One of the main
goals for our Theatre Education Community is to help theatre students and
professionals from all over connect and identify with each other in order to
build resources and support the theatre education field. We shine a spotlight
on a different member every other week by conducting a simple interview.
Our latest
Spotlight Member is Amy Sidwell, troupe director of Troupe 7042 at Woodburn
Arts and Communications Academy in Woodburn, Oregon. Amy’s earned a bronze MVM
ribbon on her profile and teaches IB Theatre (among other classes), a recurring
topic within the Community. I asked Amy to answer a few questions for us so we
could learn a little more about her.
Photograph
via Nomsicles.
Ginny: Why do you
believe theatre is important?
Amy: And
another text, and another text, and another…text. Email.
Email. Email. Somewhere out there, there is a person on the end of
the line. Wait, do we even use lines anymore? Somewhere out there,
there is a person occupying space, breathing air, sending out signals, waiting
for a response. Waiting for someone to notice that they exist as
something other than an amalgam of disposable characters entered onto unfeeling
screens.
Reality today is increasingly disconnected in its quest for
constant connection. Selfie! Sound bite brain has taken over and we
look for that one phrase or line which will make us Twitter famous. Have
you seen who’s following me? In this increasing barrage of noise and fury
the space to breathe and be is harder to find. We are constantly seeking
to be noticed, which probably hasn’t really changed at all for the privileged
classes of history except in the ways we try to exist outside of our small bits
of self. Theatre, now as always, gives humanity a place to connect in a
visceral and viable manner.
Why does this connection matter? We’re social animals,
we used to travel in packs. You pick my fleas, I’ll pick yours.
Now, we close ourselves into small boxes locked away from the world around us
and numb our brains with television, Twitter, and soda. What’s your drug
of choice? (Can I say that on schooltheatre.org?) For me, theatre is the only mind altering substance
which helps me make sense of the world. As a playwright, director, and
teacher, theatre matters to me because it offers me the opportunity to invite
people into my world and see if there is anyone who understands the
perspectives I have to offer.
Theatre offers me the chance to break out of my own self
constructed boxes, velvet lined, of course, and not only see, but feel stories
of others come to life and redirect my thinking. Theatre matters because
when I actually feel the life of a good play lived in front of me and I feel
the vibrations of sound and energy from stage, I leave the space a different
person than when I entered. Good theatre provides different stories and
ideas to its audience. Amazing theatre is transformative.
Ginny: Give us an
idea about what a typical day is like for you.
Amy: A day in the
life:
4:00 AM First alarm.
4:30 AM Second
alarm.
4:45, 5:00 Hit
snooze.
5:15 Out
of bed.
5:20-5:40ish Getting
ready for the day. This does not include
make-up. Who has time for that? (Do I really
care if teenagers notice how big and bright my eyes look when I use mascara anyway?)
5:50ish Take
the vitamins, fill the water bottle, grab a protein bar, put on shoes, ignore
the dog so
she won’t whine when I don’t take her out (husband’s job in the AM), head to
the car.
6:00-6:24 Drive
to school.
6:24 Stop
to pick up the coffee granita which makes the rest of the day possible. When asked
by the barista how I am, the reply is usually, “Mostly awake.”
6:30 Or
earlier if the 5:40ish time above is really closer to 5:30ish…arrive at
school. Grab the bags of shoes, costumes, props,
books, scripts, etc. which fill my car regularly and try to juggle
them into school in one load which includes my coffee, water bottle, and purse
to boot.
6:35-7:50 Realize
I don’t have the time to keep typing this in a step by step fashion. Condense! On
any given day: send emails, complete
invoices, balance budget, read essays andvocab
quizzes, prepare documents for copying when the office opens up, try to find
new spaces on my
desk to pile things so they don’t tip over (you know what Einstein says about a
messy desk…), etc.
7:50-8:40 Eight
minutes of prep time for each of the seven classes I teach in a day (IB Theatre
I and II are in the
same period) if I don’t have to visit our book keeper, don’t get called to score
tests for seniors who need to meet state graduation requirements, don’t have a goal setting
meeting, and so on.
8:45-2:50 Teach
Production Management Writing, IB Theatre I and II, Enrichment (senior skills class),
Scene Study, Intro to Theatre, and Studio.
2:50-3:15 Bus
duty (sometimes), organize costumes, try costumes on actors, get ready for rehearsal,
eat yogurt if there is time, remember I haven’t had any water all day, yet don’t
get the water bottle open before the next student with something going on comes in, occasional
Thespian meetings if the officers are organized, make sure actors have snacks,
unlock theatre.
3:15-3:30 Cast
warm-ups.
3:30-5:30/6:00 Rehearse,
work on sets, direct prop building, growl at students who think spray painting in
the vom is a good idea at any time, but especially when I told them NOT to
spray paint
the gargoyle anyway, laugh, a lot when things are clicking on stage, wonder
what I was
thinking on those days when no moments are working and that one actor is STILL not off
book.
5:30-7:00 (Depending
on the students involved)-wait for students to be picked up by parents who have had the
rehearsal schedule for two months. While
waiting, wonder if there is anything
at home for dinner. Occasionally have a
great discussion with a student while we
wait.
6:30-7:30 (Depending
on the time the last student was picked up)-get home. Try to avoid being fur slimed by two giant
puppy beasts who really like to step on my toes.
7:30 Realize
there is no real food for dinner.
Microwave.
8:00-10:00 Post
pictures from rehearsals and classes, update Facebook page for students, try to
do field
trip math, put it off until the AM, play computer games, work on sanding and
re-painting
set pieces as needed.
10:00-4:00 AM Rinse,
rest, and get ready to repeat!
Ginny: Do you have
any tips for new theatre teachers?
Amy: Make sure you say no occasionally. We’re go getters, we love the action, we want
to help and do and make and be…but we can’t do all of that and keep sane. So, sometimes you have to say no to an extra
committee, sometimes you won’t be able to do that special PD (unless it’s one
you really have been longing to do), and sometimes you won’t be able to be the
one who organizes that Halloween flash mob in all of your free time at school.
Ginny: If you could have
a different career, what would you choose?
Amy: I am a
playwright. If I could make the money to
pay rent from writing, I would gladly do so.
However, since Mac Wellman still has to teach and he’s produced all the
time in NYC (and other places), I figure that the oddities I write aren’t going
to be sending a bankroll my way anytime soon.
Ginny: Name something
on your bucket list.
Amy: I don’t have
a bucket list. Wasn’t that a movie I
didn’t watch? I have always wanted to
teach in China. (I speak a tiny bit of Chinese which I learned in high school
from one teacher who visited us during the Tiananmen Square crisis, and feared
her husband was part of the tragedy, and another teacher who had been forced
into work camps during the Cultural Revolution.
His family was still locked in China when I graduated.)
Ginny: Do you have
any hobbies or interests outside of theatre?
Amy: This summer
I spent the days fighting weeds in the garden and wondering how many zucchini
one has to eat before turning green. I
picked what I think will be our last zucchini two weeks ago bringing our total
number of zucchini this summer to over 100!
I had two very, VERY serious zucchini plants. I love to travel, dance, read voraciously,
doodle, play cards and board games, and hang with my cousin, Laura
Steenson, who is also a theatre teacher.
Amy seems to breathe, sleep and eat theatre (unless she’s eating
zucchini) and I love how evident her passion for her work is in this interview.
If you enjoyed this conversation with
Amy, add her as a contact in the Community!
Do you know someone who deserves a moment in the Spotlight? Tell me
their name and why at gbutsch@schooltheatre.org. Want to read more Community Spotlights? You can find them here.