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hs theatre season

  • 1.  hs theatre season

    Posted 03-29-2017 23:29
    Hello,

    I'm doing some research on types of shows for our school theatre program. Currently we do a small musical in the fall or spring, a large winter musical, a one act as part of the forensics competition, and a play in the fall or spring. In the past there was only one musical; there was a play in the place of a small musical. 

    I'm curious what you do at your schools. How many productions do you do and what kinds? 

    Colleen

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    Colleen Lentz
    Speech and Drama Teacher/Director
    Cudahy WI
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  • 2.  RE: hs theatre season

    Posted 03-30-2017 03:40
    We have a similar season as you do.  Most years we do a fall play that we take a cutting of to the forensic contest.  Then a large musical in the spring, and we end our season with a student directed one act showcase in May.  Next year we are replacing the fall play with another musical.  We are also skipping the forensic contest next year as we are going to the National Performing Arts Festival at Walt Disney World in Feb.  

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    Michael Kurhajec
    Techincal Director
    Union Grove High School
    Union Gorve, WI
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: hs theatre season

    Posted 03-30-2017 06:36
    I teach voice, but at our local high school in Portland, OR, they produced a children's show in the Fall, either a musical or play.  The elementary kids are bussed in during the day and they have one weekend of shows.  It is a huge success and the house is always packed.  Break a leg!

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    Corinne Walker
    Lyon, France
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: hs theatre season

    Posted 03-30-2017 08:42
    Our season usually takes the form of a state competition one-act (directed by a Senior), the Fall play/musical, a Senior class fundraising event in February, the Spring play, a Freshman/Sophomore play, and we end with student-written one-acts, written and directed by students.

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    John Perry
    Drama Instructor
    Atherton High School
    Louisville KY
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: hs theatre season

    Posted 03-30-2017 08:47
    We do a fall play, a spring musical in late February or early March, and senior directed one acts in late April or early May.  Our Speech team has meets from October through February, and our Improv Troupe has several performances throughout the year.

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    Theresa Velazquez
    St Charles MO
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: hs theatre season

    Posted 03-30-2017 09:16
    We did six shows - dinner theatre, opening in October, starting rehearsal in August; fall one-act competition, opening in late November; winter play - usually a straight play, opening early February; student one-acts, 5-6 one acts, student-directed and run, opening early to mid-March; spring play - either a musical or Shakespeare, opening early May, and student showcase, mid-June.  Busy season, but so much fun.

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    Jennifer Miguel
    Hampton, VA
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: hs theatre season

    Posted 03-30-2017 13:44
    We do a fall musical (weird I know), a spring play, a night of one acts each quarter (although 3rd quarter is specifically for student directed pieces), and 8 improv shows a year. We also take one acts to all of the thespian competitions in our state (usually a different for each competition).

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    Shira Schwartz
    Chandler Unified School District
    Chandler AZ
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: hs theatre season

    Posted 03-31-2017 03:25
    I'm at the Singapore American School. 

    We do a Fall show (auditions on the second day of school). 6-7 weeks of rehearsal. 
    It alternates between a Musical one year and a Drama the next.

    In November we start the process for Cultural Convention, where 6 schools (Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Taipei, Manila, Singapore) each bring an 8 person 45 minute travelling show. (Convention is first weekend in March, and includes Dance and Visual Arts)

    In March I start the process for our April Theatre Festival which includes: 2 shorter pieces (20-30 min) which I direct, 'Scenes and Monologues' (student directed/written short works (10 minutes or less) and an Improv Competition. (Short Form) The Long Form Improv classes also perform for the public in Theatre Festival. 

    I also collaborate with the Film teacher and make a film featuring students each year. (Typically a month of shooting for a 10-20 minute film.

    The International Schools teaching circuit is a great gig! The facilities are typically top notch and lots of support for the arts!


    Tom Schulz
    High School Theatre

    I am currently reading "Comedy Improvisation Manual" by Matt Bresser, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh of The Upright Citizens Brigade.




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  • 9.  RE: hs theatre season

    Posted 03-30-2017 17:10
    We do a large musical (both Musical Theatre classes combined) in the fall, school play (after school theater club) in the winter (rotate between comedy, drama, and Shakespeare), and 2 small musicals in the Spring (one for each Musical Theatre class). My Drama class does a 1st semester production, a 2nd semester production.  These "productions" can be reader' theater, an evening of one-acts, original works, etc. 

