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The Majority of Drama Teachers do this and You Should Too!

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Music Rehearsal for Willy Wonka, Jr. Apex Home School Enrichment Program  2014

Note:  Recently, I wrote several pieces concerning reading and literacy for Litpick.com.  This is a re-publish of the latest article. 

I’m not a Wizard, but I can do Magic and so Can You!

Teaching has its up and downs, but one of the most rewarding experiences of teaching is seeing a student’s eyes light up once some learning connects with them. I like to teach “magically” if I can. I bet a lot of teachers do, too!

I don’t wear a wizard’s robe and pull out a magic wand —I have no idea how that is done. I mean when a student learns something when they don’t think they are doing anything, but having fun. Teaching and learning become effortless and almost enchanting!

I use many drama games and exercises in my classroom. I’m especially fond of Viola Spolin’s book Improvisation in the Classroom. But that’s not today’s subject…. (my right brained-ness kicked in there for a moment). Sorry.

I find that when I am teaching a concept that a student is focused upon and I am using a particular activity to demonstrate the concept, the learning becomes “like butter”—smooth, enriching and tasty. (Okay, I do have a fondness for butter I will admit, but you get the point.)

Drama Class and Reading

Reading skills can be strengthened through drama. No joke! Sometimes students don’t realize when they enroll in my classes that we will read aloud in class—that’s a given. And we read A LOT. Of course we read the occasional theatre textbook chapter, but mostly we read plays. I mean, obviously we read plays, right? Also, we perform the readings, so the words become memorized easily.

Families can do this at home, too! The benefits of reading plays aloud are varied, but suffice to say that if a group gets together and reads a play, a child’s reading skills will be honed.

Dialogue

Oh my gosh, play dialogue is so fun to read aloud! It’s far better to read a play aloud than to read it silently. That’s because it was created to be spoken. A playwright depends upon his characters’ dialogue to tell a story. That’s the whole point. Playwrights work for months, maybe years, to find and create just the right meaning in a sentence.

Presently, I am preparing to direct a summer youth theatre camp production of Tams Witmark’s Music Library version of The Wizard of Oz musical. Here is a tidbit of dialogue from the production:

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WICKED WITCH:

They’re gone! The ruby slippers! What have you done with them?

Give them back to me, or I’ll—

GLINDA:

It’s too late! There they are, and there they’ll stay!

Awesome, don’t you think? The dialogue is precise, rhythmical and exciting. A playwright’s goal is to express a particular message, right? She wants the audience to continue listening to her play. Her dialogue must be excellent. There can be no excess words, very few challenging words or word pronunciations that an audience member must struggle to understand.   Since theatre is live, it is essential that the play is engaging right from the first word. When one is not enjoying a book that she is reading, she can put the book down. But at a play? The confused person might just walk out of the performance. Eeek!

Form

Young readers love to read scripts aloud once they understand the form. It’s a little daunting, you must admit. There are no markers—no “he said” or “she yelled” In particular moments, emotions are written in for the actor to use. Generally, a playwright leaves it up to the director and actors to convey the required emotion. That’s more interesting for everyone involved. It allows the director to create her own concept of the play—sort of like painting a picture using her own thoughts about the story. That’s more interesting for everyone involved.

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Usually, I read aloud the stage directions so that the students can create the atmosphere or plot in their minds. The plot of a play must be very clear to understand although surprises are always welcome. That’s what makes for excellent theatre, I think.

Once when my class of middle school students read aloud the “Tom Sawyer” play, I purposely stopped us at an exciting moment—scary Injun Joe hid behind a tree and overheard Tom and Huck discussing the big bag of money they found. Many of the students were reluctant readers. I heard groans of “Oh man, Mrs. B. can’t we continue reading?” But instead, I handed out paper and pencils and asked them to draw what they thought would occur next. I’m a tricky teacher….

Research

In researching this article, I came upon a tremendous website–Readingrockets.org. who says it much better than I can.

  1. Listening to others read develops an appreciation for how a story is written and familiarity with book conventions, such as “once upon a time” and “happily ever after”.

  2. Reading aloud demonstrates the relationship between the printed word and meaning – children understand that print tells a story or conveys information – and invites the listener into a conversation with the author.

  3. Listening to others read develops key understanding and skills. Reading aloud demonstrates the relationship between the printed word and meaning – children understand that print tells a story or conveys information – and invites the listener into a conversation with the author (Bredekamp, Copple, & Neuman, 2000).

  4. Reading aloud makes complex ideas more accessible and exposes children to vocabulary and language patterns that are not part of everyday speech. It exposes less able readers to the same rich and engaging books that fluent readers read on their own, and entices them to become better readers. (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996).

Libraries

How does a family select the right play to read together? I’d suggest checking out a public library. They have a fountain of plays to read including many versions of classics such as Anne of Green Gables, Peter Pan, Charlotte’s Web or Huckleberry Finn.

If reading an entire play script seems overwhelming, look into reader’s theatre scripts. They are short, concise, edited well and give the “nugget” of the story. They are a great stepping off point for young readers to pique their interest, giving them a feeling of success before they tackle the complete novel.

Reading Experts

Children’s literature consultant Susie Freeman states, “If you’re searching for a way to get your children reading aloud with comprehension, expression, fluency, and joy, reader’s theater is a miracle. Hand out a photocopied play script, assign a part to each child, and have them simply read the script aloud and act it out. That’s it. And then magic happens.”

Aaron Shephard

One of my favorite authors of reader’s theatre scripts is Aaron Shephard. Check him out at http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/. He has adapted a treasure trove of stories, many multicultural, including original ones of his own. I have used a host of his scripts including Legend of Lightning Larry with an ESL drama club, The Legend of Slappy Hooper with a creative dramatics class, and the beloved Casey at the Bat with an introduction to theatre class plus various other scripts.

