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| October 17, 2011 Excerpt from: Pioneer Drama News | | Bonding before a play as a small or large cast | As a director moments away from opening a show, your
most important job is to pull your cast together. You have lots of
heads in lots of different spaces. Some have been here for hours
getting into make-up and costume; others arrive late. Some are hungry;
some are too nervous to eat. Someone is worried about whether Aunt
Petunia is in the audience; someone else is texting her boyfriend. It’s up to you to pull them together and focus all those brains on one single task: the show.
We conduct a pre-show “pow-wow” that has become tradition for us. We’ll even announce throughout the pre-show prep, “Ten minutes to curtain, five minutes to pow-wow.” Our casts know they have to be ready, costumed, made up, haired AND cell phone free by pow-wow time.
So what do you say to inspire them? Well, that’s up to you. Only you know your cast and the journey that’s
taken them this far. It will be different for every show. Some of
what we do is always the same; other parts change depending on the cast.
Whatever direction you decide to go, do NOT open this time up for discussion. Never say, “Does anyone have anything they’d like to say?” Somebody always will, which means that somebody else has to have their say, and pretty soon it’s a support group. Now is not the time for that. In this moment, the group needs a leader, and that’s you. Think of yourself as the coach in the locker room at halftime. This is your “win one for the Gipper” moment.
Cindy’s
and my tradition always includes gathering in a circle with everybody
holding hands. Everybody. The house crew, the guys running lights, the
costumer, janitor, obnoxious stage mom hovering in the corner.
Everybody is part of this energy circle. We have them close their eyes
and feel the power in the room. It’s palpable.
At this point, with their eyes still closed, I love to have them remember the journey that’s
taken them to opening night. Ask them to remember auditions. How did
it feel? Were they scared? Nervous? Did they ever think they couldn’t
do this? Most young actors are terrified of singing in public. Some
have never been onstage before. There are always some who didn’t think they could do it. I usually give a speech that goes something like this:
“You didn’t think you could do it, but here you are. I want you to remember this moment. When you’re
onstage and you get that laugh, that applause, and when the curtain
closes and the audience loves you, remember this feeling. File it away
in your brain. Six weeks ago you didn’t think you could do this. What else do you think you can’t do? Hmm? For the rest of your life, you will now know that those thoughts are wrong. You can’t ask that girl out? Nonsense. You’ve already done what you couldn’t do. You can’t apply to that college? Wrong. You’ve already done what couldn’t be done. Whatever it is, for the rest of your life, you know that can’t isn’t true. Forever more your life is changed because you’re doing now what you thought you couldn’t do. Hold that feeling.”
By saying something like this, I get all those brains
thinking beyond tonight. Beyond forgetting lines or missing a cue. It
inspires them to realize all these weeks of work mean something that
won’t be gone by this time next week.
Another great technique that my wife Cindy uses is to get those minds off of themselves. Remind your cast that tonight isn’t about them anymore. It’s
about the audience. Make your cast part of something bigger than
themselves. Ask them to do this performance for the audience. But not
the whole audience. Oh no, that’s
too vague. Ask them to imagine one single person in the audience
tonight and do the show for them and them alone. This works wonders. A
performer may not be able to bring the house down, but they can sure
make Mom or Dad or Aunt Petunia proud.
A different idea is to ask them to do it for each
other. A cast is usually pretty tight by this point (backstage drama
not withstanding), and performers will be willing to give to each other
if not themselves. Remind them to be in the moment for their fellow
actors. To pick up cues so their friend can look good. It’s amazing how much an actor will give and sacrifice if it’s to help a buddy.
We always wrap up our pow-wows by having everybody
put their hands in the center. We have a countdown, then scream the
name of the show followed by “rocks.” It’s
astounding how much energy comes out of those few words. Even if the
audience overhears the sonic boom, they are a forgiving bunch. And they’ll love the energy they know is coming.
Whatever direction you take with your pow-wow, follow these guidelines:
-
Keep it under five minutes. Your intention is to inspire, not lecture.
