List of Contributions

Textbooks and Course Materials

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 04-15-2024 11:19
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I have long used a variety of materials I gather myself for my theatre classes, but I am interested in whether there are some good textbooks or compilations of materials out there to have in my classroom as a resource. Do you use anything like this? Would you recommend? For context: I teach theatre ...

RE: What's Your New Theatre Season for Next Year?

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 06-17-2023 08:48
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We announce our season at an end-of-year "banquet" with the theatre kids, so ours is always set by early May. Terrible timing, but the kids love it so we keep it going. We are presenting the play Clue in the fall (big characters, physical specificity, comedic timing, popular with the kids), Mean Girls ...

RE: Theatre Department or Performing Arts Department?

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 05-21-2023 09:14
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Could you give your theatre department a name and then include both that and "performing arts" in the ads? For example, we named our theatre dept "Spartan Theatre" (based on our mascot), so you could say "Spartan Theatre and the Performing Arts Department present..." Wordy, but at least names you first. ...

HS Rehearsal Schedules

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 02-27-2023 11:59
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Hi community! I need your help. I am auditing our rehearsal schedules to try to advocate for adjusting our production calendar next year. My questions are: 1) How many hours do you rehearse a musical before tech? During tech? And how many weeks is that over? 2) How many hours do you rehearse a play ...

RE: swords

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 01-11-2023 09:38
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I rent from Preferred Arms at the recommendation of our fight choreographer. They are super helpful and know their stuff. Highly recommend! I'm sure there are other great suppliers too. ------------------------------ Lindsay Hearn Brustein St. Stephen's Episcopal School Austin TX ------------------ ...

RE: Ideas needed

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 04-28-2022 10:32
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This had been my situation for a while, but only with high schoolers... we did Pippin, Chicago, Putnam County Spelling Bee all successfully with about 3-4 guys. We also looked seriously at Cinderella, 9 to 5, Wizard of Oz. I'm not sure most of these are helpful for you since you also work with middle ...

RE: Shoes for Lurch Addams Family

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 03-10-2021 15:17
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We bought flip flops in the right shoe size, ripped the tops off, and glued them together as tall as we wanted. We then glued those to the bottoms of the shoes Lurch would wear. Then used black tape (gaff tape maybe? or duct tape?) around the whole structure to give it a uniform look. It actually worked ...

RE: Musical Production Organization

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 02-21-2021 10:36
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I don't use anything special - just a binder for my physical script and a few other documents (contact sheet, audition forms) and a shared google drive folder. I create a musical folder for myself in google drive where I house documents only for my eyes - like our budget, licensing contracts, audition ...

RE: Musical suggestions

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 12-31-2020 08:19
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We have about the same breakdown. One of our most successful shows was Chicago, but I'm guessing that may not be an option based on your school. I've also done Putnam County Spelling Bee (to which I added an ensemble and separated all the doubled parts), Pippin and Mamma Mia fairly successfully. We hoped ...

College Tech/Production Programs

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 10-01-2020 14:13
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I've got a senior who is interested in studying tech theatre in college. She has stage managed several shows and has some experience running spot, light board, and sound mixing, but doesn't have enough of a background to know that she wants to specialize in a specific area or to produce a large portfolio ...

RE: Fall Productions?

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 05-14-2020 08:31
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We also are choosing our full season for next year. Our first play is in December though - we are probably doing a radio drama version of A Christmas Carol. That way if we can do it in person, we can have a live foley pit on stage and have actors still "performing" and use projections and such. If not, ...

Radio Plays, or other play ideas for next year?

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 05-02-2020 14:44
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Has anyone produced a great radio play for stage performance? I'm looking at scripts for our fall play and am looking for options that either transition well to digital / virtual performance. Or a play that works in an outdoor setting - i.e. a few years back we did a traveling site-specific production ...

RE: Advice for finding a musical

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 06-30-2018 12:28
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I had this exact issue this past year, but with a few more students available. I second Charlie Brown. Do you have any female potential leads? We ended up doing Chicago - the male roles are baritones, the ensemble size is super flexible, and you really only need 3-4 strong females. You might also look ...

Chicago fans needed

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 01-26-2018 10:35
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We are looking very last minute (prior option fell through) for some showgirl-style big feather fans for Chicago (for "All I Care About Is Love"). We need them ASAP for our show at the end of February. We have looked into rental options and most are either unavailable or too expensive. Does anyone have ...

RE: Summer Musical Theatre Programs

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 09-26-2017 11:07
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Yes- there is a list published in winter (January last year) for upcoming summer programs. It's pretty extensive. ------------------------------ Lindsay Hearn Brustein St. Stephen's Episcopal School Austin TX ------------------------------

What does your dream HS theatre program include?

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 01-04-2017 10:02
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What does your theatre program look like? Or even better, your dream theatre program? My theatre program is growing but in a time of change. We currently produce a play, a musical, and student-directed one act plays each year. We also have a Student Theatre Council that basically helps pick our ...

RE: Helping Students (and Parents!) Prepare for Auditions and Cope Once They Are Over

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 11-18-2016 10:32
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Would you be willing to share your guide when you get it done?? That sounds awesome. Here's an interesting article that, at the least, lets students know they're not alone. I've also been shifting our process of announcing auditions based on recommendations from Jo Beth Gonzalez and a few other ...

RE: Addams Family - Vocal Challenges

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 11-17-2016 10:20
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We did Addams last year and had a mix of trained and less-trained singers in it. I found it challenging even for some of our trained singers because- particularly for the females- it requires a strong belt/mix. If you have the right kid come along, it's certainly doable! But my experience was that singers ...

theatre history... in Africa

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 09-18-2016 13:24
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Hey everyone! I'm moving into a theatre history unit with my advanced high school students. They are doing the teaching in this unit and are assigned specific historical eras/genres of theatre to research and share with the class. I'd like to include early African theatre traditions/dramatic rituals ...

RE: Casting 39 Steps: Can it be larger?

Posted By Lindsay Brustein 07-15-2016 08:52
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This was a recent discussion topic if you need quick answers--- search "39 steps" in the search box and you should get the discussion replies- I think to "expanding cast of 39 steps" or something similar. Good luck! ------------------------------ Lindsay Hearn Brustein St. Stephen's Episcopal School ...

Lindsay Brustein

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