Blogs

Each year as one season begins to close, we all begin looking forward to the next.  I am a firm believer that choosing the right shows can be half the battle.  What makes a show “right”?  For many people, this answer will be different, but for me, it’s simple: a show that our community invests in.  That means our students, administration, and audience all agree and will be excited about our production.  I like to think of myself as the eye in the triangle, with each point of the triangle being my students, the administration, and our audience/parents respectively.  It’s our job as the theatre teachers to make sure that all of these three points comes together.  

In selecting shows, I begin with my students.  I ask my leadership board to give me a “box” of criteria for our shows, and then I choose from within that box.  To start this discussion, I prompt them with the following questions:

• What were some of our favorite challenges and experiences of this season?

• What types of challenges would we like to take on in next year’s shows?

• What skills and abilities do you want to learn or focus on next year?

• What areas of our program could we strengthen by challenging ourselves?

From this launch point, I narrow down to specific criteria for choosing each show.  I just finished this process, and here is what my students came up with:

• Musical: large cast, dance-heavy (tap a major plus), family-friendly, well-known (This narrowed my short list down to “Anything Goes” and “Mary Poppins”)

• Play: a non-comedy based on famous literature or historical event (My short list became “The Three Musketeers” and “Radium Girls”)

• One-act: an ensemble-based drama that has a more conceptual artistic vision than realism, preferably based on history, and never before performed at MA’s festival (We chose Robert Schenkkan’s “The Kentucky Cycle: Fire in the Hole”)

After their input, I ask the students to provide a few show examples that fit the specifications they chose.  I find that starting the show selection process with student input builds trust in me to pick the “right” show, as the students feel they are listened to and their input matters. From here, I have the power to choose and no one is disappointed that their show isn't picked.

This process also helps when I announce shows the students are unfamiliar with because they can still get excited about a show that fits their criteria.  This was especially true this year when I announced “The Kentucky Cycle” as our festival piece, as the students had intentionally asked for a show they didn’t know.