The Theatre Classroom — Back to School

September 7th, 2012

Reflections on summer and old drama acquaintances

Hope you had a wonderful summer and are ready to start another great year of drama.

Summer, a Time to Renew Old Friendships

One the joys of being a teacher is watching your students grow up and share their lives with you. This summer was no exception. I had a delightful dinner with a former student who is going into her 33^rd year of teaching English. It was such a treat to get reacquainted. I hadn’t seen her since she graduated in ’76. She is a ball of fire, and I can see why her students love her. And speaking of not seeing a student since they graduated from high school, I had another lovely dinner with a student who graduated in ’65. (He was one of 23 students who traveled with my husband and me on our honeymoon to perform the children’s play “Annabelle Broome” for the Spokane Children’s Hospital during Christmas break.)

I also am so lucky to have students still in ‘The Biz.’ Missoula native Andy Taylor was a little boy when he stepped into his first role as Michael Darling in my 1997 production of “Peter Pan.” His sister Beth was in “Peter Pan” with Andy and remembers his stage presence from the start. She said the young Taylor was even responsible for several of the backstage sound effects in the play since he could do them so much louder than anyone else.

Little did he know that in 2012, as a grown man, he’d perform in Broadway’s Tony-winning production of “Once,” a stage adaptation of a 2006 film that stars Irish singer-songwriter Glen Hansard. Andy demonstrated his myriad of talents when he wrote the music for one of the production’s comedic numbers called ‘Abandoned in Bandon,’ for which he now receives royalties. Taylor plays guitar on that song, but it becomes obvious in the rest of the musical that his skills in mandolin, accordion, violin, and cello are well above average.

This coming week another of my kids, Kathleen McNenny, opens on Broadway in “Enemy of the People” along with her husband, Boyd Gaines. See the website: http://anenemyofthepeoplebroadway.com. (As this is the last year I will be teaching up at MCT Camp, I was able to go out with a bang, teaching their daughter Leslie — the only way to leave teaching, right?)

Scott Michael Campbell will be seen in the new TNT series “Major Crimes,” and last but not least, John Shaffner, the past CEO of the Night Time Emmys, is busy designing three hit comedies: “Two and a Half Men”, “Mike and Mollie,” and “The Big Bang Theory”.

The Amazing Improv Generator

I finally did it; I used the App “The Amazing Improv Generator” I talked about in March 7 blog up at beautiful Flathead Lake with the Missoula Children’s Theatre Fine Arts Camp. It was very successful, but I do have a comment. My students wanted to jump right in and be their characters, forgetting to set the stage with place and event. I would recommend that when you start with this super tool, you stress that your students spend time establishing place and/or event, and then get into their characters.