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Why is Theatre Important?

  • It is a human need to express ourselves, and find meaning, through story
  • Theatre brings people together in collaboration and community
  • It makes us a more empathetic society by living other people’s lives
  • Everyone’s contribution is important and needed

There is a lot of research about how theatre supports math, literacy, and test scores. But, more than that, there are dozens of articles out there about how the arts, and specifically theatre, help our youth create a better vision of tomorrow while being more prepared for the world. Did someone say 21st century skills? What about bringing joy and happiness to theirs’ and others’ lives? How about satisfaction in the hard work of creating something? All of these things come with your child working on a production from beginning to end.

Potential Positions:

  • Student Director
  • Assists the adult director is all aspects of the show: casting, design meetings, rehearsals, and performances
  • Designers: Scenic, Lights, Sound, Costumes
  • Create the vision of the show’s world
  • Tech Director
  • Keeps track and controls the budget
  • They make sure all the designers can make and finish their projects on time.
  • Stage Manager
  • Assists director/wrangles actors and crew
  • In control of scheduling and the creation of crews
  • Often has Assistant Stage Managers (ASM’s) to help make life easier
  • Runs rehearsals
  • Also “calls” the show—reads cues to tell tech crew members when to run certain lights, sound, or run cues
  • Technical Crew
  • Works backstage during the shows and often after school, on weekends, and/or designated work days
  • Possible crews:
  • Costumes—creates the costumes, make-up and helps the actors change backstage
  • Set—builds the background and furniture
  • Scenic Art—paints the backdrop, furniture, props, etc.
  • Lights—works with hanging, focusing, and controlling the lights
  • Sound—works with sound effects, music, and microphones
  • Properties—Buys or creates the “props” (things that actors bring on and offstage, smaller objects such as cameras or food items or purses)
  • Publicity—creates the t-shirt, posters, tickets, etc, and helps spread the word about the show in order to get the biggest audience possible
  • Dramaturgy—researches the show and anything the director or other member of a crew asks in order to preserve accuracy. Also can assist in the cutting of shows or editing of a new play.
  • Run—moves the scenery during the show
  • House—helps with concessions, ticket sales, seating, ushering, etc.
  • Can be a crew member or can be considered for a crew chief position if experienced and a good leader
  • Dance Captain
  • Assists the choreographer, learning the dances before anyone else and then helping the actors to learn them
  • Actor
  • Performs in the show.

Students will have the opportunity to interview for student director, stage manager, and designers in the spring of the previous year.

Audition Process:

  • Generally involve a “cold reading” (excerpt from the show that they have never seen before)
  • If for a musical they will probably be required to sing a few bars (measures) of a song and possibly learn a dance.
  • Almost always can prepare and memorize a monologue from the same time period of the show to perform for the directors
  • Will generally fill out forms and information at this time
  • Tip for auditioners: Try to be friendly, upbeat, and polite no matter how nervous or upset you are—often directors are more likely to choose a actor who would be easier and more fun to work with than a brilliant actor who is not pleasant. Don’t forget to smile!

Callbacks:

  • Often held a few days after the initial auditions
  • Directors hold callbacks because they want to see more of certain people
  • Being called back does not mean that they are or are not cast—just as NOT being called back doesn’t mean either of those things.
  • Typically just consists of more cold readings (but could include more singing or dancing for a musical)

Casting:

  • The director(s) ultimately have the final choice in the casting of the show. They have the vision and the power to create an entire production. In educational theatre there are many aspects that are being balanced and ultimately the directors are trying to tell the story the best way they can with the people they have.
  • At George Washington all auditionees receive feedback about their audition, thereby hopefully de-mystifying the process and allowing them to know what they did well and what they can work on in the future.
  • Be sure to discover everything you can about the character you/your child has been cast in—especially if it wasn’t what they were going for. Every role is an adventure and can be made into a fun experience if you have the right attitude and knowledge.

First Rehearsal:

  • This is the first time the entire cast will be together at one time. Scripts will be handed out, and often there is a read through, where everyone sits in a circle and reads their lines, but does not act it out or perform it.
  • Try not to count lines or discuss who is the most important role—in the words of Konstantin Stanislavski, “There are no small parts, only small actors!”
  • The first few rehearsals will create the atmosphere and energy that the cast will have for the whole process—the goal is to make it a positive one.

Rehearsals:

  • Actors rehearse after school from 3:45-6:30 (typically).
  • Patriot Players currently rehearse 4 days a week. And every day there are different needs for who is “called” (asked to be there) depending on what needs to be worked.
  • From an outside perspective they can often seem messy and slightly disorganized—try to be understanding that the director and SM’s are doing all they can to control a huge number of people, and there will be times students will not be used and they should use this downtime for homework and studying.
  • Try to obtain a rehearsal schedule that you and your child can look over—and then allow yourself to be flexible just in case something goes wrong or gets changed.
  • Students should dress appropriately for rehearsal—loose fitting clothing is generally good, especially for musicals—and have plenty of water.

Memorizing:

  • Even if the production seems miles away, encourage your child to begin memorizing as soon as they can. Better to be memorized sooner than everyone else than scrambling at the last minute to remember that monologue.
  • There will be an “off-book” date when the actors will no longer be able to read off of a script onstage. Make sure you and your child know it and are prepared for it.
  • There are many different ways to memorize, so if your child is struggling, try something else. Some ideas:
  • Writing lines on flashcards with their cue line on the other side so they can practice with a friend or alone.
  • Recording them reading their lines and having them listen to it.
  • Having them read over their lines in the morning when they wake up and at night right before they go to bed.
  • Making the lyrics into a song.
  • Writing the lines down over and over.

