List of Contributions

RE: Little Shop of Horrors Casting

Posted By Kathy Siler 11-16-2023 10:08
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I have done this show twice over the years. Both stage directors agreed with me in casting color blind as we teacher/directors are allowed to do with this show title. We would have liked to have that "Motown look and feel", but concentrated on the telling of the story. Both sets of urchins and vocal ...

RE: Play Help

Posted By Kathy Siler 06-08-2022 16:09
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My situation exactly. We did THE ORPHAN TRAIN by Aurand Harris. It fit our 6th-12th grades department well. There are eight scenes, each with an orphan that tells their story with several background characters coming into each scene. Dramatic Publishing states 11-25 cast members. I used 18 with several ...

RE: Legally Blonde Diffculty

Posted By Kathy Siler 05-28-2022 22:19
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I have not done either of these shows, but I have seen them on various high school stages through the years. What I'm thinking is that the music in MAMMA MIA has the same genre and feeling all through the show, whereas LEGALLY BLONDE has a variety of music styles within the show and can feature either ...

RE: Drama Club

Posted By Kathy Siler 02-01-2022 19:50
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I got started with the info on the Educational Theatre Association webpage. (It was fabulous to see my young students give Persuasive Speeches to Admin and School board with research and their own justification.) [ https://schooltheatre.org/thespian-troupe-membership/ ] Then seek info on those pages ...

RE: Too many students in one's theatre program?

Posted By Kathy Siler 01-16-2022 14:32
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Years ago, when my theatre program was a giant, I used student directed works throughout the year. I was Blessed with many students staying in the program for four years just so they could direct their own stuff. (They had to apply.) I've also done double cast shows and they were definitely challenging, ...

Four-day Work Week??

Posted By Kathy Siler 05-11-2021 21:50
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Please share your ideas why a four-day school work-week would work well for you or would not. (My CTE Department is gathering info to promote this idea to our Admin). -- Kathy SilerTheatre Director, Payson High School"We share the importance of the arts, not only in society but also in building ...

RE: Classroom Light lab

Posted By Kathy Siler 02-27-2020 14:02
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Yes, I do this in my Studio Theatre / Black Box Theatre / Classroom. It's fairly large so we use one end as the lab area. Lighting Lessons are different for the various age groups, but each class can use the lab to complete their observations, assumptions, trials, and practice. I use ellipsoidals ...

RE: Any experience working with stilts?

Posted By Kathy Siler 02-14-2020 09:52
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For Agnes' stilts in MEET ME IN ST LOUIS, we wanted an old fashioned homemade look. My shop techs experiemnted and came up with these. Our actress got a chance to practice with them from the first week of rehearsal. During rehearsals and production, there were performers next to her for safety. Although ...

RE: Western one act melodrama script

Posted By Kathy Siler 12-10-2019 09:59
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THE WILDFLOWERING OF CHASTITY by Dutton Foster (Dramatic Publishing) is a conventional melo-drama one-act play with 4 males & 4 females. The villian wants the property and the girl. The old auntie has no resources. The hero saves the day. There are five comedic parts that can be played up or down. ...

RE: Crucible Ensemble

Posted By Kathy Siler 05-23-2019 17:22
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I have also added ensemble to THE CRUCIBLE, similar to what Marcie did. It is a great way to allow actors, usually the younger ones, to practice and perform physical acting. After a classroom research project, I allowed the older students to choose "town personality types" to make sure we had diverse ...

RE: As You Like It script

Posted By Kathy Siler 05-13-2019 11:39
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Look at the Richard Carter version (Community Shakespeare Company). He cuts them down to about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes, but retains the characters, the language and all of the plot lines. We've done three of them so far. The teens love them. ------------------------------ Kathy ...

RE: favorite end of year activity

Posted By Kathy Siler 05-01-2019 10:57
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One of my favorite end-of-year activities has been small group short infommercials on a social ill. My students brainstorm a list of issues. Each small group chooses one, a genre and a product (i.e. breakfast cereal that cures promescuity). They must perform these live, but we do film them to watch ...

Need stage lighting advice

Posted By Kathy Siler 02-10-2019 20:59
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Our auditorium was recently retrofitted with LED stage lights. I need to change my lesson plans to accomodate such. Ideas? My Studio Theater needs a new lighting system. Do anybody out there have a system where both LED and the old tri-pin system are used together in the same theater? -- Kathy ...

RE: Murder mystery dinner theatre suggestion

Posted By Kathy Siler 11-27-2018 10:23
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We have done MURDER IN THE KNIFE ROOM by Jonathan Rand twice. My junior drama students did it with great success and wanted to do it again when they were seniors. I relented because they were so enthusiastic about it. The students love the cheesy humor from typical sterotyped characters. Knives on ...

RE: Thunder Sheet

Posted By Kathy Siler 11-13-2018 10:10
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I prefer to shake large sheet of metal as well, but an elementary school music teacher showed me her thunder tubes that she purhcased from a music store. The sound is very realistic, but not very loud. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyZkmjWAH10 ------------------------------ Kathy Siler Theatre ...

RE: Thespian Points

Posted By Kathy Siler 10-11-2018 11:28
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My theater students earn Thespian Points for anything that my department sponsors or co-sponsors, but not for outside shows. However, some students have gotten Drama Club/Thespian Troupe permission to lend props or costumes to an outside show or help train emergent actors or techies in that outiside ...

RE: Theatre Fabrics

Posted By Kathy Siler 09-14-2018 10:13
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I am Blessed to have SAS Fabrics and Crafts in Phoenix (90 miles south of my town). I have also visited other uphostery wholesale stores in the Southwest. Rosebrand is my go to vendor if I must have something specific, special or "theatrical" ------------------------------ Kathy Siler Theatre ...

RE: Little Shop Dentist Chair

Posted By Kathy Siler 09-13-2018 11:30
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Remember to check with local history museums. Quite often they have things in storage. ------------------------------ Kathy Siler Theatre Educator Payson Unified Schools Payson AZ ------------------------------

RE: We got it. We gotta use it!

Posted By Kathy Siler 09-13-2018 11:13
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Well said, David Simpson. We must all continue our efforts in communicating the fact that both stage and tech directorial choices are not about toys, but interpretation of the author's intent and impact with story-telling. Maria Stadmueller, I also have a slow moving projection screen just upstage ...

RE: Ensemble One-Act Suggestions

Posted By Kathy Siler 08-28-2018 11:06
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10 WAYS TO SURVIVE THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE by Don Zolidas (Playscrips) is super fun with a lesson about teamwork, 10-24 actoras. Although there are four primary speakers, I consider it an ensemble show. ------------------------------ Kathy Siler Theatre Educator Payson Unified Schools Payson AZ ...

Kathy Siler

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