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  • 1.  10 G7-12 Students, 18 Hrs of Rehearsal, What to do?

    Posted 09-20-2023 22:50
    Edited by Sean Graham 09-21-2023 02:18

    Hello all,

    My school asked me to setup a grade 7-12 club on Fridays for students interested in theatre, but unable to join the elective. I ended up with 10 students. Originally they told me we had 20 weeks to prepare a show. We meet for 2 hours each week. However, they now say we only have around 9 weeks, so about 18 hours of actual time together. With such a small amount of time and a small cast, I thought we could just do a 30-minute improv session. However, I am curious if the community has any other suggestions for what type of performance we could muster? Thanks in advance.



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    Sean Graham
    Performing Arts & Homeroom Teacher

    Troupe Director, Troupe 11103

    Proud Producer of Theater in Taiwan

    Intl. Bilingual Sch. at Central Taiwan Sci. Park
    ------------------------------



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

    Posted 09-21-2023 08:55

    One possibility would be to do a vignette play, or to devise your own vignette play.  

    Theatrefolk has tons of options.  My students have also had great fun with shows like Help Wanted (Eldridge), which is about teens and jobs.  Some (many?) of these plays permit cutting of scenes if you need something shorter.

    My classes have devised around themes such as "Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk Day," High School Nightmare, and Veterans Day (with research from the Veterans History Project).  If you go this route, you can just have as many vignettes as your students can create and prepare in the time you have.  Usually this involves generating at least 3 times as much material initially as you will actually use.  Just like a photographer only keeps a tiny portion of the photos they take, some ideas will be "keepers" and some won't.



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    Kristin Hall
    Pronouns: she/her/hers
    Drama Director
    Lincoln MA
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  • 3.  RE: 10 G7-12 Students, 18 Hrs of Rehearsal, What to do?

    Posted 09-21-2023 10:03

    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 Seuss' "The Lorax"? That calls for some creative prop construction, but might work, and would fit the time.



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    Douglas "Chip" Rome
    Theatre Consultant
    Educational Stages
    Burke VA
    http://EducationalStages.com
    https://bit.ly/RWTEOview
    https://bit.ly/eTeachTech
    ------------------------------



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

    Posted 09-21-2023 13:55

    This sounds like the time for a vignette play. That way each student is only in one or two scenes, and multiple scenes can rehearse at the same time. Playscripts, Inc. and Theatrefolk have tons of them.



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    Jennifer Bennett
    Markham Woods Middle School
    FL
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  • 5.  RE: 10 G7-12 Students, 18 Hrs of Rehearsal, What to do?

    Posted 09-21-2023 14:09

    A short reader's theatre piece, or a staged reading, just something that would not require memorization, or sets, but that would showcase character development, might be nice in addition to improv. 



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    Linda Apperson
    Stage Manager and Mentor
    Milwaukie, OR
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  • 6.  RE: 10 G7-12 Students, 18 Hrs of Rehearsal, What to do?

    Posted 09-22-2023 22:32

    Thank you everyone for your responses and advice. I'm thinking of going the radio play route or vignettes. Thanks for all the support.



    ------------------------------
    Sean Graham
    Performing Arts & Homeroom Teacher
    Troupe Director, Troupe 11103
    Proud Producer of Theater in Taiwan
    Intl. Bilingual Sch. at Central Taiwan Sci. Park
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


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

    Posted 09-26-2023 07:01

    I would probably go with a play that consists of monologues and scenes between 2 or 3 students so they can rehearse simultaneously and semi-autonomously, with you moving from group to group to watch and give notes.  When I did this sort of play with a class, I also had the various groups watch each other and hold book for one another.  It is possible to work up a collection like this very quickly.    

    If your 18 weeks of meetings have already started, you want to go with a publishing company that is easy to deal with and has online previews and digital copies as an option.

    My 9th-grade students liked some of the scenes in Jon Jory's Love, Death, and the Prom, and older students liked his University.  Dramatic Publishing has those, plus an updated University: A New Generation for which there is a digital copy option, so you can print the scripts yourself.  (I have not read it.)  https://www.dramaticpublishing.com/university-a-new-generation-digital-script 

    I noticed Jory is one of the playwrights of a set of pandemic-era plays included in My Life--Socially Distanced published by Eldridge.  You can buy a digital download and print your own scripts.  Very economical.  https://histage.com/my-life-socially-distanced   (Again, I haven't read it.)

    If your group is more classically minded, you might do the same thing with duo scenes pulled from Shakespeare.  There are so many sources online for Shakespeare's scripts now.  I like the set put online by MIT--yep, Massachusetts Institute of Technology--because you can search a whole play for a few words in sequence to home in on the particular scene you want to copy and paste for a script.  For instance, if you search for "Taming of the Shrew MIT", then Ctrl F "dainty Kate", you go directly to the first scene between Katharina and Petrucchio.  No copyright.  No royalties.  Copy, paste, print, rehearse.

    Good luck!       



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    CJ Breland
    Retired Theatre Arts Educator
    NC
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  • 8.  RE: 10 G7-12 Students, 18 Hrs of Rehearsal, What to do?

    Posted 09-27-2023 07:47

    Look at the show Door to Door or the show The Waiting Room that are both available from Pioneer Drama.  They are easy to do, short enough, simple sets (we used black boxes for Door to Door at competition), and Pioneer is easy to work with if you need to make cuttings or rearrange things.  Door to Door is a series of vignettes and monologues and The Waiting Room is a small cast that can be pulled together quickly (there are only perhaps two parts that need good memorization skills).  HIGHLY RECOMMEND BOTH!



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    Amy MacCord
    Musical Theatre Teacher
    Westwood Middle School
    FL
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    Original Message


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