Have care, this is the slipperiest of slopes.
What I've seen in the past:
Have a summer show so it doesn't impact your season (otherwise this adult only show will take a slot in your season that YOUR students were going to use, lowering the education your kids receive). They are all adults so can be "unsupervised". Take the ADULT SM and give them keys so you go enjoy your summer (we all know that an SM spends quite a bit of time lecturing or corralling actors, and a high school student will be intimidated. Your student directorial staff needs to know they have an adult ally who "gets" it and is 100% in their corner)
Have an adult tech director work with your students. This can be another excited parent. Hopefully your techs can do a show themselves, but having that parent TD again saves you the time.
Now that you don't have to be there, and they are using the space when it's empty anyway, the show can happen in the first month of school (1 week to get back to normal work, 1 tech week of evening rehearsal where you watch it and see if it's a disaster, and then a 2 week run...you should complete the project by mid September if you start when I do in Aug).
Invite Teachers to participate! You might have some diamond in the rough teachers who love theater, and after this, you suddenly have rehearsal coverage when you're sick or out b/c you've developed on campus allys!
Do a really dumb, easy show for the first one. Do High School Musical. It's Disney, so it's super easy, and you'll be printing money in ticket sales b/c high school students LOVE seeing their parents and teachers dress up like High School Students and pretend to be them. The acting is simple so your neophyte parents can't do poorly even if they are terrible actors, and the music is simple so your student vocal director and pianist won't struggle teaching it to the parents and teachers. The MOST important thing for you to remember here is that THIS IS NOT A FUNDRAISER. It's a show. Bake sales are FUNDRAISERS. They take 2-3 people minimum effort organizing 10 or so more, and they make money. Shows take the entire department and take over for at least a month, and take at minimum 30 hours of your personal time in free labor. They can make a TON of money, but consider (and this is what I tell my students) "If you had to pay me $50/hour to supervise every aspect of this event, would it be profitable?"
My above advice will minimize your time involvement (although still plan on that 30 hours or so, you still need to save the day in tech week when things are falling apart and you'll have to watch the thing at least 2 times to give advice before it goest up...it still has your department's name on it so it can't be a flaming mess in performance or that damages your rep and lowers future ticket sales).
Sorry for the essay everyone, but I've seen things like this spiral very quickly out of control a few times. Good luck!
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Bryan Ringsted
San Jose CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-25-2018 18:02
From: Jo Beth Gonzalez
Subject: Parents act in fundraising production directed by teens
Hi All - My parents, recently enthused after chaperoning at our state Thespian conference, have come up with a fundraising project idea:
They want to act in a play that their teens direct.
If we do this, I plan to organize the project to maximize its potential success.
Has anyone tried something like this?
Any suggestions for comedies that involve flexible casting that parents and teens might enjoy working on together?
Thanks for any thoughts!
Jo Beth Gonzalez
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Jo Beth Gonzalez
Teacher/Drama Director
Bowling Green City Schools
Bowling Green OH
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