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 Donalda A. McCarthy, a theatre teacher with international experience,
most recently serving as the Troupe Director of Troupe 2216 at Palm Beach Lakes
High School in West Palm Beach, Florida. Her sense of humor and positive energy
brings warmth and personality to our forum.
Ginny: Why do you believe
theatre is important?
Donalda: The mere character that IS
‘theatre’ historically is to inform and to create empathy. Bonus if it
entertains in the meantime, right? Alas, empathy is a trait, or a soft skill,
if you will, that is utterly important in growing a youth into a competent,
hirable, relationship-forming adult.
Ginny: Do your students have any
nicknames for you?
Donalda: Well, it’s only fair that they
do, considering I am told I’m the teacher who is notorious for creating lasting
nicknames for my students, right?! Meanwhile, I go by “Miss Donni” nowadays,
because when I was teaching Drama in Hong Kong, China, my students’ and
colleagues’ native-language palette wouldn’t allow them to pronounce the –LD-
nor the –RTH- consonant combination of either of my names. I felt like I was
going through enough acclimation, assimilation and disorientation living in a
completely new environment; the last thing my heart needed was a day full of
folks mispronouncing my name. So I embraced a rarely used nickname from my teen
years that a now-deceased friend had given me. To my utter delight, I found out
that ‘don nay’ in Mandarin means “darling”!
#HappyDance (PS: Follow me on Twitter @MissDonni).
During Tech Week,
however, I get so sick of hearing my name! I know sooo many of you can relate.
Some years ago in a “woo-sah” moment, I just told the cast and crew that, “from
now until Opening Night, I shall only answer to calls of ‘Oh goddess’…” which,
was actually a joke, then. But it’s caught on and saved my sanity. It makes
everyone take that extra pause to think-before-they-auto-ask (building leaders)
and, hey, it made me feel just a little more capable of being as awesome as
everyone thought I already was while mounting a production. Win column for all
involved!
Ginny: What is the most
important advice you can offer to brand new teachers?
Donalda: Don’t start teaching until
you’ve accomplished all that you’ve wanted to with your own theatre career.
Being bitter or a Wanna-Be will become an ugly, scaly dragon in your room
eventually.
Breathe.
Exercise. Keep nourished, especially during production. TAKE the time to keep
yourself healthy.
Get
an outside hobby. (You know, what Theatre USED to be for you?)
Land
a mentor. ASAP. I have three, personally:
1) A seasoned Theatre teacher
2) A peer Theatre teacher (because
you’re likely the only one in your school)
3) A seasoned, involved Academic
teacher who can “translate” for you
Don’t
try to do in your first three years what your mentor is now doing in their 11th.
If you can only solidly mount one one-act and a showcase your first year, then
make them frickin’ ROCK.
Grow
your OWN programme. You have different parents, possibly a different community,
and a different administration than the school down the street with the
programme that mounts eight mainstages a year, takes a show to Nationals, and
has full authority over what, whom, and when the school’s auditorium is used.
Don’t try to fit someone else’s mold and, goodness knows, don’t compete! Even
when you go to State and it seems like a Secret Society of Epic Theatre
Teachers convenes at the one table in the lobby. Go sit down at the table, too!
You’ll hear they’ve got troubles of their own.
Oh,
and if you’re in a public school, embrace the reality that a third of your
career has just become Fundraising Chairperson.
Ginny: What is the resource you most recommend to
other theatre teachers?
Donalda: I am a big fan of Lindsay’s Theatrefolk model. I’ve been able to use her pieces in every
country and demographic I’ve taught in and never have to worry about language,
Admin approval, nor teen boredom.
Another is the
vodcasts from the National Theatre. Recently, I was able to connect with their
Marketing team to let her know how much we were using their materials but “we
here in the Colonies” struggled to understand some of the accents. After a long
bit of laughter, she agreed to look into adding subtitling for future videos.
And an amazing local resource that I
sincerely hope exists where you are is a place called Resource
Depot. Their sole mission is to be a warehouse
to store collected recycled goods to disseminate to teachers and artists
working with non-profits. While I still haven’t found a use for the tons of
used Kodak film roll cases, I HAVE been able to score lots of material, 3-ring
binders, and hallelujah, copy paper. My best, though most sad, score were the
boxes and boxes of wigs the warehouse supervisor sent over to me one day
randomly… apparently, the local cancer hospital had just cleaned out their
storage from, um, former patients.
Ginny: What was the first play you ever saw?
Donalda: Miss
Saigon with Lea Salonga and Jonathon Pryce.
#hooked
The play also has a particular special
meaning to me because my very best and oldest friend on this big blue marble
could’ve been Tam herself.
Ginny: What is unique about your theatre program?
Donalda: In our district, which
comprises four counties along the proverbial Mason-Dixon Line of Florida that
separates The South from South Florida, ours is the only Troupe that is
majority ethnic minority. This makes it a little tough to be understood when
performing pieces most local Thespians have only ever seen white actors do. My
students’ parents get a bit upset with lower adjudications than expected and
wonder if, indeed, their child was actually judged on the merit of their
performance as it was, or as it ‘should have been’ in a production the
primarily white adjudicators have already seen. This is difficult to explain to
both to my parents and to my professional colleagues, who don’t see through the
same lens as I have the fortune to, as an ethnic minority in the industry,
myself.
As
such, our Programme’s foci specifically makes effort to use Theatre Education
to teach life and work skills. We also make a concerted effort to select plays
and performance pieces from NON traditional black plays or characters. This
gives our students reachable accomplishments as well as the same acting
challenges that others receive that black and Hispanic characters written in
white plays don’t really offer.
Ginny: Name something on your
bucket list.
Donalda: I haven’t been to South America
yet. That’s the final continent left on my To Do List.
Ginny: If you could have a
different career, what would you choose?
Donalda: I’m currently in school to get
my Microsoft Certified Systems Expert certification. It’s a lovely challenge
for the other side of my brain! It’ll allow me to continue to work when my body
can no longer handle the extremes of mounting productions.
It’d still be a blast to cast a major motion
picture, though.
Ginny: What is your proudest
accomplishment?
Donalda: I got the opportunity to
produce the Chinese New Year celebration for the Southeast China division of
Hallmark Company who wanted to impress “their American bosses” with their
English language and Americana knowledge. I was able, in these months, to
cement the importance of the world of Theatre as it this show literally brought
together cultural enlightenment and history.
Ginny: What is something we
would be surprised to learn about you?
Donalda: Maybe that I volunteer at the
local animal shelter?
Ginny: What is your favorite
part of the day?
Donalda: Sunrise. The thrill of
Possibility and Purpose that emits from each ray peeking over the horizon is
the ultimate blessing of Earth-dwelling for me.
Ginny: What toy do you remember
most from your childhood?
Donalda: Easy. My Whoopsie doll. She was
my first doll that had the same color skin as I do and pigtails that had a
personality of their own when you squeezed her tummy! She, obviously, presided
over all the other toys’ classes and productions with all that individuality
and pizzazz!
By now, I’ll bet you
feel like you’ve made a new friend! Miss Donni’s welcoming disposition
practically jumps off the screen. If you enjoyed Donni’s interview as much as I
did, add
her as a contact in the Community
or follow her on Instagram @IntlTheatreTeacher!
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.