I think I might have stepped in a relatively small pile of "poo" the other day. I responded to a question posted online at the International Thespian Society website. I don't think the original poster liked my answer but I stand by it. I think he mostly wanted to hear otehr people tell him that he did the right thing. I didn't think he did and I told him so. I like and respect his ethics but did not appreciate his approach. Read it here. It is on the "General Discussion" board under the subject "plagerism" (sic).
The question is realted to a topic that is close to my heart. The writer has taken offense to a production that he believes (probably rightly) to have been borrowed (at best) or stolen (at worst) from some other theatre/director. He has appreached the offending director and made his point about plagarism in front of a student they both apparently shared. He wanted to know waht the "Thespian Community" thougth of this practice and what he had done about it.
There were a couple of "attaboy" responses posted by otehr, well-meaning directors and I agreed in principal.
I have tried over the last few days to put myself in his shoes. He says more than once about his "vested" interest and I still do not get it. I get that he has a student in the production and that he does not want this student to learn that "borrowing" sghows out of whole cloth is okay . . . but I don't get why it is okay to tell her and also confront her director over it in public immediately after a performance.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
We're Looking for a Few Heroes
I met briefly with the Thespian Offices the other day. We had a lengthy agenda but we breezed through the items pretty fast. Towards the top of the list is the upcoming elections for next year's officers. We must hold elections in May according to our constitution so a little April planning is required.
We just adopted our constitution last year so we are still getting used to it. It is hard to belive that we have had a Tehspian troupe since 1996 without a formal constitution. We mostly have been making it up as we went along. It was little dangerous (in the HS kind of way) and definitely disorganized way to run a troupe. Last year's officers recognized a need and they set out to make a real constitution and got it ratified by the troupe. I appreciate that there is a formal document to tell us how to handle things. I think some of the Thespians might need to spend a little more time with it so that they, too, can learn how it all works.
So, anywho, now it is time for a few new leaders to come out of the woodwork. Several have already expressed interest in the presidency and I hope that we can have two candidates for each of the five positions. The election will be held at the Thespian Meeting to be held after school on Thursday, May 1, 2008.
The five officer positions according to our constitution are (1) President, (2) Vice-President, (3) Clerk, (4) Secretary, and (5) Treasurer. Each is an elected position and each nominee must be a 10th or 11th grader as well as an active member of our troupe for more than one school year. The officers may decide to include class representatives to their roster for the coming year and those individuals would be selected via an open election at the first Thespian Meeting of the new school year.
The duties of each position are listed below. I have extracted this segment directly from our constitution.
Article IV. Officers
Section 1. The responsibilities of Thespian Officers are as follows:
President
The President presides at all officer and membership meetings.
The President appoints all standing and special committees.
The President supervises troupe activities.
The President collaborates with the Troupe Director to set goals and establishes and maintains schedules of meetings and activities for the officers and for the troupe.
Vice-President
The Vice-President presides in the absence of the President.
The Vice-President is responsible for the recruitment and induction of new members.
The Vice-President is responsible for chairing a committee to recruit students for the Area and State Thespian Conference and their related activities.
Secretary
The Secretary keeps official records (minutes) of all meetings.
The Secretary attends to all official Troupe correspondence.
The Secretary is responsible for informing the Troupe members of meetings and activities.
The Secretary is responsible for keeping an accurate log of attendance at all Thespian meetings and other activities.
Treasurer
The Treasurer assists the Troupe Director in managing the finances of the Troupe.
The Treasurer acts as the business manager for all Thespian Fundraisers and social activities.
Clerk
The Clerk is responsible for assisting the Troupe Director in the tallying of points and identifying students eligible for induction.
The Clerk is responsible for informing students of their eligibility.
The Clerk is responsible for assisting the Secretary in keeping a log of attendance at all Thespian meetings and activities.
The Clerk is responsible for keeping a current log of active and inactive Thespians.
We just adopted our constitution last year so we are still getting used to it. It is hard to belive that we have had a Tehspian troupe since 1996 without a formal constitution. We mostly have been making it up as we went along. It was little dangerous (in the HS kind of way) and definitely disorganized way to run a troupe. Last year's officers recognized a need and they set out to make a real constitution and got it ratified by the troupe. I appreciate that there is a formal document to tell us how to handle things. I think some of the Thespians might need to spend a little more time with it so that they, too, can learn how it all works.
So, anywho, now it is time for a few new leaders to come out of the woodwork. Several have already expressed interest in the presidency and I hope that we can have two candidates for each of the five positions. The election will be held at the Thespian Meeting to be held after school on Thursday, May 1, 2008.
