I feel for you as I read your post. I certainly hope your show pulls together well. You have been so careful to consider everyone's conflicts. Now it seems they abuse that care. I would like to pass on the good advice I was given many years ago concerning students missing rehearsals.
First, theatre at my school is extra-curricular and in the evening. When I first started, there were times when students did not come to rehearsal because of a major project or paper for school, (or they had to study for a big test). The other issue that still arises is the student misbehaves and is grounded, so the parents won't allow them to attend rehearsal. Missing rehearsal because a parent bought tickets for something WAY in advance still occurs.
Just like you, I implemented mandatory parent meetings (explaining the program) as well as contracts that are signed by both student and parent. The contract clearly states that parents must find alternative disciplinary actions during rehearsal, as keeping their student from rehearsals is not acceptable since it hurts the entire group.
The contract also clearly states that everyone is entitled to 1 unexcused absence. More than that, the student may lose their part. That is the wise advice I received years ago. I have also added to the contract: if their lines are not learned by the due date, or they do not complete a written character sketch by a due date, they may also lose their part. Those are the rules!
Here is the difficult part: I follow through on this. Students HAVE lost their part. This is not easy to do, but you have to look at the consequences if you do not follow through (which is the situation you are in right now).
Sacrifice one for the good of many. It works! When students realize they really will be replaced, or removed completely from the play, those absences and excuses disappear. Clearly the decision is up to them: (If they have already had one unexcused absence) they can either attend the concert and be out of the play, or miss the concert and stay in the play.
First, I always have a back up plan. If I can see there is going to be an issue with a student, I plan a replacement ahead of time. If I have to warn an actor that they do not have their lines learned well enough, I have already spoken to another actor to start learning those lines since they may be stepping in. Students quickly learn that losing their role is not an idle threat, there is a replacement waiting in the wings. The hard part as a teacher is learning to follow through.
The good news: You don't have to do it very many times, believe me. If there are not enough actors: I will switch the offender (who may have the lead) with another actor in a minor role. Believe me the message is delivered, loud and clear, and the show may be saved. More importantly the program does not suffer from future abuses. The student I had to do this to was a talented actor, a sophomore who got the lead in
Cheaper by the Dozen, but did not bother to use any of the techniques suggested to learn lines. He lost the part (and became the boyfriend in the show) when he never learned the lines. After that play, he became a model actor, and I never had any trouble with him learning lines again. For musicals, I highly recommend understudies. They are very handy when a student gets sick and does not attend school (if they miss school they are not allowed to attend rehearsal). The understudy steps into the part so the rehearsal is not wasted. They learn a great deal as well, as they are required to attend blocking, singing and dancing rehearsals for the lead roles.
By the way, production week is not off limits to the rules. No one is so important they cannot be replaced, even then. I only had to remove the lead actor that week once, luckily there was an understudy who was able to step in. It was not easy, but necessary. That was years ago, and students still talk about it, word continues to spread. That may be the key, if students realize that you mean business, and will follow through on students abusing the rules (even leads during hell week), you will have less and less issues.
I have never had to do this, but I make it clear: even if there was no understudy, I would rather go on stage with a script than have a student willfully ignore the rules and harm the program.
I hope that next year you are able to make changes to save the integrity of your program, as well as the strength to "follow through" on those changes. Good luck,
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Valerie Farschman, Drama Director
MLS Theatre Company, Troupe 1422
Marion L Steele High School
Amherst, Ohio
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-28-2018 10:46
From: Jodi Disario
Subject: Commitment to rehearsals
I am pulling my hair out. Today is the first day of tech for our Spring Musical and we have literally not had a single rehearsal where every member of our cast has been there for the entire rehearsal. I require a conflict calendar before we start rehearsals, and I honor ALL of those conflicts, no matter what they are or how many they are. Anything added after the calendar is finalized (by both student and parent) is unexcused, except excused illnesses from school. I have made a couple of exceptions for emergency appointments verified via doctor's notes, but even those are increasing now, as parents are starting to stretch the definition of "emergency."
Even though our shows are all rehearsed after the school day, they are considered 7th period class, so students earn letter grades and credits on their transcript, towards the 20 credits required in visual and performing arts in our district. I deduct points every time they are late or unexcused, but it's very clear that they just don't care about that.
Parents and students are both required to attend meetings before auditions where I explain the importance of attending rehearsals, committing to the production, and not letting down their show. Parents and students are each required to sign contracts which say that they understand the attendance policy. And yet, for the past few weeks, I've had parents telling me that they are pulling kids for tutoring, which is much more important to their future than "a play that will be over soon."
This week, I had students miss the last hour of rehearsals to go to see local plays because mom bought the tickets without thinking about rehearsal end times, because she "didn't put them on [her] personal calendar." I had another student TELL me that she was leaving rehearsal an hour early to go see "Infinity Wars" because her dad bought tickets "months ago" without checking with her. I told all three of these students that they would be unexcused, but because they already had A+ grades, they said, "Oh, that's fine." No consideration at all for the rest of the cast and crew.
Because we are a week from opening, we don't have understudies, and 2 of these 3 were in leading roles and 1 was in a featured, I cannot drop them from the show without hurting the entire production. I'm afraid that I just have to deal with it this time.
What kind of changes do you suggest I make to next year's contract to prevent these issues?
"There's only us, there's only this:
Forget regret, or life is yours to miss.
No other path, no other way. No day
but today."
-Jonathan Larson
"Rent"
Disario, Jodi
Drama Teacher and Director