List of Contributions

Little Shop of Horrors Casting

Posted By James Smith 11-15-2023 15:19
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We are producing Little Shop of Horrors in the spring. Despite working with the potential vocal director who helped select the show, the same vocal director has decided not to work on the show because of the potential of casting non-black students in the roles of the street urchins. Our school's population ...

Peter and the Starcatcher - Mollusks

Posted By James Smith 09-05-2023 11:54
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To those who have or are directing Peter and the Starcatcher, I have a direct question concerning the portrayal of the Mollusks. I have read through several posts about this similar topic, and completed my directorial analysis on what I could consider the original intention of the characters and how ...

RE: how do you pay your music directors and choreographers

Posted By James Smith 08-15-2023 11:07
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We have just been able to add a stipend for our music/pit director. However, we have been using our production budget to pay for additional musicians when we don't the students that can play a particular instrument, and our choreographer is outside of the school. ------------------------------ James ...

Audrey II Rentals

Posted By James Smith 08-15-2023 11:05
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Anyone in the Illinois/Midwest region have Audrey II puppets available for renting next April? ------------------------------ James Smith Ridgewood High School Illinois ------------------------------

Student Attendee Adoption

Posted By James Smith 04-27-2023 15:10
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Hello! Our troupe had two students qualify for Thespys who want to attend ITF this summer but unfortunately no one from our school can attend with them. Is there any troupes attending that would be willing to "adopt" our students so they may attend? They will have their own transportation there and back ...

Prism Projection's RevEAL LED Profile Spots

Posted By James Smith 04-16-2023 15:27
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Looking for any school in the Northern Illinois tri-state area looking to offer to purchase 34 RevEAL profile Color LED spots with 36 degree lenses. Asking price is best offer. ------------------------------ James Smith Illinois Chapter Director Ridgewood High School ---------------------------- ...

RE: Musical Theatre PE Credit-California

Posted By James Smith 02-26-2020 09:10
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Thanks for posting this Merica. I'm also interested in this. I have a half a credit musical theatre course running next year combined with a tech theatre class. I was hoping to convince the school that this could also count as a PE credit. Our band students get a half PE credit in the fall for marching ...

RE: wireless MIcrophones

Posted By James Smith 02-13-2020 09:08
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And nothing against either B&H or Sweetwater, but we chose to go with Full Compass. We reduced costs by only purchasing the handheld with lapel system for five wireless (none of our events really use more than five handhelds), then we bought wireless guitar systems. Since we have to purchase the micro ...

RE: Crown molding

Posted By James Smith 04-12-2019 09:19
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We've used foam to create the effect as well. Sheets of foam can be bought at most hardware stores. Cut the desired with, then using a router, you can create depth and contours. You can then use a heavy duty glue gun to hold it in place. Just be sure it doesn't have the plastic film on it when you paint ...

RE: An Opportunity

Posted By James Smith 08-27-2018 16:46
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Thanks Jason! This is a wonderful idea. I'm looking for some ideas for an event we do in Illinois called Group Interpretation. Our time limit is under 30 minutes, but this might be a very powerful piece to present to students. Part of our school's preparation is to present it to all of our English classes. ...

RE: Sound Program

Posted By James Smith 10-28-2016 12:17
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Q-Lab: Figure 53 | QLab | Live Show Control for Mac OS X Figure53 remove preview Figure 53 | QLab | Live Show Control for Mac OS X QLab allows you to design and operate amazing multimedia performances from your Mac OS X computer. A single QLab workspace can control ...

RE: Online Ticketing

Posted By James Smith 01-08-2015 07:40
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We use showtix4u.com ------------------------------ James Smith Illinois Chapter Director Ridgewood High School ------------------------------

RE: Anyone used Show Ready from TRW?

Posted By James Smith 12-09-2014 07:33
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We almost exclusively use rehearsal and show tracks to produce our musical. This past year we used Rehearse Score and Show Ready. Since we are a 1:1 school, all of the actors were able to download the music and sheet music to their iPads. Any changes in tempos, number of vamps, or key changes made by ...

RE: Thespian points.

Posted By James Smith 09-14-2014 18:45
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I've always felt that how students earn points should ultimately be at the discretion of the troupe director, following the guideline that each point earned is equal to approximately ten hours of excellent work in the theatre. I know students can earn at least a point for attending a festival, but I ...

Thespian Survival Game

Posted By James Smith 09-02-2014 17:51
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So I'm looking for ideas on how to adapt the "Survival Game" listed below into a "Thespian Survival Game" for our state's upcoming student leadership weekend conference. I thought I would throw this out to the community to gather some creative ideas and/or if anyone wants to steal the idea for their ...

RE: Using a dog in ANNIE

Posted By James Smith 08-20-2014 08:48
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I agree with the other directors about using a real dog. We did Annie last year and the dog we had was perfect. She got a little scared on the first night - so I wish I knew about the hot dog pieces - but after that she was great and nearly a bigger hit than the orphans! Have fun! ------------ ...

Plays for Social Justice

Posted By James Smith 06-25-2014 11:08
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Are there any quality one act plays with social justice themes that anyone may know of, read and/or directed? ------------------------------------------- James Smith Illinois Chapter Director Ridgewood High School -------------------------------------------

RE:LED lighting advice

Posted By James Smith 05-22-2014 07:07
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In our recent auditorium renovation, our school decided that we would be all LED (both architectural house and safety lighting to all theatrical lighting). The learning curve to understand how to work with all LED has been steep, but well worth it. I would recommend going all, or as much as you can, ...

Shakespeare

Posted By James Smith 03-05-2014 15:00
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As I walked into school today and noticed that our Librarian and one of English teachers standing in front of one of our students listening as she recited the opening soliloquy of Romeo and Juliet. This is pretty common, to have students recite the opening lines from memory. However I have an issue ...

Original Pronunciation Video

Posted By James Smith 10-17-2013 09:29
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Here's a pretty cool video I came across about playing Shakespeare with its original pronunciation - something I believe scholars had only guessed at before. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPlpphT7n9s ------------------------------------------- James Smith Illinois Chapter Director ...

James Smith

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