The five officer positions according to our constitution are (1) President, (2) Vice-President, (3) Clerk, (4) Secretary, and (5) Treasurer. Each is an elected position and each nominee must be a 10th or 11th grader as well as an active member of our troupe for more than one school year. The officers may decide to include class representatives to their roster for the coming year and those individuals would be selected via an open election at the first Thespian Meeting of the new school year.
The duties of each position are listed below. I have extracted this segment directly from our constitution.
Article IV. Officers
Section 1. The responsibilities of Thespian Officers are as follows:
President
The President presides at all officer and membership meetings.
The President appoints all standing and special committees.
The President supervises troupe activities.
The President collaborates with the Troupe Director to set goals and establishes and maintains schedules of meetings and activities for the officers and for the troupe.
Vice-President
The Vice-President presides in the absence of the President.
The Vice-President is responsible for the recruitment and induction of new members.
The Vice-President is responsible for chairing a committee to recruit students for the Area and State Thespian Conference and their related activities.
Secretary
The Secretary keeps official records (minutes) of all meetings.
The Secretary attends to all official Troupe correspondence.
The Secretary is responsible for informing the Troupe members of meetings and activities.
The Secretary is responsible for keeping an accurate log of attendance at all Thespian meetings and other activities.
Treasurer
The Treasurer assists the Troupe Director in managing the finances of the Troupe.
The Treasurer acts as the business manager for all Thespian Fundraisers and social activities.
Clerk
The Clerk is responsible for assisting the Troupe Director in the tallying of points and identifying students eligible for induction.
The Clerk is responsible for informing students of their eligibility.
The Clerk is responsible for assisting the Secretary in keeping a log of attendance at all Thespian meetings and activities.
The Clerk is responsible for keeping a current log of active and inactive Thespians.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Is It All Worth It?
Taking a show to the State Thespian Conference is a lot of work and sometimes it is really expensive. It is enough to ask yourself if it all really with the trouble and the expense.
We have obviously answered that question in the affirmative in the past because we have done it six times in the last twelve years. Students have always enjoyed the experience and claimed to have been happy to do it. This year was no exception. All but a handful of the original cast went to conference and they all appeared to enjoy themselves. IT was fun watching the show come to life one last time . . . and I have never felt the thrill of an audience like I did that night when the audience of Thespian delegates recognized "Thriller" at the end.
But it all felt a little different to me this year. It seemed harder somehow. Maybe I am just older or something . . . but restaging MACBETH for conference was harder than the others. But was it too hard? Was it too hard to consider doing it again? I'm not sure.
We had originally designed our scenery with the expectation that it could travel . . . assuming that we would be invited to bring it to conference. For a brief, shining moment we even considered having it screened for the International Thespian Conference. I thought our set for MACBETH was effective and even a little simple . . . especially as compared ot the monolithic sets we sometimes erect for our shows.
In the end, our set was comprised of just five flats, four columns and a roof section. There was a second, stand-alone piece that required no scenery (and a large truck). It went back together pretty easily despite the fact that we were not in an actual theatre. It came down even more quickly -- far ahead of schedule.
Rehearsals were pretty easy. We scheduled a total of four in preparation for conference. The first was dedicated to all the "remembering" and "re-staging" required of our much smaller performacne space at conference. The second rehearsal was given over to fight choreography and dance choreography. The third was a combination of it all. And the final rehearsal was afull run-through but there were no props, scenery, costumes, or set because it was already loaded into the truck.
We used to not take the scenery for our plays at conference. But then we noticed that everyone seemed to. We also noted a clause in the contract that said we are supposed to bring our play "exactly as it was screened." I took that to mean that we must bring the scenery (or most of it) and to cut out all this fancy restaging we had been doing. That made it harder, for sure. And more expensive.
There was not too much stress this year over memorization as everyone seeemed to remember thier parts. Even the actors assigned new roles learnign their lines and blocking quickly and easily. the fights and choreography came back easily as well. Everyone seemed to be in rehearsal and on task most of the time. It was kind of like riding a bike. A really big, clumsy bike made of wood and cardboard tubes.
We took more kids to conference thsi year at least in part becasue we were presenting MACBETH. We had more than 50 which is at elast 15 more than we have ever taken before. That makes conference more expensive, too. It especially increases the stress factor as it is hard to collect all that money and paperwork as well as keeping track of everyone at confernece nad making sure that each one is ucked away in their beds with vision of sugarplums . . . you know the rest.
The kids had fun. They saw a lot of theatre and even took some workshops. A few more even competed in the Individual Event Competition. A lot of new friends were made. I networked with many colleagues and even caught up with some old friends. Our students enjoyed the dance . . . or maybe the coffee shop . . . and most said that they want to come back next year.
