What a Drama Teacher Does in the Summer, Part 2: Attending the International Thespian Conferences

Run-Down Window Shade

The first conference we attended was in Portland, Oregon. Because of our production of Annabelle and the traveling we had done to the Shrine hospital in Spokane, we were invited to perform a children’s show on the main stage. We chose to do Beauty and the Lonely Beast. Again we had to travel, so we decided to concentrate on costumes that each student could take as their luggage. The play required two sets, a lot of hats (the fairy godmother loved hats), and smoke. My husband came up with an ingenious set and flash pots.

We needed three items: window shades, music stands, and acrylic paint. We started with plastic-coated window shades (these are stronger than the regular shades and washable) and acrylic paint (it has a plastic base and will adhere to the shade). We created both scenes by using the back and the front of the shades. Before any design was painted on the shades, he made a drawing to scale on graph paper of a run-down house (for the first scene, see the picture) and French provincial panels (for the prince’s castle).

Next we needed 6 music stands. He took the top off the music stands and raised them as high as they would go. A piece of wire was fixed to the rolled down shade and put in the top of the stands to hold the shade in place, suspending the shades on the music stands.  The animals came in, picked up each shade, and turned it for the scene change to the prince’s palace. The device of turning the shades for each scene called attention to it and was incorporated with the play. This design was simple and traveled easily.

The show was amazing. The fairy godmother made her entrance on roller-skates down the very long steep aisle singing “I love hats” in a broad cockney accent at the top of her voice—the two cats we incorporated into show were at the bottom to catch her. The rest of the music was right on and the flash pots did their thing beautifully although today we would not allowed to use gunpowder, shorting wires, and coffee can lids! (Never had everything worked in rehearsals!) The show was a hit, not only for the folks at the convention but at the Portland’s Children’s hospital as well.

This would be the beginning of many journeys and performances at the Thespian conferences.