Experiment with different methods and see what works!

  • Make sure your child understands all of their lines as well as the context surrounding it—it’ll make it a hundred times easier to memorize.

Work Days:

  • These are basically rehearsals for the tech crew. Workdays are held on Saturday mornings with supervision. This is the time that designers get to create their vision with the crew.
  • Sometimes crews will need to make runs to stores or the mall or the library. If you are not comfortable with your student driving with other crew-members, be sure to make that clear to them.
  • Work days end at 12:30 typically and there is not lunch provided as students may eat after the work call.

Technical (Tech) Rehearsals:

  • This is when all of the aspects of the show finally start coming together. Often actors aren’t needed on certain nights because the directors and SM want to focus on the lights/sound/etc. Other times, actors will be needed to read certain parts of their lines and then jump to a different place entirely.
  • Either way it will be a slow process. Both you and your child need to have as much patience as possible—everyone is working to make the best looking/sounding/overall show possible.
  • During tech week is when the techies are needed most. They will be working through the aspects of each and every piece of the show, doing damage control for all of the things that will inevitably go wrong, etc. If your child is involved with tech, they will undoubtedly be quite stressed at this time. Try to support them through this short period of time.
  • George Drama tech rehearsals usually go until about 9:30 PM. This sounds late, I know, but fortunately there’s typically downtime during the night that your child can use to finish homework, have a snack, or take a nap.
  • There are 2 reasons these rehearsals go late. The main reason is that the show will be performed in the evening and we must practice as performance. So, performing in rehearsal at 4:00pm will feel much different than performing at 8:00pm. The other reason is the amount of work that needs to be done in these longer rehearsals, when all the elements and people are in the same place. In Equity (union) theatre the comparable rehearsal is their 10 out of 12, meaning they work for 10 hours out of a 12 hour day. Wow!
  • On these days we make sure students have dinner break and do so on campus for safety sake. The show will purchase one evening’s meals, one evening we ask everyone to bring their individual dinner, and we ask that families provide dinner on remaining nights, potluck-style, so that we can keep your children’s energy high. A list will go out via email or Virtual Stage Management to let you know who should bring what which nights.
  • Some different types of Tech Rehearsals and elements of this week:

-Costume Parade: the directors and costume designer evaluate all actors’ costumes on stage under the lights.

-Dry Tech: Run through of the technical cues (lights, sounds, set, etc) to make sure everything is working and will be executed at the right time during the show. Actors are not called for this rehearsal unless they are also part of a crew. All crews and designers are called.

-Wet Tech: Another run through of all the cues with the actors on stage. This is to make sure the sounds and lights coordinate with the lines. All crews, designers, and cast are called.

Dress Rehearsals:

  • Dress rehearsals are (theoretically) as close to a real performance as a rehearsal can be. The actors are in full make-up and costume and perform the show with no breaks or stops, and with all of the technical elements as well. Sometimes there are even invited dress rehearsals where there is an actual audience so that the atmosphere is as realistic as possible.
  • Be understanding with the costumes crew at this time. All sorts of issues arise during dress rehearsals that they couldn’t have possibly imagined—a rip here, lost tights there, his top doesn’t fit, her dress is the wrong color… —and they are just as, if not more, upset as you and your child are. If you have any time to volunteer, any help is welcome, as are any tools (sewing machines, extra cloth or thread, etc.) you may want to donate or lend to the department.

Performances:

  • Opening night is a stressful, scary, exciting time for everyone involved! They finally get to see the culmination of all of their hard work—and so do you! Therefore it is important to try to go to opening night to support them. Flowers are always appreciated, whether they were the lead or running the lights board.
  • Try to ensure that your child always arrives to a performance well fed and rested—this will be difficult because of the late runtimes shows often have, but do your best. The performances will only improve because of this, but more importantly, your child will feel better for it.
  • Be sure to invite pretty much everyone you know. The bigger the audience, the more energy the actors will put out. And the ticket sales will raise money for an even better show next time.
  • When bringing your child to a performance, try to respect their call time as best you can—it may seem like it’s way too early or you can be just a little late, but the directors called them then for a reason. They have to get into costumes, makeup, and hair, do a sound check, warm up, ensure their props are in the right place and the set is up correctly, and take care of any issues that may have arisen since the last show, all in an hour or two.

Closing Night:

  • Another night that emotion will be running high. Don’t be surprised to see tears from the cast and crew alike: it’s the end of a time that will hold many great memories, lots of effort and investment, and really what feels like a family between everyone who worked on the show.

Strike:

  • The next school day after closing night the team will get together for one final meeting. They “strike” the show, taking down the set, putting away props and costumes, cleaning the theatre, and overall preparing for the next show to have a clean start.
  • There is also a “post-mortem” discussion. That sounds morbid, but it’s just a review of all of the good and bad things that happened in the process. Possible changes are discussed, memories are shared, and there is free dinner for all. Strike is the last time that this group of people and energy will be together, so it’s important to attend! (Also it’s mandatory and if your child doesn’t go and doesn’t make up the work time later, they won’t be allowed to participate in the next show. So that’s important to take into account too.)
  • After strike there will be a cast party—for cast and crew ONLY—(with plenty of adult supervision) to celebrate a job well done. Gifts are given to the production staff (directors, technical directors stage managers, and assistant stage managers), speeches will be made, awards given, and will be held in our lunchroom with a catered meal.

The production is over and the next one begins!