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Unless guidance decides to split my Acting 2, 3, and 4 classes into smaller sections, I will likely have all of them in the same class period.  Luckily, my enrollment is increasing.  The only thing tricky about it is choosing a main stage play for a large group, which is a component of the course.  Next year I am looking at 35 or more.  Any suggestions on a large cast play OR something really ensemble driven that could have an expanded cast?  Over the past few years we have done A Piece of My Heart (with lots of cast expanding), Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, Our Town, and Peter and the Starcatcher (with an "ensemble").  I am not opposed to something classic.  I will have a class that will be about 2/3 female and 1/3 male.

Thanks for any suggestions!


------------------------------
Sarah Gerling
Theatre Teacher and Director
Columbia MO
------------------------------

It depends on what you're looking for.  I have done all of these with 30-35 students.

Alice in Wonderland
Charlotte's Web
Up the Down Staircase
The Diviners
I Never Saw Another Butterfly
Sleeping Beauty
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Jungle Book

------------------------------
Laura Steenson
Theatre Director
Reynolds High School
Troutdale OR
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-10-2017 16:38
From: Sarah Gerling
Subject: Large Cast Play

Unless guidance decides to split my Acting 2, 3, and 4 classes into smaller sections, I will likely have all of them in the same class period.  Luckily, my enrollment is increasing.  The only thing tricky about it is choosing a main stage play for a large group, which is a component of the course.  Next year I am looking at 35 or more.  Any suggestions on a large cast play OR something really ensemble driven that could have an expanded cast?  Over the past few years we have done A Piece of My Heart (with lots of cast expanding), Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, Our Town, and Peter and the Starcatcher (with an "ensemble").  I am not opposed to something classic.  I will have a class that will be about 2/3 female and 1/3 male.

Thanks for any suggestions!


------------------------------
Sarah Gerling
Theatre Teacher and Director
Columbia MO
------------------------------

How did you expand the cast of The Diviners? I'm looking at this for our spring play.

------------------------------
Cramista Volz
Speech and Theatre Teacher
Saint Joseph MO
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-10-2017 21:00
From: Laura Steenson
Subject: Large Cast Play

It depends on what you're looking for.  I have done all of these with 30-35 students.

Alice in Wonderland
Charlotte's Web
Up the Down Staircase
The Diviners
I Never Saw Another Butterfly
Sleeping Beauty
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Jungle Book

------------------------------
Laura Steenson
Theatre Director
Reynolds High School
Troutdale OR

Original Message:
Sent: 05-10-2017 16:38
From: Sarah Gerling
Subject: Large Cast Play

Unless guidance decides to split my Acting 2, 3, and 4 classes into smaller sections, I will likely have all of them in the same class period.  Luckily, my enrollment is increasing.  The only thing tricky about it is choosing a main stage play for a large group, which is a component of the course.  Next year I am looking at 35 or more.  Any suggestions on a large cast play OR something really ensemble driven that could have an expanded cast?  Over the past few years we have done A Piece of My Heart (with lots of cast expanding), Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, Our Town, and Peter and the Starcatcher (with an "ensemble").  I am not opposed to something classic.  I will have a class that will be about 2/3 female and 1/3 male.

Thanks for any suggestions!


------------------------------
Sarah Gerling
Theatre Teacher and Director
Columbia MO
------------------------------

For The Diviners, we didn't have any running crew; our ensemble served as running crew. I also gave pretty much everyone an assistant.  Goldy had an assistant in the diner, Norma had an assistant in the shop, there was a third farmhand - you get the idea.

Diner scenes had additional diner's in them.  They drank coffee, had pantomimed conversations, etc.  The assistant was able to refill coffee, collect cups, things like that to give her something to do.  

In the shop scenes, we had people who were checking out as the main characters were walking in.

Pretty much everyone was on stage at the very beginning and very end, and we brought them on for the rain scenes as well.  Had people on stage reacting to what was going on.  We didn't change any lines, didn't do any redistribution - we did it exactly as written, there were just more people on stage.



------------------------------
Laura Steenson
Theatre Director
Reynolds High School
Troutdale OR
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 11-20-2017 11:12
From: Cramista Volz
Subject: Large Cast Play

How did you expand the cast of The Diviners? I'm looking at this for our spring play.

------------------------------
Cramista Volz
Speech and Theatre Teacher
Saint Joseph MO

Original Message:
Sent: 05-10-2017 21:00
From: Laura Steenson
Subject: Large Cast Play

It depends on what you're looking for.  I have done all of these with 30-35 students.

Alice in Wonderland
Charlotte's Web
Up the Down Staircase
The Diviners
I Never Saw Another Butterfly
Sleeping Beauty
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Jungle Book

------------------------------
Laura Steenson
Theatre Director
Reynolds High School
Troutdale OR

Original Message:
Sent: 05-10-2017 16:38
From: Sarah Gerling
Subject: Large Cast Play

Unless guidance decides to split my Acting 2, 3, and 4 classes into smaller sections, I will likely have all of them in the same class period.  Luckily, my enrollment is increasing.  The only thing tricky about it is choosing a main stage play for a large group, which is a component of the course.  Next year I am looking at 35 or more.  Any suggestions on a large cast play OR something really ensemble driven that could have an expanded cast?  Over the past few years we have done A Piece of My Heart (with lots of cast expanding), Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, Our Town, and Peter and the Starcatcher (with an "ensemble").  I am not opposed to something classic.  I will have a class that will be about 2/3 female and 1/3 male.

