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 Phillip Goodchild, troupe director of Troupe 7223 at Dr.
Earl J. Lennard High School in Ruskin, Florida. Phillip regularly blogs in the
Community, sharing his experiences as a new troupe director. I highly encourage
you to check them out, they are as
educational as they are humorous.
Photograph
via Wikipedia.
Ginny: Why do you
believe theatre is important?
Phillip: The
utilitarian answer is that the research bears out how important it is: both to
physically attend live performances (in particular plays/musicals/etc.) versus
seeing the movie, as well as being physically involved in some form of
performance for one self - the right brain/left brain connections, the ability
to empathize, to literally and figuratively be in someone else’s shoes – it is
absolutely imperative. In an age where both adults and children are shutting
themselves up in little electronic worlds, being able to engage with real
people, in a crowd, watching other people struggle, triumph, fail: there is nothing
like theatre for all that. Nothing. And the biggest thrill for both audience
and actor is that no performance is ever the same, and that is something to be
cherished.
And seeing people fall over or get kicked in the groin live
is always priceless.
Ginny: What is your
greatest challenge?
Phillip: Organization,
and ADD. Thankfully, I have this awesome cure for that. It’s called Nathalie
[my wife]. If I could make what she does into an app, I’d make millions.
I’m a very big picture thinker, and have massive plans and
ideas, but I get caught up in details. It all works out very well in the end,
but sometimes I’m amazed at how my students manage to put on a really excellent
show despite my shortcomings.
Ginny: What does a
typical day look like for you?
Phillip: Ride to
school on my pokey little Honda Rebel, thus accidently fulfilling a totally
unintended stereotypical picture of ‘Cool Theatre Teacher Dude on a bike’.
Teach random theatre things as I release my students to create all kinds of
chaos in my Theatre I-IV and Technical Theatre classes. Rehearse, strictly
until 4pm, battle traffic, spend late afternoon/early evening with my awesome
children and wife, read, pass out, repeat.
Ginny: What is the
resource you most recommend to others in your profession?
Phillip: The EdTA
community is essential to me in my daily walk. The morning before school
consists of reading my bible, then checking the EdTA postings and responding
and learning innumerable tricks, life-hacks, and wisdom. After that it would be
reading. Read everything you can get your hands on. Plays, text books,
anything. We have this amazing group of mentors accessible at any time, and I
am so grateful for what I continue to learn from others, both in print, on the
net, and in person.
Ginny: Any tips for
new theatre teachers?
Phillip: Hold on
tight, don’t try to be perfect, stay calm, and stick it out. If you’re married
and/or have kids, they come first. Involve them in your program as much as is
feasible. If you can get your head round the staggering list of expectations
and responsibilities of running a small business populated by teenagers, the
intrinsic rewards are equally staggering.
Ginny: Favorite
musical (or play)? What makes it so special?
Phillip: There
are far too many to choose from! I have always consistently been a fan of Sam
Shepard, particularly ‘True West’ and ‘Buried Child,’ probably because of the
jet-black vein of dark comedy that runs through them. Being English by birth
and spending my first 27 years in England, I tend to gravitate toward the dark
and brooding shades of the theatre, so Harold Pinter, Peter Nichols, Arthur
Miller, Patrick Marber, yadda yadda. There’s something about seeing the darker
side of human nature explored and sometimes left unresolved that excites me.
But equally I love a good laugh, too! Favorite musical is a tough one. I flit
between ‘Les Miserables’ and ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ though I have recently
discovered ‘Parade’ and ‘Godspell’ (the 2011 revival) and find them quite
intriguing too. I think I just enjoy crying a lot at musicals, and those
particular musicals just leave me emotionally raw afterwards. Like a good
cleanse. Not an enema sort of cleanse, but close.
Ginny: What was the
first play you ever saw?
Phillip: The
first play I remember seeing I think was a touring version of a British
children’s show, ‘The Sooty Show’. Sooty was a mute yellow bear glove puppet,
with his best friends Sweep (a kind of slow-witted dog glove puppet who spoke
in squeaks and whistles), and the very erudite, intelligent and well put
together Soo, a panda bear glove puppet. How a 6 year old could feel that a
female panda glove puppet was “well put together” is a darker question for
another time. I loved it. Got to go up on stage and everything. I was the third
of four children in our family, and we had this fool-proof tactic to ensure
that in successive years we managed to get picked to go on stage: this
ultra-garish, hideous brightly multi-colored striped jersey. Wearing that and
waving our arms about like loons, I think the guy on stage just felt pity for
us that our mother would torture their kids in such a twisted way by committing
such violence to fashion. Either way, we got to go on stage every time one of
us wore it. Which was nice.
Ginny: What was the
first role you ever played?
