I'm sorry... this type of situation is always difficult.
Legality issues:
- I'd point out that as educators it's incredibly important to teach the students about the ideas of copyright and legalities. Before you do your first read-thru go over the specifics that are in the front of every script with the cast and crew. I'd also look up the specific penalties and fines if you get caught. If there are specific consequences instead of the "grey" areas on repercussions it might make it easier to really bring the importance of going about obtaining the rights properly.
Potential v Burn-Out:
- Do you have any archival videos of past shows? That would quickly and neatly clean up questions about past productions.
- I'd also point out that every director has a different style. Being open to working with a variety of people and adjust to a variety of styles is part of being in theatre. It's a learning opportunity for the students; especially if they are planning on continuing to perform outside of your school in the future.
- What sort of productions are they interested in performing? Is there a way to "meet in the middle" between what you think they should be doing and what they are interested in? If you can get through a few years of this then the students left will have only worked with you. The rest will have graduated and, hopefully, without the students (and, if applicable, their parents) complaining the problem will naturally phase out.
- I always have a least one production a year that is based on either a historical or literally based piece. It's really hard to justify not accepting productions when they can directly tie in to what is happening in a core class... and the kids always seem to really enjoy doing them.
Rehearsal Time:
- We have rehearsals 3 times a week for 90 minutes (until tech week - when the students have rehearsal from 2:30-10 with an hour dinner break)
- because of this we have a longer rehearsal run to make up the missing hours.
- The other 2 days are rehearsals for the improv troupe so they are not "time off"
- The rehearsals only call the people who are actually going to be used that day and only for specific lengths of time (as applicable). This gives the majority of the cast at least 1 day (out of the 3 scheduled) where they are not needed... excluding the leads and swings who are usually needed every single rehearsal; it's just part of being cast in those roles.
- I have a rehearsal schedule (usually) already completed and on my website so students and parents can see the time commitment prior to auditioning and/or accepting the role.
- this should take care of any issues concerning timing. The information was there if anyone wanted to look for it.
Out of curiosity... do the sports teams worry about burn-out? After all, theatre is a skill. It needs practice, technique, opportunities to fine tune abilities and requires the students to "show" their work; it simply is shown through performance instead of "competition" (unless you count the fact that we attend competitions as well)
------------------------------
Shira Schwartz
Chandler Unified School District
Chandler AZ
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 02-23-2017 09:47
From: Myndee Washington
Subject: Overcoming hurdles
I was brought into a small, private school to revitalise their theatre program. Two years in, and we have done very well. Superiors and Excellents at state, three productions this year, we are currenty working on the full version of Annie. Here is what I need advice on: Everyday is a struggle to get kids motivated, sometimes that means that I have to be the "bad guy", the resultant show is always very well recieved. My head-of-school complains if they are not working up to their potential, however iin the same breath, she thinks that they are being "overwhelmed" and "burnt out". We rehearse 3 days a week for 1.5 hours. She is constantly bringing up how "easily" this all happened in the past...in the past they either did junior versions OR used kareoke tracks and either recreated the script or found an illegal download of the script. I have pointed out that they 1) worked illegally and are very lucky they were never sued and 2) Did not work with a full script and 3) Because they were not working with a full script, they felt free to cut things if the kids were not taking it seriously. I have also "heard" that it was not unusual for students to walk out of a production or flat out refuse to do shows if they didn't like them. I have tried to broach this subject with my administrator. She, flat out, denies that any of that took place. My music director was around for this. She still maintains that all of the students were motivated, that the school did elaborate full-scale shows and that the directors were rays of sunshine. Basically my question is this: How do I overcome revisionist memories?
------------------------------
Myndee Washington
Director of Theatre
Millennium Academy
New Port Richey, FL.
------------------------------