-
Keep it fun, but hit some ideas that carry beyond just the
show. Fill them with images that will carry beyond the next two hours
and strike.
-
Appeal to their selfless side. Don’t actually do it for the Gipper. Do it for somebody real, here and now, whether it’s somebody special in the audience or their best friend in the cast.
-
End with a bang. A chant, a song, a scream.
-
However you end, make sure curtain is less than three minutes away. Don’t let all that good “amping up” wither away with a long delay.
-
Above all, be honest. Be personal. Make these five minutes a celebration of the road you’ve walked together and a promise for all the paths into tomorrow.
You rock
| | |
| October 17, 2011 Excerpt from: Pioneer Drama News | | Bonding before a play as a small or large cast | As a director moments away from opening a show, your
most important job is to pull your cast together. You have lots of
heads in lots of different spaces. Some have been here for hours
getting into make-up and costume; others arrive late. Some are hungry;
some are too nervous to eat. Someone is worried about whether Aunt
Petunia is in the audience; someone else is texting her boyfriend. It’s up to you to pull them together and focus all those brains on one single task: the show.
We conduct a pre-show “pow-wow” that has become tradition for us. We’ll even announce throughout the pre-show prep, “Ten minutes to curtain, five minutes to pow-wow.” Our casts know they have to be ready, costumed, made up, haired AND cell phone free by pow-wow time.
So what do you say to inspire them? Well, that’s up to you. Only you know your cast and the journey that’s
taken them this far. It will be different for every show. Some of
what we do is always the same; other parts change depending on the cast.
Whatever direction you decide to go, do NOT open this time up for discussion. Never say, “Does anyone have anything they’d like to say?” Somebody always will, which means that somebody else has to have their say, and pretty soon it’s a support group. Now is not the time for that. In this moment, the group needs a leader, and that’s you. Think of yourself as the coach in the locker room at halftime. This is your “win one for the Gipper” moment.
Cindy’s
and my tradition always includes gathering in a circle with everybody
holding hands. Everybody. The house crew, the guys running lights, the
costumer, janitor, obnoxious stage mom hovering in the corner.
Everybody is part of this energy circle. We have them close their eyes
and feel the power in the room. It’s palpable.
At this point, with their eyes still closed, I love to have them remember the journey that’s
taken them to opening night. Ask them to remember auditions. How did
it feel? Were they scared? Nervous? Did they ever think they couldn’t
do this? Most young actors are terrified of singing in public. Some
have never been onstage before. There are always some who didn’t think they could do it. I usually give a speech that goes something like this:
“You didn’t think you could do it, but here you are. I want you to remember this moment. When you’re
onstage and you get that laugh, that applause, and when the curtain
closes and the audience loves you, remember this feeling. File it away
in your brain. Six weeks ago you didn’t think you could do this. What else do you think you can’t do? Hmm? For the rest of your life, you will now know that those thoughts are wrong. You can’t ask that girl out? Nonsense. You’ve already done what you couldn’t do. You can’t apply to that college? Wrong. You’ve already done what couldn’t be done. Whatever it is, for the rest of your life, you know that can’t isn’t true. Forever more your life is changed because you’re doing now what you thought you couldn’t do. Hold that feeling.”
By saying something like this, I get all those brains
thinking beyond tonight. Beyond forgetting lines or missing a cue. It
inspires them to realize all these weeks of work mean something that
won’t be gone by this time next week.
Another great technique that my wife Cindy uses is to get those minds off of themselves. Remind your cast that tonight isn’t about them anymore. It’s
about the audience. Make your cast part of something bigger than
themselves. Ask them to do this performance for the audience. But not
the whole audience. Oh no, that’s
too vague. Ask them to imagine one single person in the audience
tonight and do the show for them and them alone. This works wonders. A
performer may not be able to bring the house down, but they can sure
make Mom or Dad or Aunt Petunia proud.
A different idea is to ask them to do it for each
other. A cast is usually pretty tight by this point (backstage drama
not withstanding), and performers will be willing to give to each other
if not themselves. Remind them to be in the moment for their fellow
actors. To pick up cues so their friend can look good. It’s amazing how much an actor will give and sacrifice if it’s to help a buddy.