Thanks for any suggestions!


------------------------------
Sarah Gerling
Theatre Teacher and Director
Columbia MO
------------------------------

Original Message------

How did you expand the cast of The Diviners? I'm looking at this for our spring play.

------------------------------
Cramista Volz
Speech and Theatre Teacher
Saint Joseph MO
------------------------------

Hello,


I am a future theatre educator and your play ideas sound really good! I was wondering which companies you enjoy best to order your scripts?

Thank you,
Original Message:
Sent: 11-21-2017 08:26
From: Amy Sando
Subject: Large Cast Play

I have the same schedule with Drama 2-4 all together. Last year we did Radium Girls and this spring we will do Game of Tiaras, which has a cast of 33.

 

 

Amy Sando,

Douglas High School Drama

asando@dcsd.k12.nv.us

782-5136

 

"You've got to paint the picture and then walk into it. And if you ever find you can't paint the picture, just don't walk."

Original Message------

How did you expand the cast of The Diviners? I'm looking at this for our spring play.

------------------------------
Cramista Volz
Speech and Theatre Teacher
Saint Joseph MO
------------------------------

Good morning Abigail,
So glad you will be joining this wonderful profession where you see your dreams and vision come to life all the time!!! Playscripts Inc is great because you can read a huge excerpt from each play. The major companies are Samuel French , Dramatists Playservice, dramatic publishing. I have used a couple of things from Pioneer...nice for lower cost royalties. There is a new company Broadway Play Publishers that I just started working with this year too.

Sent from my iPad


Original Message------

Hello,


I am a future theatre educator and your play ideas sound really good! I was wondering which companies you enjoy best to order your scripts?

Thank you,

This is my answer to many questions, but take a look at Bob: a Life in Five Acts. My Advanced Drama class did this two years ago and it worked out very well, plus the audience loved it. We had a different group of actors for each act, and in one of the acts (the 4th, I think) Bob was played by a girl. And don't let the five acts intimidate you - the play is less than two hours long. Also, having a different group of actors in each act made things much easier to manage - I just had to tell the separate groups to get together and work on their scenes. There was never the problem of some students not having anything to do.

Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

Dramatists		remove preview
Dramatists Play Service, Inc. "[A] comic amalgam of Brechtian epic theatre and vaudeville." -TDF Stages. "The play's shockingly optimistic tone is downright subversive when you consider its subject: what it means to be a success in America. How are the new legends made? View this on Dramatists >

------------------------------
Ken Buswell
Drama Teacher
Peachtree City, GA
http://mcintoshtheater.org/
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-10-2017 16:38
From: Sarah Gerling
Subject: Large Cast Play

Unless guidance decides to split my Acting 2, 3, and 4 classes into smaller sections, I will likely have all of them in the same class period.  Luckily, my enrollment is increasing.  The only thing tricky about it is choosing a main stage play for a large group, which is a component of the course.  Next year I am looking at 35 or more.  Any suggestions on a large cast play OR something really ensemble driven that could have an expanded cast?  Over the past few years we have done A Piece of My Heart (with lots of cast expanding), Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, Our Town, and Peter and the Starcatcher (with an "ensemble").  I am not opposed to something classic.  I will have a class that will be about 2/3 female and 1/3 male.

Thanks for any suggestions!


------------------------------
Sarah Gerling
Theatre Teacher and Director
Columbia MO
------------------------------

We put over 30 in the RSC version of Arabian Nights this year, and everyone still had lots of opportunities. I think you could get that many in Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses or The Odyssey.

We also considered Hilary DiPiano's Love of Three Oranges or The Green Bird, which are updated commedia shows with big, flexible casts.

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-10-2017 16:38
From: Sarah Gerling
Subject: Large Cast Play

Unless guidance decides to split my Acting 2, 3, and 4 classes into smaller sections, I will likely have all of them in the same class period.  Luckily, my enrollment is increasing.  The only thing tricky about it is choosing a main stage play for a large group, which is a component of the course.  Next year I am looking at 35 or more.  Any suggestions on a large cast play OR something really ensemble driven that could have an expanded cast?  Over the past few years we have done A Piece of My Heart (with lots of cast expanding), Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, Our Town, and Peter and the Starcatcher (with an "ensemble").  I am not opposed to something classic.  I will have a class that will be about 2/3 female and 1/3 male.

Thanks for any suggestions!


------------------------------
Sarah Gerling
Theatre Teacher and Director
Columbia MO
------------------------------

I would strongly recommend Stephen Gregg's Crush, which was published in the May 2016 issue of Dramatics and is available from Dramatic Publishing Co.

