More Info (Updated)

Y'all seem to be asking for clarification on my 4th quarter ideas, so let me try to make things a little more specific:

I think two main opportunities are rising to the top:
1. Direct/coach the 7th graders with their plays during April

2. Participate in short one-act plays (probably with scripts written in-house) during April and May as directors, backstage folks, and actors.

To clarify ...

7th grade drama

• I'm not limiting this to just the older students. Anyone in the drama class has enough acting experience to work with the 7th graders.
  
• ...but don't ask to direct unless you want to do it ... you need to be willing to dig into the script and plan times to work with the young actors.
  
• Our class schedule is set so tightly (hard to switch classes around) that you'll have to grab time at recess and after school to work with your actors.
  
• I honestly could use the help with this unit, so I'd love to plug you guys in if you're willing.
• You could pair up with another drama student to work with the 7th graders on a particular play, but one person needs to be "in charge."

Get a 7th grade textbook and look at the plays in there.
I plan to do "When the Rattlesnake Sounds," "The Governess," and "In the Fog."


short plays

• I expect the scripts to be written by me or me + anybody who wants to help or me + people I drag into helping. ;) Published plays require us to pay royalties to do public performances.... so I want to do our own stuff.
  
• Top script ideas in my mind at the moment include adapting "The Landlady" and/or "You Can't Take It With You." I'm going to look at some other stuff too, like the Arabian Nights and Norse mythology.
  
• Yes, we'll do public performances. I'm thinking an afternoon for the younger kids (6/7th, plus 4th) and one evening performance (maybe on a different day) for the older students and family/friends.
  
• I think we can pull off one or two plays, depending on the size of the cast. Remember, each play needs a director, an AD and/or stage manager, and actors -- at the bare minimum. See the job list below, but I expect this needs to be a group project (not so much a ton of work for just one or two people). I'll float about to help everybody, but I'm more than willing to just plug into one of the groups as a backstage person or actor.
• The other 8th graders would be available as potential actors in these plays *if* they are needed. They have a study hall when we take drama. So if we're short on manpower, that's an option. However, I need to make sure every drama student has a spot (either backstage or acting) first.
  

Job List
Director--Responsible for interpretation of the story and major character decisions, auditions and casting, and coaching actors as needed to achieve the best characterization and blocking.

Assistant Director -- Helps the director by keeping the book during rehearsals, doing odd jobs, reading for people who miss rehearsal (hey, it happens), and being generally useful. Depending on the director, the AD might give input on creative/interpretation decisions.

Stage Manager -- Works during the performance to keep things running smoothly, manage props, prepare the stage before the shows, and help actors make their cues.

Actors -- You know this one well by now. ;)




A couple other thoughts ....

I think you can participate in both projects (work with the 7th graders and help with the short plays) if you want to. The 7th grade unit won't overlap our drama class time at all.

However, I think it's impossible to work on more than one of the short plays at a time ... You can't be in two places at once to act in one play and direct a second one, for example.


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Can you think of any other short stories that would be easily adapted to the stage?

What are your current interests? (Any of those stories sound interesting to you? Any particular job appeal to you?)


PS (Sunday, 6:45pm)

Summaries of the possible short plays....

"The Landlady"
3 person play, 1m + 2f, with the bulk of the dialogue resting on Billy & the landlady.

Roald Dahl's story about a naive 19 yr old British clerk who decides to stay at a bed & breakfast intead of a pub because it would be cheaper. He doesn't pick up on the multitude of clues that his middle-aged landlady is a bit ... off. Like, her hobby is taxidermy. "I stuff all my pets."
... Billy is about to become a pet. *grins*
[I *love* that story.]
Nice mix of suspense for the audience, interesting dialogue, and light humor.


"You Can't Take It With You"
minimum cast: 6 people -- with at least 2 guys (preferably 3)

This is a short story that's quite different from the play that exists by the same name (also a movie). I like the short story much better:
Cranky, ancient Uncle Basil gets irritated by all his mooching relatives who want him to die so they can inherit (and waste) his massive fortune. As I recall, the relatives include a spoiled son-in-law, a whiny aunt, and a pouty granddaughter. Basil, fed up with their nagging, promises them that he WILL "take it all with him" when he dies, but they don't believe him. They don't realize that Basil's dimwitted & loyal handyman Verner is lining Basil's plain wood coffin with thick envelopes from the bank.
hehehehehe
... this one has great comic potential, but it will demand more work to adapt the story for stage. I think it would be worth it though ... and I know who I'd cast as Basil if it were up to me. ;)


Norse Myths
If you're familiar with Norse mythology, I think the best stage possibilities include The Lay of Thrym (where Thor has to dress like a bride to get his hammer back) and the Death of Balder (where Loki tricks blind Hoder into throwing the mistletoe dart that kills the unkillable Balder).

The Lay of Thrym is absolutely hilarious, but two guys have to be *very* good sports to dress like women (but Thor's uncomfortableness in female dress is apparent and part of the humor ... he does a very bad job ... thankfully, giants are pretty stupid). And the third guy needs to be a good imitation of a giant. Well, Thor is pretty massive too -- this is not a play for short people. ;)

Probably 3m and at least 2f for this story, although the scene in Thrym's hall needs some walkons.


We could probably switch the character genders in the Death of Balder if necessary to create more female roles. Also, Loki appears in two different disguises during the course of the story, once as an old woman and once as a giantess. (Loki is male but could be played by a female in this story.)

Might be able to double up some roles, but there are 5 main characters in this story, many of which are male, plus some bit parts/walkons.


Arabian Nights
I'm going to take a look at the scripts produced by the 9th graders in my absence. ... More on this soon. :)