We always wrap up our pow-wows by having everybody
put their hands in the center. We have a countdown, then scream the
name of the show followed by “rocks.” It’s
astounding how much energy comes out of those few words. Even if the
audience overhears the sonic boom, they are a forgiving bunch. And they’ll love the energy they know is coming.
Whatever direction you take with your pow-wow, follow these guidelines:
-
Keep it under five minutes. Your intention is to inspire, not lecture.
-
Keep it fun, but hit some ideas that carry beyond just the
show. Fill them with images that will carry beyond the next two hours
and strike.
-
Appeal to their selfless side. Don’t actually do it for the Gipper. Do it for somebody real, here and now, whether it’s somebody special in the audience or their best friend in the cast.
-
End with a bang. A chant, a song, a scream.
-
However you end, make sure curtain is less than three minutes away. Don’t let all that good “amping up” wither away with a long delay.
-
Above all, be honest. Be personal. Make these five minutes a celebration of the road you’ve walked together and a promise for all the paths into tomorrow.
You rock
| | |
| October 14, 2011 Excerpt from: Pioneer Drama News | | No doubt you’ve experienced the magic of theatre. You’ve seen a variety of people with different backgrounds, different strengths and different interests all work together on a theatrical production and end up feeling more like a united community. | By definition, a community is a group of people with a common interest, but we know it’s so much more than that. It’s
a sense of trust, care and support that makes a community thrive. As a
teacher and/or director, your leadership and efforts can start to build
that desired sense of community within your theatre program far before
the curtain rises on opening night.
When your group convenes that first day, you know you’re
going to see everything from over-confident showing off to hesitation
and uncertainty. It is your leadership that will get this collection of
individuals to start thinking and acting like the cohesive group you
will need to put on a play or musical. First and foremost, you will
need to establish ground rules for this community so that everyone can
feel safe. (You can read an article
about this from the last issue of the newsletter.) Of course, you have
some rules already in mind. However, if you can also involve the
students in creating the rules, they will begin to take ownership of the
community and in a subtle way, already feel like they are a valued,
respected part of it.
Once the rules are set, it’s
time for everyone to get to know each other better. Engage the
students in ice-breaker activities that will help them learn more about
each other. One idea is to have the students sit in a circle and give
answers to three or four questions, such as:
-
Your name
-
How many shows you’ve participated in
-
Your favorite play or musical
-
Why you are here
-
One thing about yourself that no one in the room knows
-
The funniest thing that has ever happened to you (maybe in the theatre if all have previous experience)
-
Which famous actor you would want to play you in a movie of your life and why
Use your imagination for these questions. Choose
ones that will most likely get your students to have fun without judging
each other. If you can start each day with a quick ice breaker, you’ll soon start to see new relationships forming. Laughing together is a powerful tool to break down barriers and build bonds.
As your production moves forth, continue building the
community into a tight-knit team that can work together. Get students
interacting more by having them step out of their assigned role, so they
can understand and respect each other’s
importance in the community. This means your actors might help with
set building or your crew might join the actors in an improv game. You
can assign roles or have them draw on their strengths and interests;
anything that helps them realize that each position in the theatre is
significant to the final production will help them accept and appreciate
one another. This will also help them take ownership of the production
by giving them choices and more responsibility. Watch carefully for
students who are loners and encourage them to do projects that require
them to work with other students.
Other ways you can get students interacting are:
-
Get your students talking about how they work together. Invite an
elementary class or the school newspaper to engage your students in a
group interview.
-
Encourage your students to share their ideas with the group. An “all ideas are valued” policy will help students feel that they can be accepted and confident to open up within the community.
-
Challenge students to teach another student a new skill.
-
Take pictures of the group as they work together and post the
photos around the theatre, on bulletin boards, etc. so that the
students can enjoy them. Make sure you have lots of candid shots where
the students can see the progress of their work and how everyone is
having fun working together.
-
Create a social networking page for your group where students can interact online.