I do, too. I wonder, though, about the next time we will take a big show like MACBETH. I am sure the day will come when we will do it again. I just don't want to think about it right now.
Maybe I will tomorrow.
We have obviously answered that question in the affirmative in the past because we have done it six times in the last twelve years. Students have always enjoyed the experience and claimed to have been happy to do it. This year was no exception. All but a handful of the original cast went to conference and they all appeared to enjoy themselves. IT was fun watching the show come to life one last time . . . and I have never felt the thrill of an audience like I did that night when the audience of Thespian delegates recognized "Thriller" at the end.
But it all felt a little different to me this year. It seemed harder somehow. Maybe I am just older or something . . . but restaging MACBETH for conference was harder than the others. But was it too hard? Was it too hard to consider doing it again? I'm not sure.
We had originally designed our scenery with the expectation that it could travel . . . assuming that we would be invited to bring it to conference. For a brief, shining moment we even considered having it screened for the International Thespian Conference. I thought our set for MACBETH was effective and even a little simple . . . especially as compared ot the monolithic sets we sometimes erect for our shows.
In the end, our set was comprised of just five flats, four columns and a roof section. There was a second, stand-alone piece that required no scenery (and a large truck). It went back together pretty easily despite the fact that we were not in an actual theatre. It came down even more quickly -- far ahead of schedule.
Rehearsals were pretty easy. We scheduled a total of four in preparation for conference. The first was dedicated to all the "remembering" and "re-staging" required of our much smaller performacne space at conference. The second rehearsal was given over to fight choreography and dance choreography. The third was a combination of it all. And the final rehearsal was afull run-through but there were no props, scenery, costumes, or set because it was already loaded into the truck.
We used to not take the scenery for our plays at conference. But then we noticed that everyone seemed to. We also noted a clause in the contract that said we are supposed to bring our play "exactly as it was screened." I took that to mean that we must bring the scenery (or most of it) and to cut out all this fancy restaging we had been doing. That made it harder, for sure. And more expensive.
There was not too much stress this year over memorization as everyone seeemed to remember thier parts. Even the actors assigned new roles learnign their lines and blocking quickly and easily. the fights and choreography came back easily as well. Everyone seemed to be in rehearsal and on task most of the time. It was kind of like riding a bike. A really big, clumsy bike made of wood and cardboard tubes.
We took more kids to conference thsi year at least in part becasue we were presenting MACBETH. We had more than 50 which is at elast 15 more than we have ever taken before. That makes conference more expensive, too. It especially increases the stress factor as it is hard to collect all that money and paperwork as well as keeping track of everyone at confernece nad making sure that each one is ucked away in their beds with vision of sugarplums . . . you know the rest.
The kids had fun. They saw a lot of theatre and even took some workshops. A few more even competed in the Individual Event Competition. A lot of new friends were made. I networked with many colleagues and even caught up with some old friends. Our students enjoyed the dance . . . or maybe the coffee shop . . . and most said that they want to come back next year.
I do, too. I wonder, though, about the next time we will take a big show like MACBETH. I am sure the day will come when we will do it again. I just don't want to think about it right now.
Maybe I will tomorrow.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
What a Dump!
The stage is nearly a complete wreck right now. That is a highly unusual circumstance for the first days after a long break. But there it is. There are pieces of scenery and tools everywhere. There is a large pile of wrapped cable as well as several travel cases here and there. Both of our fiberglass ladders are laying on their side at the rear of the auditorium. There, too, are some flats, lighting instruments, trees, and various props. What a dump indeed.
This is equipment is here and in such a disorganized fashion because we took it all to the State Conference and back again. Three Thespians and a couple of parents helped unload a 26 foot truck last Monday monring -- on our second day of Spring Break. We didn't waste a lot of time unloading and just worked to get msot of it into the auditorium and out of the way of custodians who were busily mopping and waxing the floors everywhere else. Now the Tech Class comprised mostly of ninth graders are putting it away. Or at least dismantling the pieces we will not be using again -- which is most of it.
We needed this for our production of MACBETH which was included in conference as a featured, full-length production. "Needed" might be too strong of a word. I was very concerned about leaving something behind that we really wanted to have or use as we re-assmbled our set on the stage of Ashland University's chapel in preparation of our final performance of The Scottish Play. So we loaded just about everything we thought we MIGHT want into a truck that was initially too small . . . or at leat too short. We had to take our first truck back for a larger version and made for much griping as we unloaded one truck to load all the same stuff back into a second one a short time later. We took all of our light cable as well as the electric cords and a large portion of our hand and power tools. Just in case. We didn't need everything we took but I am glad to have had the option to use it.