So, the next time on a really hot summer day your family is stuck indoors and has exhausted every other avenue of entertainment or learning, pick up a play script! I promise you a magical and great time of reading.

There you have it:  this is what the majority of drama teachers do and you can too.  I can’t wait to hear how things go for you.  Do write me.

Contact me at dhcbaldwin@gmail.com or DeborahBaldwin.net

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Beginning Director’s First Step

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   When I was ten years old, I came down with pneumonia on a camping trip with my parents.  I remember very vividly what happened.  We took a walk in our campground in a rain storm which was an uncommon experience for us.  My parents were older, they had me when they were forty years old (which back in the 50’s was really old) and they allowed me to play in the mud puddles.  I was thrilled!

   The next morning I had a high temperature and I was coughing like my lungs would fall out.  My dad, who was a Radiologist, took me to a small health clinic to have some x-rays done.  Sure enough.  I had pneumonia.  And thus, my life as a play director began.

    Well, not quite.  Our trip had just begun and my parents weren’t too keen on going home early.  So, they bedded me down in the backseat of the Oldsmobile, shoved a HUGE  antibiotic pill down my throat and hoped I would recover soon.  I slept the entire trip in the car. 

    Touring Colorado on that vacation, I had very little to do to occupy myself, except my huge imagination. Of course, there were no fancy hand held computer thingies or glitzy cell phones.  But I do remembering bringing two things with me– my Big Red Chief tablet which I drew in religiously and my beloved book of Mary Poppins.  Before our trip, I had seen the movie.  I think we traveled to Kansas City and attended the movie in a massive  theater with a theater screen just as massive.  I was simply mesmerized.  I loved movies. In fact, they were the catalyst for my passion for theater.

    I wasn’t much of a player with dolls, but I did order my Barbie doll through an advertisement on a cereal box. Even though I didn’t play with her much, I dragged her along with me. I liked the Mary Poppins outfit I bought for her and dressed her in that most of the time…of course!

    With not much to do but eat, sleep and live in the backseat of our car and bored out of my skull, I decided to direct Mary Poppins in my backyard when I returned home. Now understand that I had NO experience acting in a play (I mean, I was only ten) much less directing and hadn’t even read the book!  I just owned it. (As I recall, I thought the book was boring). It was pink with a photo of Julie Andrews on the front cover. I loved Julie Andrews–she was so everything I wasn’t–pretty, slim and British.
So back to my play debut. It seemed simple to me:  I would have my dad rent a helicopter (?) for my first entrance as Mary as she floats through the clouds with her umbrella.  My neighbors, Tammy and Kirk would play the Banks children and all my friends would be in it, too.  I don’t know if I figured out where the costumes, sets, props would come from, but I imagine I didn’t think that would be a big deal to accomplish. What’s the problem with that? 

    I don’t remember much more about my plan.  I know that for my birthday party in August, I recall my mother telling my friend Cindy Byrd that she shouldn’t cry because I would make a place for her in the play. I guess I had announced my plans to my birthday party guests.  Gosh, even my mother appeared to believe I would direct it! My mom wasn’t very involved in my life and so for her to even show any interest in something I was doing made a great impression on me. 

   Soon school began and I rummaged around in the basement and found an old pair of roller skates and decided I would become a professional ice skater. Like most children of that age, my intense love for my Mary Poppins play idea went by the way side just about as quickly as I got over the pneumonia that summer. I continued putting on little plays with my cousin, Sharon but I never revisited the Mary Poppins play idea.   

    I grew up and attended Stephens College and pursued my BFA in theater.  I had so much to learn, it never occurred to me that I could direct a play.  In fact, I didn’t direct my first play until I was twenty-two and it was The Phantom Tollbooth.  When I was ten,  I liked that book much more and actually read the whole thing. To this day, it is still one of my favorites along with Charlotte’s Web.

   Over time,  I kept volunteering to direct because well, someone had to do it and I had the most experience (you know….one show under my belt). The rest of my directing history is a slippery slope to present day.  Right now, I am finishing directing four musicals at once (all school shows, mind you). That’s with kids, ages ten to seventeen with about one hundred different levels of skills and abilities.  This summer, I’ll direct sixty-five more.  Sometimes it’s like herding cats–no joke.

    You would think I tire of directing.  Nope.  I tire of the stresses of directing in community and youth theater.  I deal with issues such as finding a venue in which to produce the show, volunteer parent committees who dodge their responsibilities, students playing lead roles who come down with laryngitis the day before the show, lack of money, losing rehearsals to snow days, shortened classes, etc. And from what I hear from other drama teachers around the country, in some respects, I have it easy. 

   What I love about directing is that I fall in love with theater arts all over again.  I get a real thrill out of watching my actors as they find their characters and begin to understand the power of the word within the script.  I am very touched when one of my actors discovers he is good at something he never even thought of doing before–like dancing or singing.  It’s fascinating to watch a person grow in their understanding of a concept or idea. 

    Theater is a magnificent art form.  If you really understand it, you know it’s value to everyone.  Obviously, it is an important part of humanity because it’s been practiced for thousand of years.  Even the cave dwellers told stories.  I like knowing what I do has a historical significance and is embedded in our DNA in some form.

    So, that’s it. We’ll blame all this directing falderal on Mary Poppins. I’ve never touched Mary Poppins again.  I don’t re-read books and if I don’t like a book, my husband would tell you that I am known to throw the disliked book across the room and exclaim a “Yuck!” as I do so.  I don’t admit to that myself.  But I do love a good story or a movie.  They get my creative juices going all over again.