The cast comprises 5 men, 13 women, 2 speakers of either gender, and a (speaking) ensemble that is flexible with regard to size and gender - he wrote it for five, and that's what I did, but the script authorizes the use of smaller or larger groups as desired, and you can divvy the lines up so everyone gets to speak.

Adding to the show's appeal, most of its characters are teenagers, so your students would be playing age-appropriate roles.  The contemporary setting makes costuming cheap and easy.  As for scenery, one of the show's plot lines has a high-school drama club staging Our Town, and Gregg has borrowed that show's production concept for this piece, asking that it be performed on a bare stage with just a few chairs, tables, ladders, etc. to indicate locale.  (Your costumer and make-up team will have to devise an alien creature that is a single entity with five bodies, but we had a lot of fun with that.)

The story could best be described as a science-fiction romantic comedy, and there's a great sort of audience-participation moment near the climax that brought audible reactions from our houses.

------------------------------
Jeff Grove
Theatre Teacher, Aesthetics Department Chair
Stanton College Preparatory School
Jacksonville FL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-10-2017 16:38
From: Sarah Gerling
Subject: Large Cast Play

Unless guidance decides to split my Acting 2, 3, and 4 classes into smaller sections, I will likely have all of them in the same class period.  Luckily, my enrollment is increasing.  The only thing tricky about it is choosing a main stage play for a large group, which is a component of the course.  Next year I am looking at 35 or more.  Any suggestions on a large cast play OR something really ensemble driven that could have an expanded cast?  Over the past few years we have done A Piece of My Heart (with lots of cast expanding), Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, Our Town, and Peter and the Starcatcher (with an "ensemble").  I am not opposed to something classic.  I will have a class that will be about 2/3 female and 1/3 male.

Thanks for any suggestions!


------------------------------
Sarah Gerling
Theatre Teacher and Director
Columbia MO
------------------------------

Original Message------

Unless guidance decides to split my Acting 2, 3, and 4 classes into smaller sections, I will likely have all of them in the same class period.  Luckily, my enrollment is increasing.  The only thing tricky about it is choosing a main stage play for a large group, which is a component of the course.  Next year I am looking at 35 or more.  Any suggestions on a large cast play OR something really ensemble driven that could have an expanded cast?  Over the past few years we have done A Piece of My Heart (with lots of cast expanding), Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, Our Town, and Peter and the Starcatcher (with an "ensemble").  I am not opposed to something classic.  I will have a class that will be about 2/3 female and 1/3 male.

Thanks for any suggestions!


------------------------------
Sarah Gerling
Theatre Teacher and Director
Columbia MO
------------------------------

Peter Pan and Robin Hood come to mind. Both have a lot of opportunities for an expanded ensemble and there are a large number of speaking roles as well. I'm also doing Alice in Wonderland next year and it has a very large cast. You might look at that.

Are you only interested in main stage productions? One year I had a real issue with numbers and royalties and I ended up doing two shows (parodies of fairy tales) and called it A Night of Twisted Tales. It really opened up my casting and, since the theme was consistent throughout the night, the audience bought into it and it turned into a really strong performance.

------------------------------
Shira Schwartz
Chandler Unified School District
Chandler AZ
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-10-2017 16:38
From: Sarah Gerling
Subject: Large Cast Play

Unless guidance decides to split my Acting 2, 3, and 4 classes into smaller sections, I will likely have all of them in the same class period.  Luckily, my enrollment is increasing.  The only thing tricky about it is choosing a main stage play for a large group, which is a component of the course.  Next year I am looking at 35 or more.  Any suggestions on a large cast play OR something really ensemble driven that could have an expanded cast?  Over the past few years we have done A Piece of My Heart (with lots of cast expanding), Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, Our Town, and Peter and the Starcatcher (with an "ensemble").  I am not opposed to something classic.  I will have a class that will be about 2/3 female and 1/3 male.

Thanks for any suggestions!


------------------------------
Sarah Gerling
Theatre Teacher and Director
Columbia MO
------------------------------

Shira has a good idea there.  Last school year, instead of staging a single full-length play, I found three one-act parodies of ancient Greek tragedy (Rich Orloff's Oedi, Christopher Durang's Medea, and Doug Rand's The Idiot and the Oddity) and played them on a single bill under the title It's All Greek to Me.  (I wanted to call it Up the Greek Without a Paddle, but that wasn't gonna fly in this conservative neck of the woods!)  There were so many characters in the three plays that I was able give some actors two or even three smaller roles while other actors were limited to one major role - it all balanced out so that there was no complaining, while as a director I enjoyed a great deal of flexibility on numbers.  I was also able to link the plays a little for consistency's sake ... the actor who played Creon in Oedi also played him in Idiot, the actress who played Medea also played that role in Idiot, and I used one actor to play the anonymous "messenger" characters in all three plays, as if in all of ancient Greece there was only one bearer of bad news.

------------------------------
Jeff Grove
Theatre Teacher, Aesthetics Department Chair
Stanton College Preparatory School
Jacksonville FL