    The "final" for Musical Theatre performance is a showcase of some kind.  This year's drama final is "Pygmalion Project" where they will design, rehearse, create, their final performance/product based on the script.  


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    Mike Hancey
    Musical Theatre, Drama, Theatre Guild, & Theater Manager
    Laramie High School
    Laramie, WY
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    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: hs theatre season

    Posted 03-30-2017 17:40
    We produce two full-length shows that are open to anyone to audition for: one in the fall and one in the spring. Genre depends on my whim at the time. Every other year we produce a musical (our music department is horrendously busy). In February we produce what is arguably our most popular event: student-directed one-acts, also open to all. Some are student-written, but this time they all were professionally written pieces, requiring lots of royalties! My combined intermediate-advanced class produces a number of events: a haunted theater for Halloween (runs 10 minutes and they stage it at lunch), a holiday/Christmas show, a one-act children's show for an invited audience of elementary school kids and followed by 2 public performances, and their signing-off-for-the-year Variety Show, which they are writing at this moment. 
    When I first arrived at the school 10 years ago, there were only 3 shows produced at any given time.



    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: hs theatre season

    Posted 03-31-2017 07:57
    I think the big thing to take away is that there are so many options with how many and what type of shows one can do, the original poster could well have asked how long is a piece of string, since every answer has been different, thus far!

    Over four years the seasons have varied considerably, starting with a fall musical, a comedy and a Greek classic in year one; starting small, trying to work out what bandwidth we had and what students were capable of or had the stomach for. In subsequent years, as the program grew, we expanded to include class produced plays, usually one act productions: one in the fall semester, one in the spring. The Spring 'one acts' are usually an abridged Shakespeare text (one for each class, both classes). Some years we've done two musicals in a year, most years one. We do between 4 and 8 Improv shows a year, and this year we added a dinner mystery theatre to the mix (because administration told us to!) Generally I try to balance comedy and drama, balancing in slight bias toward comedy, and a mix of contemporary and classic pieces.

    Very encouraged to see so many sharing about student directed one acts! That's exciting!

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    Phillip Goodchild
    Theatre Arts Instructor/Assistant Department Head of English
    Ruskin FL
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    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: hs theatre season

    Posted 04-02-2017 13:22
    I thought I would chime in on this, too. Our season stays pretty consistent but I am always looking for ways to switch it up.

    Early October: Fall play (usually a small cast play that does not require a great deal of rehearsal)

    Late October: 24-Hour Theatre Project

    Early November: repertoire musical

    Mid to Late November: Winter Play (usually a larger cast play)

    December: repertoire play

    Early January: One-Act Plays (sometimes student directed sometimes not)

    Late March: Spring Musical

    SPECIAL NOTES:
    1. We concentrate on American Plays and the Classics in terms of building our seasons
    2. We do not produce any class-generated work
    3. We were doing an improv troupe for a few years but it petered out due to lack of interest
    4. We produce a Shakespeare play every third year
    5. We try to produce at least one play per year by an African-American playwright.
    6. We sometimes present two musicals in a season by having the second musical take the place of one of the plays in the fall. So far this has always been an African-American musical (such as The Wiz, The Color Purple, and Dreamgirls.)

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    Mark A. Zimmerman,

    Theatre Director
    Akron School for the Arts
    Firestone Community Learning Center
    470 Castle Blvd
    Akron, Ohio 44313

    Troupe 5570

    mzimmerm@apslearn.org
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    Original Message


  • 13.  RE: hs theatre season

    Posted 04-03-2017 09:42

    We do a large fall play or fall musical  (canned show), a winter show, a large musical with full orchestra, a one act play for competition, senior directed shows and possible spring play.

     

    ​​​​​

    Kelly M. Thomas

    Department of Theatre

    Dr. Ralph H. Poteet High School

    3300 Poteet Drive

    Mesquite, Texas 75150

    972-882-5300

    Kthomas@mesquiteisd.org

     

     




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  • 14.  RE: hs theatre season

    Posted 04-12-2017 10:31
    Our school is on a trimester system. We do a show each trimester:  a play in the fall and spring and a musical in the winter. Our school is pretty small so our musical is open to students, faculty, staff and parents. It's a lot o fun to see the community all be a part of the production.

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    Ray Karns
    Theatre Teacher
    Wakefield School
    The Plains VA
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    Original Message


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