The show was very good. The cast and crew did a great job and seemed to have so much fun preparing and performing. I had told them in one of our brief rehearsals that I really enjoyed the challenge of taking a play into an unkown space and "making it work." I think maybe they do too, now that they have had this experience.
I am proud of their efforts to put on a good show for their fellow Thespians. I am proud of the hard work and professionalism. I could not have hoped for more than they gave. We have taken many plays to conference over the years, but none have turned out better than this one. And now we must put it away one more time. For the final time. Our MACBETH will finally be put to rest after many long months of sometimes arduous labor.
This is equipment is here and in such a disorganized fashion because we took it all to the State Conference and back again. Three Thespians and a couple of parents helped unload a 26 foot truck last Monday monring -- on our second day of Spring Break. We didn't waste a lot of time unloading and just worked to get msot of it into the auditorium and out of the way of custodians who were busily mopping and waxing the floors everywhere else. Now the Tech Class comprised mostly of ninth graders are putting it away. Or at least dismantling the pieces we will not be using again -- which is most of it.
We needed this for our production of MACBETH which was included in conference as a featured, full-length production. "Needed" might be too strong of a word. I was very concerned about leaving something behind that we really wanted to have or use as we re-assmbled our set on the stage of Ashland University's chapel in preparation of our final performance of The Scottish Play. So we loaded just about everything we thought we MIGHT want into a truck that was initially too small . . . or at leat too short. We had to take our first truck back for a larger version and made for much griping as we unloaded one truck to load all the same stuff back into a second one a short time later. We took all of our light cable as well as the electric cords and a large portion of our hand and power tools. Just in case. We didn't need everything we took but I am glad to have had the option to use it.
The show was very good. The cast and crew did a great job and seemed to have so much fun preparing and performing. I had told them in one of our brief rehearsals that I really enjoyed the challenge of taking a play into an unkown space and "making it work." I think maybe they do too, now that they have had this experience.
I am proud of their efforts to put on a good show for their fellow Thespians. I am proud of the hard work and professionalism. I could not have hoped for more than they gave. We have taken many plays to conference over the years, but none have turned out better than this one. And now we must put it away one more time. For the final time. Our MACBETH will finally be put to rest after many long months of sometimes arduous labor.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Spring has Sprung.
Time has really flown by since we last met. Here's to renewed optimism. There have been a lot of exciting things happen around here since January.
We presented a successful production of SIDE SHOW as our musical in March. It is good and good fun. People seemd to like it and I am glad that we did it. We recognize that it is a little of the beaten path but that might be one of the things we liked best about SIDE SHOW.
We auditioned a few kids to be part of next year's theatre class. We saw many very talented theatre students and I hope that they will all join us for the fun next year!
We took 50-some students as well as our production of MACBETH to the State Thespian Conference. Several of our students competed and a few even whom (or placed) in their Indivdual Event Category. One student appeared in the cast of the All-Ohio Thespian Production at conference. It was good and she was good in it. I hope that we can have even more kids in the show next year.
We are already making plans for next year which includes the planning and scheduling of next year's productions. I am reading several plays right now trying to make final decisions about what will be on our stage in the coming school year. I am always open to suggestions but reserve the final decision for myself.
I see ideas for blog entries all the time and I resolve to write with more frequency . . . and I hope against hope that a few students will want to write an entry or two as well. I have a few topics stockpiled and I think they will come to a computer screen near you real soon.
Break legs.
We presented a successful production of SIDE SHOW as our musical in March. It is good and good fun. People seemd to like it and I am glad that we did it. We recognize that it is a little of the beaten path but that might be one of the things we liked best about SIDE SHOW.
We auditioned a few kids to be part of next year's theatre class. We saw many very talented theatre students and I hope that they will all join us for the fun next year!
We took 50-some students as well as our production of MACBETH to the State Thespian Conference. Several of our students competed and a few even whom (or placed) in their Indivdual Event Category. One student appeared in the cast of the All-Ohio Thespian Production at conference. It was good and she was good in it. I hope that we can have even more kids in the show next year.
We are already making plans for next year which includes the planning and scheduling of next year's productions. I am reading several plays right now trying to make final decisions about what will be on our stage in the coming school year. I am always open to suggestions but reserve the final decision for myself.
I see ideas for blog entries all the time and I resolve to write with more frequency . . . and I hope against hope that a few students will want to write an entry or two as well. I have a few topics stockpiled and I think they will come to a computer screen near you real soon.
Break legs.
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