Productions dictate the order in which I present concepts to students. Tech
theatre, out of necessity is part lecture, but mostly practicum.
You didn't mention if your tech program has a prerequisite or not. If the kids haven't already had a
theatre class, obviously you're going to have to go back to the very beginning and teach types of stages, parts of the
stage and
stage directions. You'll also want to
cover basic history such as the origins of
theatre and why we do it.
Theatre safety is also a must at the beginning of school. I usually
cover these concepts during the first three weeks of school along with basic carpentry tools and fasteners. By the end of week three or four, we've done a quiz or two on
safety, stages, history and tools and each kid has demonstrated safe use of a hammer, drill/
driver, circular saw and
jig saw. At this
point, we usually start a
unit on
stock scenery and start building the musical. I usually devote three days a week to construction and two days to classroom instruction. By week 10 or 12 we've covered construction of
stock units, simple scale drawings and painting techniques plus built a considerable portion of the set.
At this
point I usually start on lighting. I
cover safety, basic lighting theory, types of instruments, hanging, focusing, relamping and control. I spend about 4 to 6 weeks and by the beginning of December, we have a completed set and
light plot and are ready to open the musical. We have a two day, intensive
strike lesson and go on break.
At the beginning of the spring semester, we start a
unit on sound. I spend about a week teaching the basics of mics, simple sound
console operation and design theory. I have installed Audacity
in one of the computer labs and we do a couple of weeks of recording and editing. We create the first sound
cue in Don Nigro's Cinderella Waltz and the kids love it. They also do a group project where they turn their choice of song into a 1 minute clip. We use this at the end of the year.
Next, I do a costume and makeup
unit. We design and
build costumes out of recycled materials that the kids bring from home. This takes two weeks or so to complete and present. We then do a "blood, guts and gore" makeup
unit that's usually the high
point of the year for most students. Check with administration before letting kids wear their makeup to their next class!
It's getting close to contest time at this
point so I put a scene design assignment here. It allows students to work independently during the times when I'm gone to clinics or contests. Depending on how detailed I want to get, this can last from two to four weeks. I usually require a
ground plan, color renderings and a scale white model. If I want to cut it a
bit shorter, I lose the white model.
Toward the end of the year, I
cover moving lights and
LED's. We learn to patch, program and control, then the kids use the one minute music clip they created and program a moving light show. I always have to remind myself that it's about the process, not the product here. Most of the shows are going to be pretty bad, but that's ok. When they're done, they all have an appreciation of how intricate and difficult it is to do a rock and
roll light show.
This is a very
broad overview. Bigger classes usually means less practicum simply because it's more difficult to safely supervise a larger group. I beg every year to lock my tech classes at 20. They usually keep them under 30.
I also
throw in healthy doses of team building games and activities throughout the year. For some kids, Tech I is the beginning of a life-long love of
theatre. For most, it's a fine arts credit and my goal is to make them good audience members. For all, I like to keep it fun and make sure they always have something active to do. They get enough sitting and lecturing in their other 6 classes. I want them to look forward to Tech
theatre as a fun break from that.
Sorry for the wall of text. PM me if you have any questions.
