Westtown School, Big Love By Charles Mee 2017 (Photo credit: Ed Cunicelli)
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 next spotlight is William Addis, an EdTA Professional member and the Chair of Visual and Performing Arts at Westtown School in West Chester, Pennsylvania. William just joined EdTA in September but immediately jumped into the discussions to help councel his colleagues and seek advice.
Why do you believe theatre is important?
Theater is a living artform. Seeing a play can help us understand the world we live in. Reading a play can change the way we see our society. Performing in a play can alter our perceptions of ourselves. Every play is different and is a reflection of the people who help make it. The artists and the audience conspire to create a unique experience, one that is always changing. Wouldn’t it be great if the rest of the world acted that way: working together, celebrating each other’s gifts, allowing every moment to be unique?
Westtown School, Anon(ymous) by Naomi Izuka 2016 (Photo credit: Ed Cunicelli)
Any tips for new theatre teachers?
Be yourself and celebrate your students for who they are. Don’t try to shape your students into your image. Allow yourself to be surprised sometimes. Be a team player.
Sometimes the arts can feel like an afterthought. The best way to deal with that is to step up, be positive, and make the best with what you have. The better you are, the more support you will find.
Finally, drop the ego - it isn’t about you. Remember: it is just a play. There will be another one for you. But also remember this play might be a young person’s one chance - let it be special for them.
What is your favorite play? What makes it so special?
I think Cherry Orchard or Twelfth Night. They best represent my personal theater taste (and probably my personality) - blending humor and tragedy, love and loss. They are these wonderful windows into the essence of what it means to be human - absurd and glorious. Lately, Annie Baker’s plays have hit that same mark for me - The Aliens and Circle Mirror Transformation in particular.
Westtown School, Rent by Jonathan Larson 2017 (Photo credit: Ed Cunicelli)
What inspired you to become a teacher?
I come from a family of teachers, but it was not a career I expected to pursue. When I was first out of college working at a theater and feeling pretty unhappy, I was walking with a friend and said, “What should I do with my life?” We turned a corner and saw a sign that said, “Be a Teacher!” It had one of those little pull tabs to submit your resume. I ended up as a teaching intern and director at Westtown School, a Quaker boarding school in PA, for three years and then panicked that I should be doing something else. I moved to New York, directed plays, made ends meet, ran a theater company. Grad school and college teaching followed and suddenly I was feeling the same way I did when I was 22 - what should I do with my life? I remembered how much I enjoyed teaching. I took a job in New England for a few years. Then I got a call that the department chair position had opened at Westtown. Sixteen years after seeing that sign, I think I have settled into the place I truly belong.
What is unique about your program?
I’m not sure about unique, but there is a lot about Westtown Theater that I am very proud of. We put a strong emphasis on collaboration. We believe that students learn best by doing, so we challenge our students to push themselves, to take risks, and to allow themselves the opportunity to succeed brilliantly or fail boldly. We understand that studying theater is about developing both your theater abilities and so many essential skills that will serve you throughout life. Our program is a safe space for many students as they figure out who they are.
Westtown also encourages our students to understand that theater is a tool for creating change. Our production season explores themes of social importance and we do plays that ask big essential questions. We use our productions as a platform for learning and understanding - for those who work on the plays and for our audience. Our classes look at how theater can both reflect and change the world. Our culminating collaborative theater course is Theater and Social Change. We really believe our theater students are changemakers.
Worcester Academy, Carousel by Rodgers and Hammerstein, 2014
Everyone has at least one good theatre story. Tell us yours!
I was directing Macbeth with Bakerloo Theater Project in Troy, NY. We all know the myths around saying that play’s name. For this production, we would start the show with every cast member repeating “Macbeth” over and over again. Challenge the curse, I guess. Well, the first day of rehearsal, we walked into the space and the stage manager touched a curtain and all of the curtains in the entire room collapsed around us. The entire process had moments like this. Finally, we settled in for tech rehearsal, the stage manager sat at the board, the lighting designer and I were chatting and BOOM: all the power goes out. We were sitting in a dark, windowless, hot room in July. A lot of running around and questioning revealed that electric company had pulled the power on the town. Not the region, or the state, just that town. We ended up having to rehearse by candlelight in a field. It was a terrific way to rehearse Macbeth but a terrible way to “tech.”
Post script: The power came back the next day and we scrambled to get the show in place. During our final dress, I took my glasses off, and when I put them back on they were broken in half. I literally could not watch the final run. The show turned out to be very successful, but I am much more likely to believe in curses because of it.
William’s students are clearly learning valuable life skills in his program. If you enjoyed his interview as much as we did, 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.