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Douglas Rome

Consultant, Author, Audition Coach & Strategist

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Consultant, Author, Audition Coach & Strategist
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RE: Solo Running a Dept. - Queries

Posted By Douglas Rome 03-15-2024 10:15
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Do check out Real-World Theatre Education. It includes a ton of ideas, alternatives and issues you undoubtedly have to deal with re: classes, productions and being part of a school environment. And if you'd like to talk about these things with others, TheatreEducators.network meets via Zoom twice a month. ...

RE: Marketing the Play

Posted By Douglas Rome 01-29-2024 09:46
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While you're building a devoted fan base in your community (and after), remember to be "customer-focused." It's not about you and your kids, or how hard they've worked or how dedicated they are. It's not about your show being "great" (what does that even mean?). It's about what they - your potential ...

RE: Stepping on Floor Mics

Posted By Douglas Rome 11-06-2023 09:57
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Try covering the mics (I'm fond of the Crown PCCs) with air vent deflectors. They're cheap, have flexible sizing, and make a huge cracking noise if they do get stepped on (that kid will never do that again!!). ------------------------------ Douglas "Chip" Rome Theatre Consultant Educational Stages ...

RE: 10 G7-12 Students, 18 Hrs of Rehearsal, What to do?

Posted By Douglas Rome 09-21-2023 10:02
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Improv (esp games based on audience suggestions, a la TheatreSports) is a great choice. A staged reading (of a radio play, perhaps) might also fit (and saves the time of memorization). Track down "My Client Curley" and check that out. Or some Superman radio scripts. What about staging a book, like Dr ...

RE: New Middle School Teacher Help

Posted By Douglas Rome 09-08-2023 15:40
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In addition to Real-World Theatre Education, suggested above (which is about all the OTHER stuff beyond lesson plans that you're gonna have to deal with), there are a few cyber resources available to you. 26 Drama Hacks is the items in the RWTE appendix as a .zip file that opens to MSWord .docx files, ...

RE: Starting a new class-advice please!!

Posted By Douglas Rome 08-18-2023 16:18
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There are sample syllabi for both acting and for tech in Real-World Theatre Education, which also prepares you for all the things coming your way beyond lesson plans (parents, publishers, fund-raising, field trips, etc) & includes a robust appendix of templates you can customize.

RE: Starting a new class-advice please!!

Posted By Douglas Rome 08-17-2023 07:54
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There's a syllabus for both acting and for tech in Real-World Theatre Education. It also prepares you for many things you'll confront beyond lesson plans. And it includes a robust appendix of templates in many areas that you can customize. Check it out! ------------------------------ Douglas "Chip" ...

RE: She Kills Monsters

Posted By Douglas Rome 06-25-2023 10:49
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The strongest theme of SKM is the importance - the necessity - of listening to teens, beyond the surface, NOW; you can't know how soon it may be too late to do that. I directed the show ten years ago and despite admin concerns, we had a great time with it and the pushback was minimal; since then, as ...

Now We Can Talk To Each Other

Posted By Douglas Rome 05-20-2023 10:46
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The first Zoom meeting of the Theatre Educators Network will be Sunday, May 21 at 9pm ET /8pm CT /7pm MT /6pm PT Share your recent victories and current struggles. Use the Coupon code GUEST to get in free. Click HERE to learn more. ------------------------------ Douglas "Chip" Rome Theatre Consultant ...

Combat isolation and overwhelm

Posted By Douglas Rome 05-02-2023 14:49
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Meet face-to-face with colleagues who "get it" by joining the Theatre Educators Network. Ask questions, find solutions, share your trials and triumphs and concerns. ------------------------------ Douglas "Chip" Rome Theatre Consultant Educational Stages Burke VA http://EducationalStages.com https ...

RE: Advice on Becoming a Theatre Teacher

Posted By Douglas Rome 02-25-2023 15:34
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Private schools, religious schools, Dept of Defense schools, international schools all hire theatre educators, and their hiring requirements are often more flexible than state public school requirements. I started with just my BA (and summer camp experience) via a teacher placement agency (the school ...

RE: Advice on Becoming a Theatre Teacher

Posted By Douglas Rome 02-24-2023 12:01
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Farah, The book Real-World Theatre Education is an excellent place to start discovering what the life of a theatre educator is like. Its early chapters talk about how to decide where to teach, types of opportunities, interviewing prospective schools for a position, even setting up your classroom and ...

RE: Music Licensing

Posted By Douglas Rome 02-19-2023 09:51
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My understanding is that getting the rights for your kids to sing songs from shows is pretty easy/affordable (ASCAP, BMI, etc.)...but as soon as you put them in costume or use the dialogue to set the scene, it's now a performance of that musical, so up to the company that licenses those shows. Much trickier ...

5 Days to Your Perfect Monologue Challenge

Posted By Douglas Rome 01-14-2023 07:57
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Here's a fun format - and app - for preparing an audition monologue: EducationalStages.ChallengeCreator.com/monologues It includes lots of small, fun interactive bits and plenty of bite-sized and practical advice. Worth suggesting to your students! ------------------------------ Douglas "Chip" Rome ...

RE: The Gay Third Rail

Posted By Douglas Rome 01-14-2023 07:39
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What caught my eye was "saw me making the copies." I sure hope you purchased scripts as required.... ------------------------------ Douglas "Chip" Rome Theatre Consultant Educational Stages Burke VA http://EducationalStages.com https://bit.ly/RWTEOview https://bit.ly/eTeachTech -------------------- ...

RE: Casting Question

Posted By Douglas Rome 12-28-2022 16:55
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Play with costuming/hair/mannerisms/accent as you suggest and your audience will easily understand (unless the older one is way shorter than their younger version). I only use seniority as a casting factor if all else is equal (how often does that really happen?). You want "right fit" so audience has ...

RE: Gunshots in a play

Posted By Douglas Rome 11-09-2022 13:13
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I find it helpful to have the shooter's arm fly back when the sound is heard (whether that weapon would have a kick to it or not) , to clarify visually that it was the gun that caused that gunshot noise. Also, before the shot, a slow lowering of the arm (and maybe even a splaying out of the elbow(s)) ...

RE: Smoke Machine/fire warden

Posted By Douglas Rome 10-08-2022 10:43
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You definitely need to test first whether your smoke machine will set off the fire alarm. And be generous, lest in testing you are fine but in performance there is so much smoke that it crosses that threshold, and does set off the alarm. Yes, you do need to test with a person at the ready to call off ...

RE: Basic Rehearsal Question

Posted By Douglas Rome 09-30-2022 08:16
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Rehearsal & Tech: Pair up slow line-learners with either those doing great, or those with few lines, to run lines (and cues!) together. If you've got the talent, use student directors to rehearse some scenes while you work on other ones. Tech stuff: Publicity (road signs, posters, the program), props ...

RE: Instead of or In addition to Greek Theater?

Posted By Douglas Rome 09-21-2022 16:43
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Here's a source (updated periodically) "Alternative Canon" (a Google doc) for material from MANY countries: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HwAHAwU83bW_jSzxbMrqWyyuAYmsOWtqK-7HxKA9yek/edit The Griot is an African storyteller. Those tales surely began even earlier than Greek theatre. The origins ...