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Joanna Lewton

Arts Director

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Arts Director

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RE: musical for very small high school on very small budget

Posted By Joanna Lewton 03-29-2024 08:46
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We had a lot of success with How To Eat Like A Child And Other Lessons In Not Being A Grown Up (from Concord Theatricals, based on Delia Ephron's book.) Music is great, scenes are fun and it is a true ensemble piece (which is important to our arts program.) We also did the updated version of Free To ...

RE: Plays for African American and Hispanic students

Posted By Joanna Lewton 01-10-2024 10:02
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Bocon and Home On the Mornin' Train are both great plays. You can also check out Jose Cruz Gonzalez, whose plays ("magical realism and mature themes in theater for young audiences") are brilliant. Also, Just Like Us, Looking For Roberte Clemente, Frida Libre, Cinderella Eats Rice and Beans- A Salsa Fairy ...

RE: Grandparents' Day Activities

Posted By Joanna Lewton 01-07-2023 10:27
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Playback Theatre might be something that would work well. It can be played in a short time and involves a story from an audience member. If your audience member is one of your grandparents, the playing could have a special significance. I play Playback Theatre with 3rd-12th graders. 1. Before Grandparents' ...

RE: Technical Theatre Certs

Posted By Joanna Lewton 10-19-2022 08:15
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Ernesto, My husband works professionally in tech theater and has been helping me wrap my head around this very subject for several years now. He shares resources with me so I can learn (and try and convince my school we need a TD!) I am combing through these resources (from USITT & EdTA) now and they ...

RE: BiPOC scenes & plays for high school

Posted By Joanna Lewton 04-21-2022 08:41
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I would recommend Home On the Mornin' Train by Kim Hines, any play by Karen Zacarias and any play by Jose Cruz Gonzalez (there is a nice compilation in Nine Plays By Jose Cruz Gonzalez, Magical Realism And Mature Themes In Theater For Young Audiences.) ------------------------------ Joanna Lewton Arts ...

wonderful resource for original 10 Minute Plays

Posted By Joanna Lewton 02-26-2022 09:06
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If you are not familiar with the Play At Home project, check it out. Theaters around the country (Woolly Mammoth, Long Wharf, The Public, Kennedy Center, Silk Road Rising to name just a few...) commissioned playwrights to create 10 Minute Plays. There are dozens of wonderful scripts on the site, written ...

RE: Different versions of Alice in Wonderland

Posted By Joanna Lewton 11-30-2021 08:11
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I really like Virginia Koste's Alice In Wonder ------------------------------ Joanna Lewton Arts Director Capital City Public Charter School Washington DC ------------------------------

RE: Competitive Game for a VERY small group

Posted By Joanna Lewton 10-12-2021 13:08
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Here are some our students really like: Survivor: 4 to 6 people play a scene.  Then teacher calls "freeze". Teacher (or audience) votes for who is "voted off the island" (for whatever reason- no reason has to be given.) The remaining people do the scene again- but they must include everything ...

RE: Documentation of the WHY?!?!?

Posted By Joanna Lewton 09-09-2021 08:36
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Mary- I don't have an answer to your question but I want to point out the absurdity of a supervisor asking a professional drama/theatre educator to prove the benefit of attending a national conference.  Explicit in the phrase "national conference" is the knowledge that you would connect with colleagues ...

RE: Activities for trust and rapport in theater class

Posted By Joanna Lewton 08-03-2021 07:14
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If you do not already do these drama games, they are favorites with our students.  They are all ensemble-building, crossing the room initiatives: Racing On Chairs (Boal) 5 actors each standing on a chair in a line (front to back) The first chair is empty. Each actor steps to the ...

RE: Admission

Posted By Joanna Lewton 05-28-2021 08:45
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A few years back we started having a "Pay what you can" policy for all our performances (theater and dance) and it has worked well.  We had become concerned because we were only seeing some of our families in the audiences and we wanted equitable access for all.  It has worked well; we have full houses, ...

RE: First Middle School Musical or Play with Music Ideas

Posted By Joanna Lewton 05-14-2021 09:17
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We did Delia Ephron's How To Eat Like A Child And Other Lessons in Not Being a Grown-up as our first 5th-8th musical a few years back.  Because of the way the script is structured (a collection of group scenes, monologues, whole cast songs, solo songs, flexible casting, etc.) it was easy to rehearse ...

RE: In person "in-seat" drama program

Posted By Joanna Lewton 05-11-2021 09:44
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Cassy- This is great- I appreciate it! I will definitely add it to my collection of resources. The (new to me, anyway) challenge is that all activities/projects have to have students seated at desks (facing in the same direction and not able to get up at all ) so moving around to stations, any non-seated ...

RE: In person "in-seat" drama program

Posted By Joanna Lewton 05-11-2021 09:27
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Maybe we could all support each other in sharing ideas and resources as more schools impose these constraints on our drama/theatre programs. I am starting to collect ideas (from the amazing group on this forum and from other sources)- Head In A Box Theatre, Stories On Stools, Reader's Theatre, Radio ...

RE: In person "in-seat" drama program

Posted By Joanna Lewton 05-10-2021 13:40
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Re Nancy Curti's question about P.E- that is a great question! They are figuring that out now but I believe that team is planning, as long as the weather is not awful, to take students (1,000 Pre K3-12th grade outside for fitness classes. We have fields, a soccer pitch and a basketball court. Not sure ...

In person "in-seat" drama program

Posted By Joanna Lewton 05-07-2021 16:07
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I think our school pivoted quite well when we had to move our Pre K3-12th grade drama/theatre curriculum and classes to 100% virtual learning for SY20-21, but we have just found out that we will be in-person next year.  So glad to be back in the building with our students!  But, because of new safety ...

RE: Musical Suggestions

Posted By Joanna Lewton 05-05-2021 08:53
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We tend to pick musicals that will appeal to our whole school community (we have a Pre K-12th school and the lower school families are big fans of our Middle School and High School shows).  I loved directing Susan Zeder's and Harry Picken's Wiley And the Hairy Man.  It is a wonderful show, with a great ...

RE: Teaching non-production to middle school

Posted By Joanna Lewton 04-23-2021 10:23
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Karen,  First of all, you are having to make a huge pivot and I want to acknowledge the work you are putting in for your students and your program- brava!  Our 1st-12th graders love improvisation and I think it is such great life training (say "yes, and", make your partner look good, don't be a solo ...