

Not Scary Enough

I've decided that I'm not scary enough. I remember going into "Les Miserables" being completely terrified to miss a rehearsal. Despite my warnings, my cast doesn't seem worried about missing rehearsal. As much as I don't want to, I may have to cut someone, just to prove a point. I hope it's not someone I like. But the fact is, several of them have missed rehearsals without telling me why, or even telling me in advance, and that is--frankly--not cool. I want to give them some time to settle in and work things out with their parents as far as rides go, because I remember what it was like being in high school, but at the same time, there hasn't been one rehearsal where someone wasn't standing in for someone else. Considering that we are less than 4 weeks from opening night, that is not good.

I have to be scary. Develop that look. Do something so that they will pay attention and quit goofing around. Maybe I need to grow up a little too. I think that might be my problem. I'm so young and so close to their age that they make a joke, and I totally get it, so I make a joke too, and then we start going back and forth and we don't get anything done. Did I mention that I spent half an hour talking about Nintendo with some of my cast last week when we should have been rehearsing? I need to quit that. It's not good for anyone.

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The Hispanic festival was on Friday in the PAC. They needed someone to run the fly, and since none of my students know how to use the fly safely, I stayed and did it for them. It has been a really long time since I've done anything like that. No matter how evenly weighted the grand drape is, getting 3000 pounds of anything moving is going to take some energy. Doing it upwards of 20 times quickly and in the span of two hours is downright exhausting. My hands are bruised from the rope, despite the leather gloves I wore. I think it was worth it though. A few hours of my work will hopefully be returned in the form of clean dressing rooms and a good relationship with that club in the future. If not, well, they can do their own fly work next year, and it's not my fault if someone gets a grand drape on top of them.