The show goes on!

You have to forgive my tardy entry...The show is over and time gets so filled with details of production that I have not been able to write about the event.

The production was wonderful. The cast and crew did a great job. Such beautiful and touching moments and really, mature acting for high school actors.

Opening night, our Helen was sick! I must commend this 8 year old actress. She had several bouts of sickness before, during and after the show – but still made it on stage and through the breakfast scene – (with scrambled eggs being thrusted at her). The fellow actors did some improv when she was “busy” back stage and even “went with the flow” when a scene needed to cut a little short. I think the remarkable noticing is that when a cast is rehearsed and rehearsed well these “live theatre” events are minor bumps and the show goes on. I do not believe in chaos and that a bad dress rehearsal will produce a good production. Hard work does that – preparation does that - along with talent and sometimes a little luck!

Behind the scenes!

It's a shame the audience never knows the story that goes on behind the set. In this case, they will never get to see the "club house" the eight year old members have created under the platforms! With just a little space and some scrape wood they have created a world at which I marvel.

I stand in amazement at the creativity and the team work the three cast members have demonstrated. It has a door and door bell. Inside you are welcomed to sit at the table and enjoy a bowl of nuts. (metal nuts).

The signs that set the boundies of thier space are well respected and why wouldn't they be - such creativity just has to be respected.

So when the audience views the world of Helen Keller we have created on stage, just remeber there is a world within a world and isn't that what creativity ia all about??!

In researching for this play, I have read three books about the life of Helen. We know that Helen goes on to graduate from college, speaks across the globe, learns to dance and meets many famous people.

There is a picture of her with President Eisenhower. Since she “saw” with her hands, she asked to see his face and he graciously allowed her to do so.

Many of these books, I have read to the young actress playing Helen. To build her interest and background knowledge concerning the character she is playing. I will encourage the other actors to do a little research as well.

These books were centered on Helen and so I did a little reading about Anne.

Anne Sullivan grew up in an orphanage with no formal educational facilities and is said to have literally thrown herself in front of the visiting president of the state board of charities begging to go to school. She had several operations on her own eyes and often wore glasses to shield the light.

It is her commitment to Helen that she is known for. She traveled with Helen and together they raised money for the Federation for the Blind. She was married briefly to Harvard instructor, John Albert Macy. They separated and Anne and Helen continued to speak and various events.

Anne’s own eye sight began to fail in her later life and she died, but not before receiving several awards and honors for her tireless work with Helen.

Why didn’t she teach any other children? It seems a waste of her talents. Did she simple have the gift that could reach this one child or was her teaching method one that was a philosophy that could be used to train other children? Did the Perkins School for the Blind use any of her methods on other blind children? In searching for pictures I found a book that looks very interesting: “Beyond The Miracle Worker.” I am going to find it because I think it will provide insight into Anne Sullivan.

Blocking continues and Lighting Work begins

Rehearsals are progressing with the completion of blocking for act one. The tech crew has begun to focus lights.

The technical crew has a script with cues marked, so they have an idea of where I want preliminary cues to fall. Really for this show are using blues (many night or frozen scenes as general lights focus on action) and general lighting. I want the lighting to be compartmentalized in to stage areas as we will have many focused scenes of action. We have major power outlets being installed for us. This will allow us more flexibility in the placement of electrical plug in equipment.

My light technician has is now a sophomore and after having worked with me during the summer children’s theatre will mark his 6th show for me. He is very capable and has passion for this side of theatre. It is exciting to watch him take on this challenge! He has a crew

Adjusting The Schedule - set back in blocking

This week we found that we needed to make an adjustment to the schedule. The Tuesday afterschool simply meant we lost our Annie Sullivan again. This week we had Honor Choir and a Swimming meet to compete with… In a small school (population under 400) the difficulty with producing quality drama is the maneuvering around the many over scheduled teenagers.

I am of the thinking that involved students (students with varying life experience) will produce the best actors. So I try to be flexible with the schedule and building around to allow for as many conflicts as I can – until the final two and half weeks. Then I demand that actor put this program for the “front burner”. This has allowed students to experience a wide variety of activities and keep the program strong and dynamic.

So with that adjustment made, I am now in need of making up for lost time and will be working the actors hard next week.

On a side note, the project for class is taking off and I have asked all the students in the Pre AP class to link to this page. (You can check them out!) Together we built the rubric for their blogs.