-
If a student has to miss a day, have another student (or several
students) contact that person and let them know they are missed. This
helps make sure that each student knows that they are an important part
of the community.
-
Play team building activities such as Trust Fall or The Human Knot or silly and imaginative games like Grog or Mafia.
As your community progresses into a cohesive unit,
remember that some down time together will help your students interact
in a more casual and friendly way, solidifying their sense of
community. Some suggestions for this include:
-
Taking regular breaks during rehearsals. Even just five minutes can give students a chance to share a moment together.
-
Have your parent volunteers bring in lunch on a Saturday work day and have everyone stop for an hour to eat and socialize
-
Plan an outing, such as bowling, after rehearsal one day to get out and spend some time outside the theatre.
-
Plan theatre “club” events like game nights or movie nights. Add to the fun by dressing up in costume!
-
If you have the space for it, create an area outside the work area
where students can relax with each other, do homework and talk.
Bottom line, the more you can get all of the students
to interact one on one with each other, the stronger the community you
will build. And when show time comes, your community will shine with
the magic of theatre! | |
| October 10, 2011 Excerpt from: Pioneer Drama News | | Having a shy actor getting involed in plays for children and plays for teens |
I’m sure that in most cases, the idea of a “shy actor” doesn’t
come up too much. Typically kids who audition for productions love the
limelight and attention that comes with being onstage. But on
occasion, teachers are left to deal with a kid who just plain doesn’t
want to be there. He may be in your show or class because his pushy
parents made him do it or just as likely because of a graduation
requirement in the arts. But nonetheless, you as an educator are left
in a precarious situation. How do you best serve a kid who would rather
be in a tank of sharks than in your class?
As a college theatre major, I actually see this come
up quite a bit! Since my college offers a broad degree in theatre,
actors have to take tech classes (which terrify me) and techies have to
take acting classes (which petrify them). Here is what my acting
professor did to help the students in her class who were not actors, not
interested in acting and not enthusiastic to be trapped in her acting
class for a semester.
First, my professor established why it was important
for everyone to take an acting class at some point in his or her life.
Acting is not just an art, it is a way of life, she explained. It helps
people to live in the moment and be “present”
rather than spending their time dwelling on the past and fearing the
future. It helps to provide insight about yourself and your inner
truths that you never knew before. For more practical people, learning
to act serves as a means to build self-confidence, improve vocal skills
and conquer the common fear of public speaking. Giving students the big
picture worked out really well for my professor, because suddenly the
class was not about getting onstage and being silly, but about bettering
themselves and conquering fears that might thwart them in the real
world.
Another method my professor used which was
particularly successful was to not focus so much on trying to get
reluctant students to “act” but rather to encourage them to “get out of their heads.”
She encouraged improvisation and spontaneity. We often were given
activities that required so much focus and concentration that we forgot
we were in front of a class. This was particularly effective because it
applied to more experienced, albeit self-conscious actors in the class
as well (like me) and ensured that both the actors and non-actors in the
class could be on the same level for awhile.
Next was an interesting tactic. Instead of focusing
on how to make a shy actor live up to a more enthusiastic, experienced
scene partner, my professor insisted that the experienced actors in the
class play to their inexperienced partners’ strengths. It was, she insisted, never an actor’s
place to make their scene partner look bad. Therefore, just as a shy
actor needed to step it up and break free of nerves, a more traveled
actor needed to do whatever possible to bolster the confidence of his
partner. This worked in such a way that when the loudest kid in class
was partnered with the meekest, their final scene together was beautiful
because both had to make extreme adjustments in their temperaments to
make the scene look polished and balanced. I love this strategy because
it doesn’t antagonize shy actors and make them feel small. Rather, it puts the pressure on your
more enthusiastic students to take their skills to another level to help
their partners.
Teaching acting to an unwilling student is actually a great opportunity to change a shy kid’s
life. They will gain newfound skills that will help them immensely in
non-theatrical settings such as business presentations and job
interviews. Even in their everyday lives, they will benefit from being
present, getting out of their heads and complementing the strengths of
their partners.
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