*theatre work

i’ve been lucky enough to teach theatre for quite a few years now, and i can tell you from experience, one of the hardest things is to find plays that offer a wide age-range, are fun and engaging, and have enough parts for everyone to get to do something. since this is the holy grail, so to speak, of summer theatre intensives, i started adapting children’s books and poetry into plays.

bear in mind, this is probably a huge copyright infringement…but, it’s not like we’re selling tickets or making money on anything…the authors are always credited…so maybe we can all just overlook my blatant thievery?

here are some of my adaptations, all of which have been performed in my summer theatre intensives:

how-i-became-a-pirate-script.doc

hundred-dresses.doc

script-once-upon-a-cool-motorcycle-dude.doc

script-the-day-i-swapped-my-dad-for-two-goldfish.doc

wolves_in_the_walls_script.doc

chrysanthemum-script.doc

a_tribute_to_shel-script.doc

nesbitts.doc

how i became a pirate.JPG

HEADSHOTS AND PROGRAMS are something i do for all of my theatre classes…students have a great time looking through my old theatre programs and then writing their own bio’s for our program. head shots need not be anything crazy…just grab your digital camera, download, crop, edit to black and white…i send them to walgreens.com for printing…usually a little over a dollar a piece for an 8×10 glossy…students now have a “Meet the Cast” photo for the lobby of the theatre space and a workable head shot for the future.

meet the cast wall.JPG

student-directed learning.JPG

MUSICAL THEATRE:

i was a musical theatre major in undergrad (other major was earth science, go figure) so i teach a class called “Scenes and Songs” which is a spin-off of Estelle Spector’s wonderful class at Columbia. we work on acting, dancing, and vocal technique, and with the talents of Jeff Kowalkowski (an amazing musician and music professor at DePaul) perform an amazing musical theatre show. scenes are adapted from the libretto or the movie, and worked in as a lead-in for or tie-in with a solo, duet, trio, or group number. i’m very adament that students get their choice as to what they feel comfortable performing, and my NO AUDITION policy has really helped a lot of quiet, “not good” performers get the boost of confidence needed to come out of their shells and become the stars they are.

SPEECH ARTS 2008:
Academic Olympics, 2008
Speech Arts

Some tips and tricks from a theatre teacher to help you be a more successful speaker and performer:

BASIC RULES:

• You are limited to keeping your speech to FIVE minutes or less.
• Your vocal quality is very important as you will be asked to stand at least twenty feet from the judges and audience (PROJECT!)
• Audience contact starts from the moment you walk to take your place on stage to the moment you get back to your seat—when all eyes are on you, you are already performing, even just walking to your spot and giving your intro!
• With a performance-ready face, body, and voice, introduce the title of your piece, where it is from (if applicable), and the author—then take a pause and begin. When you finish, hold a final pose for a 1-2-3 count, thank your audience, and leave the stage. Always start and finish like a professional—the beginning and the end set the tone.
• You will be expected to do your monologue from memory—no props or cues or costumes

THEATRE/SPEECH TIPS TO HELP YOU:

• DO NOT begin until you can see and hear that your judges and audience are ready and silent
• Plant your feet into the ground—never move unless you have a purpose for doing so…nervous energy often comes out through your feet, and you’ll pace or shuffle about which detracts from your performance. Practice this.
• Use material that is AGE APPROPRIATE that you can personally connect to, for example, an excerpt from The Feminine Mystique is not as appropriate for a ten year old as Ladies First by Shel Silverstein. There is rich literary material in books, plays, and poetry without going into overly-adult material that students cannot or do not relate to or connect with.
• Project from your guts…that is, get your voice out from your diaphragm and not from your throat, nose, or head.
• If you cannot remember, NEVER EVER resort to saying, “Ummm…”
• If you cannot remember, MOVE AROUND, and act like you are thinking or deep in thought like your character would be. Your line or a line will come to you. Keep the energy up and don’t panic…you’ll be okay.
• Beware of “PHONY” gestures, i.e. crossed arms over the heart for “love” or pointing to your eyes for “tears”…these are not strong or powerful. Practice what feels natural and organic first, then adopt those few, large, powerful movements. Less is more. Keep it simple and smart and strong.
• DON’T TALK TOO FAST!
• HIT YOUR HARD SOUNDS such as “t”, “d”, “k”, etc. Watch out for “yer” instead of “your” or “fer” instead of “for”
• DO NOT WEAR LOUD SHOES OR WEIRD CLOTHING!!! You do not want to do anything that will detract from your performance.
• Connect to the judges and the audience while performing with eye contact.
• DO NOT play with your hair, jewelry, or clothing because you are nervous. Practice this.
• If you are speaking to a character that is “invisible”, put them downstage, in front of you instead of next to you or behind you—that way the audience can still hear you fully and see your facial expressions.
• When you repeat a word, phrase, or stanza, DO NOT say it the same exact way each time—look to vary your meaning each time, is more powerful that way.
• If you choose a HIGHLY dramatic speech, i.e. Juliet’s speech about Tybalt from Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet’s “to be or not to be”, be sure you can come into it with the right amount of dramatic and emotional energy—if you are throwing a fit, throw a fit…crying your eyes out, cry your eyes out, etc. You have to fully commit to the emotions if you chose these.
• If you are doing a piece with many characters, such as “Ladies First” by Shel Silverstein, create a voice and movement style for each different character. Keep it simple.
• English naturally ends with a downward intonation. This makes certain words sound “swallowed” at the ends of sentences. Be aware of that, and try to inflect slightly upward to combat this.
• Above all else, perform like you BELIEVE it, like you are REALLY saying or doing it, like a REAL, normal person would talk and act. Create a believable character to tell your story if appropriate. Character is created through voice, face, and body movement.
• Practice some WORST CASE SCENARIOS beforehand—what do you do if the bell rings? If someone drops a stack of books? If someone is banging metal chairs in the hallway? Practice and know how to handle these things.

SOME PIECES THAT WERE PERFORMED FOR AREA 2 IN 2008:

• Dr. Seuss, “Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose”
• Maya Angelou, “Phenomenal Woman”
• Juliet’s Tybalt speech from Romeo and Juliet
• “Getting an Education”
• Shel Silverstein, “Ladies First” and “Sarah Cythia Sylvia Stout”
• The factory speech from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Langston Hughes, “Let America Be America Again” and “Freedom’s Plough”
• Lewis Carrol, “The Jaberwocky”
• Excerpt from Sophocles’ Electra
• Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life”
• “Real”
• E. A. Poe’s, “The Telltale Heart”
• Sandra Cisnero, The House on Mango Street, “My Name” and “Sally”
• Sam Shepard, “The Curse of the Starving Class”
• Excerpt from Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique
• Excerpt from Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird
• Excerpt from S.E.Hinton’s The Outsiders

Questions? Please contact Mrs. Amy Ewaldt-Doseck at amy@menomoneeclub.org. Additional theatre resources may be found at http://aewaldt.edublogs.org/theatre

5-6-7-8! a few photos from august 2007’s intensive:

Annie.JPG

Annie Get Your Gun.JPG

Hairspray.JPG

Into the Woods.JPG

Les Miserables.JPG