Lara Russo:
Oooooo! The monologue idea based on the Innocence Project is a
fantastic idea! Please let me know how this turns out!!!
After reading what a number of others have written in this thread, I have decided that double-casting is too much work. Therefore, as a warmup performance to go on before the main production of TWELVE ANGRY JURORS, I am contemplating choosing key short scenes from other courtroom plays and having a core company of actors (separate from those chosen for the main production) perform the scenes on the stage apron as an opener. Their job would be to research and read each play, analyze iits characters and craft the blocking and characterization of a key scene.
Here is a page which inspired this idea:
https://www.abajournal.com/gallery/12_greatest_legal_pl . I think I would try to grab about four or five key scenes from titles like INHERIT THE WIND, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, THE NIGHT OF JANUARY 16, THE CRUCIBLE, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG, WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION, THE CAINE MUTINY COURT-MARTIAL, A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, ANATOMY OF A MURDER, or OEDIPUS THE KING. The tricky part is that many of those plays have more male roles than female roles, so we'll see (Isn't that always a trick when dealing with older scripts? lol).
If I'm going to attempt this, I am also going to need to find out from publishers how the royalties work for choosing only a five minute scene for those titles not in the public domain. Yikes! I also just found this other trial/courtroom-themed link moments ago which might carry some potential for student-directed work:
https://dbp.theatredance.utexas.edu/teaching-strategies/trialcourtroomI appreciate everyone's thoughts on how to deal with the wonderful problem of having a program with lots of students in it.
Keep those ideas coming!------------------------------
Julie Hanisch
English/Drama Teacher
Mukwonago High School
WI
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-17-2022 15:11
From: Laura Russo
Subject: Too many students in one's theatre program?
I am right there with you Julie! I usually try to cast 25-35 in my fall non-musical production and it's HARD to find quality scripts to accommodate or expand. I'd love to hear what shows you've found success doing this! My favorites have been: Kate Hamill's Sense & Sensibility, Look Homeward Angel, Radium Girls, The Crucible, Laramie Project, A Midsummer Night's Dream, You Can't Take It With You, Twelfth Night, Museum. I will probably start to recycle once we hit the ten year mark but I'm always on the lookout for challenging material.
I am currently doing Twelve Angry Jurors in my advanced Production class! Everyone in the class is cast in the show but I'm contemplating doing a unit in conjunction with this. My thought was to have them each write a monologue based on some of The Innocence Project Cases. Each actor would research a real person who was unfairly convicted of a crime and write a monologue based on their case. I haven't planned all the details out but I thought they would work together nicely.
Good luck!
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Laura Russo
Teacher/Director of Theatre Arts
Chatham High School
NJ
Original Message:
Sent: 01-15-2022 23:17
From: Julie Hanisch
Subject: Too many students in one's theatre program?
Hello,
I am in a bit of philosophical quandary and am curious about others' views.
My theatre program has grown a LOT in part because I have chosen plays with larger casts the last few years to grow participation. Students have grown excited and brought their friends into the program, but I've painted myself into a corner now with little ability to produce plays with smaller cast sizes. My schedule and our theatre's schedule is such where we can't just add additional productions to give everyone a chance, so I feel like I'm on merry-go-round of large cast shows and can't get off without causing pain to some really talented kids.
I don't always want to tackle plays with large cast sizes because with those plays, a lot of my more talented students don't really get to sink their teeth into significant onstage time. I was pondering doing TWELVE ANGRY JURORS this coming fall with a double cast, but I've heard horror stories about managing a double cast and am not really thinking I want to try it. So, I was thinking about running a student-directed one-act with a similar courtroom theme to act as a kind of "warm up" performance to open the main show. That would give more students a chance to participate while still having a medium size cast for the main play.
Has anyone done something similar to this? Can anyone recommend a great 15-20 minute, courtroom-themed one-act I might consider as an opener? Other thoughts about solving the large cast-size merry-go-round? :-)
Thanks, all!
Julie Hanisch
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Julie Hanisch
English/Drama Teacher
Mukwonago High School
WI
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