Phillip: I would
like to say it was an eminent Shakespeare role, but the first role I remember I
think I was 5 years old. I was a shadow. I’m not sure if I remember it
correctly, but our costume consisted of black circles over our body parts, and
nothing else. There must have been something else under the black circles, but
I really can’t remember there being any. It’s kind of troubling me now, but
what I do remember is that I was really into this duet movement piece, prancing
about to some noodly Enya-like track with my male partner, but he was totally
not into it, shrinking into himself. I think I kept turning around and
physically had him shifting into the right postures and movements, and found
out at a young age a very dangerous thing: that I really liked making people
laugh. After that, I got to play Caesar. I was pretty upset, I really wanted to
play Joseph instead, but a better looking kid got that one. So I learned two
important professional lessons by the age of 6, which was lovely.
Ginny: What inspired
you to become a teacher?
Phillip: Ha ha.
No really, I don’t know. I had a degree in English, and a Masters in Theatre,
and I was all set to be this awesome balding-broad-shouldered-extra-guy
destined for a life of roles playing bouncers with broad cockney accents in
England and such; however, I made some very bad choices and ended up living in
a trailer park in America, met an incredible French Canadian woman in Tampa (of
course), who invited me out to church, and then later on she made me a very
happy husband, and I was thinking, oh, with these degrees, I think I’m good for
teaching! Besides, my ADD would about ruin me for a desk job.
Ginny: Tell us about
the moment that made you decide to get involved in theatre.
Phillip: Teaching
theatre? Or Theatre? In the second instance, it just was always a part of my
life, and like most things for me, happened to sneak up on me and clobber me. I
loved doing plays at school, and was surprised to usually be cast in leading roles,
enjoying the feeling of stepping into another person’s shoes, to really trying
to understand how that character could be me, if I made some different choices.
And I could never see enough theatre! I think in high school I got on the train
to London at least once a week to see something, anything.
As to the former, I had avoided teaching theatre like the
plague: I have a young family, a young marriage, and I was really trying to
make headway towards becoming an evangelist for my church. But I suddenly had
the theatre position dropped on me at my school, and after praying about it,
getting all sorts of advice about it, and talking earnestly about it with my
wife and kids (as well as we could at their ages), we moved in the direction of
tackling it head on as a ministry. Theatre has very powerful influence on the
young, and it gives teenagers a few moments at a time to stop thinking so much
about themselves and focus on others. We make it a full family affair; my two
girls have already been in three out of the four productions we’ve done so far
(Munchkins in ‘The Wizard of Oz’, the guide for Tiresias in ‘Antigone,’ are two
of them), and I really do have the best of both worlds: I’m being paid to be a
full-time producer and facilitator of theatre with the people who need it most,
glorifying God in the process. What’s not to love?
Ginny: Everyone has
at least one good theatre story (a costume mishap, smoke alarms during
performances, malfunctioning set pieces, etc.). Tell us yours!
Phillip: I tend
to injure myself most in the theatre. One time, I tried Man versus Doorway when
I jumped straight up into the door frame. Man lost. And then, very recently,
having lowered our stage lights to angle them (they’re on this awesome trellis
that can be brought down to floor level), and told my students all week to
watch where they’re walking, I walked into a stage light and knocked myself
out. Oh, the irony.
Ginny: Name something
on your bucket list.
Phillip: I am
still in proud possession of my British citizenship, but I am also an American
citizen too. Since my wife is Canadian still as well as American, I really want
to go get the Canadian citizenship too. And then for fun, I want to see if I
could get Russian citizenship too, but I think some alarms might be going off
somewhere by that point. Still, it kind of amuses me to picture me with four
different citizenships…maybe I could get Chinese citizenship too?
Ginny: How do you
relax after a busy day?
Phillip: Either I
read some high-falutin’ and potentially pretentious Christian or Theatre text
book, or play, or I watch Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Marvel superhero
movies with my wife, after which I subject myself to guilty feelings of having
enjoyed ‘low art’ because my innate English snobbery kicks in. Still, you can’t
fault Robert Downey Jnr as Tony Stark.
Ginny: What is your proudest
accomplishment?
Phillip: Having
gotten baptized and thought, ‘I’ll never do theatre again, clearly’, our
Florida group of churches organized a Christian conference, the center-piece of
which was to be a play based on relationship struggles and struggles with God.
I got to play the main part, and played to a live audience of over 4,000 folks,
which was just incredible. I continue to get so much joy from acting, but that
was just very, very special to me. Outside of that, my proudest accomplishment
is my happy marriage and three fabulous children.
Ginny: If you could
live anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
Phillip: London.
I still feel it’s the living heart and soul of innovation and excitement in
theatre, and the support for the Arts in general in England is just so much
better than other places. I hear Vancouver is pretty good for that, too,
though. So maybe Vancouver. My wife and I have plenty of time to work out which
major theatre-producing city we want to retire to, after doing our time in
rural Florida! I’m such a city boy, all these open fields are just plain weird
to me.
Ginny: What toy do
you most remember from your childhood?
Phillip: Grimlock.
The original Autobot Dinobot. Very slow-witted, but fiercely determined to do
what’s right, though not always with grace and finesse. I relate to him very
well.
I’d like to add
a public “Congratulations!” to
Phillip for recently passing the National Board, what an exciting achievement!
Phillip is always eager to help others and exchange ideas and advice. If you
enjoyed his interview, add him 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.