Getting Your Kicks!

208773 Resource 203097 203800 203800 1215622047657 1216153225727 Controlled What a Drama Teacher Does in the Summer, Part 5

A Great Summer Job

On July 4th, 1976, a group of very hard working students performed an old fashioned melodrama on a flatbed truck for our Bi-Centennial celebration out at the original Fort Missoula. It was 110 degrees, bugs were running rampant, and the stage was a bit wobbly, but it was a great way to remember our country’s birthday.  And … it was only a part of a perfect summer job.    Directing a summer theatre program took center stage in the 1970s.  This time the students were from both of our local high schools and our private Catholic high school.  The school offered credit (English, practical and/or fine arts); the class was 4 hours long, 5 days a week, for 6 weeks. The vocal music teacher and I teamed up to produce a musical every summer for eleven years. Every student who signed up was cast, whether they could sing or not.  Many times we would find a "diamond in the rough," someone who needed credit and found out that they could sing/act and loved it. They became a great addition to the music and drama departments citywide. It was wonderful to work with other kids and it fostered a great cross-town audience because the kids then went to one another’s plays and were very supportive. There was a strong rivalry among our various sports teams, so this was a welcome change.  The students did all the technical work. Often when we were rehearsing one scene, those not involved would be drawing, painting, sewing, or typing. Our bargain with the school district was that if they paid for our salary, the scripts, and the royalty, we would not ask for any other monies — we would make up the cost on the 2 nights' run of the show.  It worked like a charm, and we got a wonderful summer following. It was also a time to try new and inventive things:                                                                <ul><li>Using a <a href="docs/MargScreen.JPG">rear-screen projection</a> for the basic set.                                                                                                           </li><li>Learning tap dancing to 3 major numbers in No No Nanette, which we later produced as our fall show. </li><li>Involving the band as our “orchestra.”</li><li>Working on costuming a chorus in one basic outfit (see <a title="The complete tool kit for theatre arts" href="https://www.meriwetherpublishing.com/CatalogDetails.aspx?cat=153" target="_blank">The Drama Teacher’s Survival Guide</a> p. 165) and perfecting the <a title="Schlepitchka Texture (photo)" href="docs/MargShalp.JPG" target="_blank">schlepitchka texture</a> (p. 224-225).</li><li>Building a set using periaktois for scene changes. A periaktoi is usually a triangular unit with 3 equal sides. Each side can have a different scene painted on it. When using more than one in a row, it can look like a solid wall. When all the units are rotated to the second or third side, it reveals another scene. See our two indoor sets for No No Nannette: <a title="Periaktois Set 1" href="docs/MargSet1.JPG" target="_blank">set one</a>, <a title="Periaktois Set 2" href="docs/MargSet2.JPG" target="_blank">set two</a>. That fall, we used the exact same set for <a title="Unsinkable Molly Brown set" href="docs/MargMolly.JPG" target="_blank">The Unsinkable Molly Brown</a>. (One of the most well known shows to currently use Periaktoi is A Chorus Line.)</li><li>Building parallels for levels.  These are folding fames that support a platform top. They are hinged so they will <a title="Parallel Level Drawing -- Collapsed (Photo)" href="docs/MargDraw2.JPG" target="_blank">collapse onto their sides</a>.  They lay flat with the top removed, but become stable when they are <a title="Parallel Level Drawing (Photo)" href="docs/MargDraw.JPG" target="_blank">open</a> and the top is in place.  We used them for at least 5 of our shows, and during the school year they resided in my classroom. </li></ul>In 1985 we had 3 public schools and the administration felt we should share the wealth, so another school took on the summer program.  That was its last year. I was very sorry to see the program end, but it allowed for a new chapter in my summer adventures, which I'll discuss next time.   9 application/xml false collapsible set musical theater Parallel sets periaktoi schlepitchka staging musicals summer theater program summer theatre camp Getting Your Kicks! A DVD beginner's guide to choreography https://www.meriwetherpublishing.com/CatalogDetails.aspx?cat=194 Staging Musicals for Young Performers This book can show anyone how to stage a musical show on any budget https://www.meriwetherpublishing.com/CatalogDetails.aspx?cat=139 Let's Put on a Show! Every young would-be thespian needs a guidebook like this to learn the basics of theatre. https://www.meriwetherpublishing.com/CatalogDetails.aspx?cat=100 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 ascheck 63.253.82.222 false true false false true 218193 false false true false false false true 203097 blog blogsite/ContemporaryDrama/web