Carol,
Rehearsals times are always tricky and whatever works for you, your family, and your students is what you should do. I think the important thing to think or ask about is why is the administration pressuring you to change? Perhaps there is another way to alleviate whatever concerns they may have. It may be that the district office is requiring an administrator on campus for all activities. They are already there for other events you talk about and adding an evening for them seems overwhelming. Sometimes there is more than meets the eye on the reason for an administrative request.
One thing that I have attempted over the last ten years is having rehearsals as part of a class. I never did this as a student, student teacher, or even saw anyone attempt this method. Other theatre teachers in my district even speculated that the stipend would be withdrawn for directing if the majority was done in class. I looked at the music staff who use their entire class time to rehearse for concerts and still receive a stipend and decided to give it a try for my families sake. I just kept imagining the principal telling the choir teacher that all their rehearsals for the concert would have to be done after school-not happening! It was amazing how much I could get done in a class period (52-55 minutes depending on the day)! When the students and their parents saw the play as an academic activity the overall importance of the show increased. I still do one show a year that has an open casting call plus every class has a small performance element (expect the technical ones-which do a gallery walk of their work). However, the musical and one straight play a year are done by the Advanced Performance class. These students must audition to be in the class and I then work with the counselors to get their schedules arranged to be in the class. It is not always easy, but it is so much better for my personal life and has increased the prestige of being in a show at the school. Some students have chosen to be in the class and their parents pay to have them take an online class such as health or even a world language to keep their schedules free for the AP class. I have afterschool rehearsals for 2 weeks plus the tech week. This allows for the time I need for run throughs, tech, and dress rehearsal. I have one Saturday cue to cue tech and all technical aspects are done in my Stagecraft class or at the exact same time I am after school for the rehearsal those last two weeks. It took some convincing with administration, but I just kept talking about parrody with other groups and since their fears about the shows quality proved to be unfounded, as all the actors were ones that had finished taking my beginning acting class and had to audition for Advanced Performance, (AP theatre as I called it) the plays had serious, high quality actors and technicians. The one play a year that is all school play has a strict no cut policy. Everyone that auditions is in the play. This way everyone on campus can experience being in production and I only have one six week rehearsal schedule after my full school day of teaching!
I think that one of the reasons that theatre teachers burn out is that they keep a schedule that is almost impossible to maintain. Working on three or four plays a year that require you to be five to six days a week in 2-3 hours (or more) following your regular work day. Those hours, as we all know, add up quickly. More that half of the school year you are putting in 60+ hour work weeks. I have had weeks with multiple performance events that were 90+ hours. That is not good for anyone! Putting some of those ours into our work day helps maintain a healthier balance in life with outside/family activities and actually increases the esteem that parents, students, and administrators feel about the shows themselves.
Good Luck! Leslie
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Leslie Van Leishout
Theater Education Coordinator
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Edwardsville IL
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-09-2014 12:31
From: Carol Allen
Subject: Rehearsal times
Please tell me when you have rehearsals, how long they last, and why you have them when you have them. I am getting extreme pressure to have these after school, and our students that are involved in extras after school are all involved in the same things. Such as Madrigals, solo/ensemble, jazz band, marching band, voice lessons, numerous sports. I am trying to put together information for the administrators so we can come to a consensus instead of a demand by them when it will be. Thank you!
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Carol Allen
Head Drama Sponsor
CUSD #3
Mahomet IL
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