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Bruce Taws

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RE: Fireworks in You Can't Take it with You

Posted By Bruce Taws 07-25-2023 11:12
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Love this show! I've used a simple trick with a strobe light or flashing different lights through the open door leading to the open basement door, along with short bursts of fog machine. For a safer fog, in case some of your smoke detectors might go off, use a can or two of haze spray cans towards the ...

Big A&& Rock accompaniment

Posted By Bruce Taws 05-18-2023 14:55
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I'm looking for an accompaniment for the song "Big A&& Rock" from The Full Monty and can't find anything close to it. I'm willing to pay for it if necessary. I've got a small group that is looking to try and it for next year. Thanks, Bruce TawsMosley High School Lynn Haven, Florida The information ...

Cast Posting Fun

Posted By Bruce Taws 01-13-2023 16:40
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I don't know if this has come to your attention, but this SNL parody of Will Ferrell as a crazy Drama teacher posting a cast list makes me laugh every time. So much truth here. Have a good laugh on your three day weekend. We all deserve it.If the forum won't publish the link, just go to YouTube and type ...

RE: Wonderland

Posted By Bruce Taws 12-03-2022 12:37
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I too have tried reaching out to him, but his people are adamant that he will not release it. They won't say why, but many have speculated it's because critics we're so brutal about it at its opening. This is at the top of my bucket list to direct before I retire. I love it so much. The information ...

RE: Video of Musical Performance

Posted By Bruce Taws 11-19-2022 08:04
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I have noticed this as well and reported a few of them over the years, but YouTube doesn't feel obligated to report them or do anything about it. According to them it's the responsibility of the publishing house to regulate it and prosecute the offenders. I don't believe they have the legal team to go ...

Advice needed

Posted By Bruce Taws 05-01-2022 16:41
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I need to edit my original post because I did indeed have my facts incorrect before I worded the post. After doing some research and discussing the original question, I was incorrect in my assumption that the course code was incorrect and that the Guidance office at my school was knowingly changing codes ...

RE: Paint Persuasion

Posted By Bruce Taws 04-15-2022 08:47
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Robert, I couldn't echo this sentiment fast enough. I'm going on 36 years of having used every theater in town in that time, but when it came time for our county to build a theater at our school, they brought in every TD from those theaters to give their advice one afternoon. Turns out, everyone of them ...

RE: Singin' in the Rain

Posted By Bruce Taws 03-29-2022 20:25
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I forgot to add one more picture as an attachment. Is it too late to add it to my post? On Tue, Mar 29, 2022, 7:09 PM Bruce Taws wrote: We just finished a successful run of Singin' in the Rain and made it rain on stage! I had seen it done over fifteen years ago by a traveling show and decided to ...

Singin' in the Rain Attachments

Posted By Bruce Taws 03-29-2022 20:24
Found In Library: Open Forum

Singin' in the Rain

Posted By Bruce Taws 03-29-2022 20:10
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We just finished a successful run of Singin' in the Rain and made it rain on stage! I had seen it done over fifteen years ago by a traveling show and decided to reverse engineer it for myself. It was much easier than I thought it would be and I am willing to share my plans with others who might want ...

Singin' in the Rain Attachments

Posted By Bruce Taws 03-29-2022 20:09
Found In Library: Open Forum

RE: Musical Suggestion

Posted By Bruce Taws 03-19-2022 06:28
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I saw an almost all black cast perform Seussical the Musical as a one act at our Florida State Thespian Festival this week that was the best performance I have ever seen. Their use of African dance, hip hop, colorful costumes, and soaring vocals made me forget that the only scenery they had was a 2'x2' ...

RE: When they're supposed to be off book but are NOT

Posted By Bruce Taws 02-26-2022 13:08
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Never had a problem in 35 years of directing. I tell them up front, no prompter or prompting two weeks before or during the show...embarrassment takes care of the rest. I also make crew watch two run-throughs three weeks before a show and actors don't like being prompted in front of their friends, so ...

RE: Help with a question, please

Posted By Bruce Taws 12-04-2021 11:05
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Well, this is an easy one for me. I am the only one in my department and have been my entire career. That means that I am the one designing the programs, printing the tickets, directing the show, building the scenery, while still teaching 200 students, grading papers, and doing all of the fundraising ...

RE: Little Women the musical

Posted By Bruce Taws 10-20-2021 06:07
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We used a cane pole offstage with a combination of fishing string and kite string to keep kite aloft and simulate dipping and side to side movement. The onstage actor ran a bit and the offstage operator held pole aloft and another tech pulled on fishing string to get it to fly, holding it taut to keep ...

Bucket List

Posted By Bruce Taws 10-02-2021 08:48
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I am in DROP (Our states retirement incentive program) and only have five years more until retirement. I have a bucket list of musicals I want to do before I go and some I have done too many times and don't want to do again. I was curious if anyone else has a similar list. These titles are favorites, ...

RE: Breaking the Stigma

Posted By Bruce Taws 09-28-2021 09:43
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I have been fighting for a solution for over 35 years and really don't have a clear one to offer. I have a membership of over 100 students, but only ten of them are male. I tried the, "Where do you think the Leonardo DeCaprio's or Tom Hiddleston's of the world came from? They were involved in high school ...

RE: How will you perform live?

Posted By Bruce Taws 08-12-2021 09:32
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We performed two shows last year successfully, albeit not to the standards we are used to. In November we did a socially distanced performance of Addams Family and in March The Wizard of Oz. Both were with audience restrictions, masks, every other row empty, two seats in between the audience groups, ...

Virtual Festival issues

Posted By Bruce Taws 10-19-2020 09:04
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I just had to cancel my one-act for the ITS festival in my area after being denied video rights for the five one-acts under consideration. The titles either allowed partial videotaping, full streaming, or a combination of both, but my district has a deadline for video only submission and won't allow ...

RE: Technical Theatre and Social Distancing

Posted By Bruce Taws 07-11-2020 15:25
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I don't see any way of doing it without masks. If you are building a frame, two people are a must and usually are within a couple of feet away from each other because it's hard to hold the wood still while operating a screw gun. I usually have 40-45 kids in my Stagecraft classes and am more than a little ...