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Rob Kimbro

Director of Fine Arts,
Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart

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Director of Fine Arts,
Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart

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1 to 19 of 19 total

RE: Shakespeare

Posted By Rob Kimbro 07-27-2023 10:10
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I've done a lot of Shakespeare (and classics in general) in the professional and collegiate sides of my career and, when I started working with MS and HS kids a decade or so ago, I kept working with that material and it's been fun and rewarding. So I'd say go for it. 100%. I'm at a K-12 girls school ...

RE: Medieval Fantasy Adventure play?

Posted By Rob Kimbro 12-21-2022 14:33
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After many a pandemic-related delay, this spring I'm going to be directing a show called Tooth and Tail for Mildred's Umbrella, a small professional company here in Houston. It's pretty much exactly what you describe. (A search using that title and company name should give you a bit more info). This ...

RE: Undergraduate Theatre Methods Course Assistance

Posted By Rob Kimbro 03-29-2022 08:54
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RE: Undergraduate Theatre Methods Course Assistance

Posted By Rob Kimbro 03-29-2022 08:54
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This is an excellent point. It's taken me a long time to learn how to use rubrics (reasonably) well and they're a useful tool. Several years ago, I decided to start doing my grading on an 8 point scale (0-7) and then convert that to percentages and letters by setting 7 at 100 and stepping down 5 points ...

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

Posted By Rob Kimbro 01-22-2022 15:48
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Don't dismiss double casting so quickly.  It does have its challenges, but the benefits are huge.  Conflicts are easier to manage, as actors can miss the occasional rehearsal without leaving their scene partners stranded. They get to learn from each other - I tell them to steal each other's best stuff, ...

RE: Best version of Alice and Wonderland

Posted By Rob Kimbro 10-14-2021 08:40
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James DeVita's Looking Glass Land is great and sounds like a good fit for you. But it is Looking Glass, not Wonderland. It doesn't do any of the crossover of the two that lots of adaptations do all chess, no playing cards. Actually, I think the Hatter does make an appearance, which I think is a crossover. ...

RE: Middle School - 10 Minute Plays?

Posted By Rob Kimbro 10-13-2021 09:55
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I did a 10 minute play unit in 7th/8th for a while and loved it. I found the collections from Actor's Theatre of Louisville and the Guthrie to be useful. Most of those pieces aren't going to work for MS, but there are a ton of them and when you do find one that works, it's often really challenging and ...

RE: Greek Plays: Ideas?

Posted By Rob Kimbro 10-15-2020 10:16
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We did Antigone last year, using an adaptation we created during the process.  Basically, we read through every translation I could get my hands on - Heaney, Fitts/Fitzgerald, both Carsons, a bunch of late 19th century ones - it ended up being nearly a dozen, I think.  We'd literally sit around in a ...

RE: Favorite Greek shows?

Posted By Rob Kimbro 08-07-2020 09:33
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I'll second the suggestion of Antigone.  We did it a year ago, creating our own adaptation after reading a dozen or so existing translations and adaptations, and it was a fantastic experience.  Ours was a much smaller cast - a core group of three who created the script and played Antigone, Creon, and ...

RE: Lesson plans

Posted By Rob Kimbro 11-03-2019 14:05
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This sounds incredibly frustrating and difficult. The best I can offer is this - small victories are victories.  Middle school is largely about socialization and it sounds like you're doing that work.  But it's slow.  And that's OK.  Keep inviting in the ones outside of that core 10 or so.  Know why ...

RE: Short Play Faves?

Posted By Rob Kimbro 08-24-2018 09:56
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These may be what's already on your shelf, but the annual collections from Louisville and from the Guthrie are both great resources. I've also used the Lawrence Harbison edited collections.   I'm also a huge fan of student-written 10 minute pieces.  Over the last few years, I've built a tradition ...

RE: 3 Woman Plays

Posted By Rob Kimbro 08-15-2018 10:42
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Interestingly, the same company in Houston that did Drowning Girls has also done Dead Man's Cell Phone (which I directed) and Dry Land. All great scripts.  And I agree with you about the humor in DMCP - I think the Mom at the funeral is hysterical but it is challenging to land that speech. The others ...

RE: 3 Woman Plays

Posted By Rob Kimbro 08-12-2018 08:48
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Hi, Josh.  Good to hear from you. All-girls school, but we sometimes bring in outside artists for male roles.  So ONLY three women would be ideal, but 1-2 men isn't a deal-breaker, as long as the play isn't centered on those men. It's all too easy to find scripts with majority female casts where all ...

3 Woman Plays

Posted By Rob Kimbro 08-01-2018 14:06
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We've got a high school advanced production class of three young women coming up this year and are trying to figure out a show for them to tackle.  I'm looking for help brainstorming an initial list.   So, what are shows you've done or read that could be cast with three women? They're all good and ...

RE: Adventure/Quest story with female protagonist

Posted By Rob Kimbro 07-25-2018 09:56
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Men on Boats by Jaclyn Backhaus would be worth a look. ------------------------------ Rob Kimbro Director of Fine Arts Duchesne Academy HoustonTX ------------------------------

RE: Magical Realism-Latino Titles

Posted By Rob Kimbro 07-11-2018 10:00
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You might look at the works of Nilo Cruz, best known for Anna in the Tropics. He adapted Marquez's Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, which is magical realism if anything is. ------------------------------ Rob Kimbro Theatre Teacher Houston TX ------------------------------

RE: Wizard of Oz -- Fire on stage?

Posted By Rob Kimbro 01-08-2018 11:01
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We used a flash cotton effect - a palmed device.  Both the witch and scarecrow had one and the "throw" was a pair of detonations - first the witch with throwing motion and then the scarecrow right in front of her torso.  That way, if one or the other failed to set off the cotton (the igniter was similar ...

RE: Non-Musical Hits for Youth Audiences

Posted By Rob Kimbro 11-16-2017 08:33
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Hey, Josh.  Check out Looking Glass Land. It's by a guy you might have heard of. Jim Davita? He's pretty good. ;-) I think it hits all the points you're looking for. ------------------------------ Rob Kimbro Theatre Teacher Duchesne Academy Houston TX ------------------------------

Anyone want some 9-foot Chessmen?

Posted By Rob Kimbro 09-21-2016 10:25
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We produced Jim DeVita's Looking Glass Land last year and our set consisted of stock platforming and two mammoth chess pieces - a Red Bishop and a White Rook. They're about 9' tall and 5' wide at the base, with small shelves built into the back for prop storage. I don't have a place to store them and ...