Blog Grading Rubric
Your Blog
50 Points 2 weeks

QUALITY
5 points – content __________

4-5 pts – topic fully discussed with several examples from
your experiences and research
Entries were thoughtful and well developed
Scholarly in nature and focused on a theme
2-3 pts – topic only cursorily discussed with only one
example provided Entries were random or off topic
1 pt – topic barely discussed with no examples provided

5 points – coherency and organization ___________

4-5 points – coherent and well-organized
2-3 points – somewhat difficult to follow
1 point – not organized

5 points – accuracy ___________

4-5 points – few errors in spelling and grammar
2-3 points – many spelling or grammar errors, but still comprehensible
1 point – meaning unclear due to spelling or grammar errors


QUANTITY
5 points - number of entries________

4-5 points – 3 entries were made each week – 2 thoughtful comments were left –
1 assigned following and 1 free following
2-3 – less then 3 entries were made and comments were not complete or not thoughtful
1 – points – only one entry was made and comments were incomplete as well

5 points – comments ___________
4-5 points - demonstrated that you read their posting by reacting to or asking about what your classmate wrote
2-3 points – questionable whether you read or understood classmate’s posting
1 point – no demonstration of having read classmate’s posting


TOTAL __________/25 X 2 = _____

EXTRA CREDIT
5 points – creativity ____________
4-5 points – creative presentation of topic including pictures video log or links to other websites

Problem – the blocking of physical slapping required by the scene

The set is looking good. The set builder understood all the extra platforms we put out and adapted. He is working with what I think is one of the smallest groups of students we have had in the class. On the other hand, each of the members of the class are proving to be talented and creative. Those two elements go a long way in completing the set.

Rehearsals are progressing with the blocking of scenes. I have scheduled two full rehearsals to Annie and Helen. Working with a young actress as Helen, I want to give plenty of time for her to digest the process. Well, that was the plan…But Annie was not able to make the first twosome rehearsal.

I went ahead and worked with Helen and blocked the scenes. In both of the scenes, I wanted to work, require an intense slapping scene. In the first, it is Annie who gets slapped with a doll and the other scene I have titled “war”. It requires the bully – Helen Keller – to meet her match in Annie Sullivan. If I don’t build a bratty, tyrant in my Helen this blocking will come off as abusive. I need the audience to be right with Annie Sullivan – the sympathy to be with her .

In the film, this works because (I think) the Helen is about 11 or 12- that extra age and size also helps the slaps not seem as abusive. So…

We experimented with different kinds of slaps – hand slaps – arm slap - face slaps… I hope we can find that element that works for the actors and is exciting enough to build and fulfill the scene. Complex…

Costume measurements done – will do the paper work on Monday after I get the speech tournament we are hosting off my plate.

First Rehearsal

Rehearsals have begun. We began with a cast meeting to discuss costumes and schedule. This schedule shall be a challenge with all the other demands on high school students and the younger actors we have asked to join our cast. My daughter is playing the part of young Helen and two other young actors, one a 2nd grader and the other a 3rd grader are actors from the summer Children’s Theatre summer company and they have been invited to join the cast. My Annie Sullivan is taking college classes and swimming and my Kate Keller is teaching dance lessons one night a week. Can they balance the demands of these other activities and still perform at the level I demand? This is the problem of a small rural high school. Everyone is involved in everything. Will the production quality suffer?

I began by reading the script. Actually I read this script last year but I try to alternate each spring: A comedy one year and a drama the next. In that manner, a student who wants to pursue theatre in college should leave this high school with a solid resume.

We began as a cast with a pizza movie watching rehearsal. I so wanted to watch the Ann Bancroft, Patty Duke version because I think the performance is superior. Now this is where the balancing act of being teacher, forensic coach, mother, wife, church choir director having a new puppy in the house… – I think all come into zapping my quality. When I went to gather up the video - that version could not be found. The DVD case yes – but actual DVD no. I could find the Patty Duke – Melissa Gilbert version so… that is what we watch and it served as an introduction. I think the wonderful moment for me was when my daughter, who watched both versions over the holiday break and who thinks any movie in black and white must be of low quality, wanted to watch the Anne Bancroft “Miracle Worker”. She is eight year old and could tell the quality of the production.

I find that using videos as an opening for high school performers ensures the same vision. When these kids audition, I cast some that have a great deal of experience and for some this is the first time ever on stage. This helps give us all have the same vision in which discussions can center.
So the this rehearsal on stage proved interesting. We have a stage craft class building the set. That is such a wonderful gift! The set building begins by me providing a copy of the script to the instructor. I did this before break. One of the items he asked for last year was the play selection and script earlier then what I did last year. I hope that is something I can do for him - at least this year I did it. So then we have had several discussions and have searched the internet for other productions ideas.

Our stage is an open thrust stage.So building is sometimes an engineering feat. When I arrived at rehearsal (not as earlier as I had hoped – moving and eight year old is a challenge!) the stairs to the upper bedroom platform were a bit different than what I imagined. I think is might help is stagecraft and set builder joined us for the video – but he has a new baby, and teaches evening college classes – reality of a high school teacher…So spent some time rearranging platforms to make sure the table I purchased from the second hand story fit (just found this place and as a drama person always searching for cool items this is a great little jewel!) and the living room area were large enough to allow four actor’s blocking to flow. This took too much time and didn’t get through all the scenes that were scheduled to block – so now we are behind.

That was a Thursday night and the next day I was gone from school. As the forensics coach, we were off at 5:15 AM to attend a competitive speech tournament. So - haven’t had a conversation with the set builder. Wanted to send an email from the tournament site, but the school didn’t have wireless so can only wonder about his reaction to the platforms arrangement… I think this a creative challenge of balancing what is possible in terms of construction, time, and artistic vision.
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