High School High School Stagecraft Class

[KGustafson]

I have been teaching a high school Stagecraft class for the past 4 years and have been watching the number of students my administration puts in grow drastically. I now have 36 students in the class and that is more than I can have working hands on during show build. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what you have your students do when there is not enough "build" work for everyone to do. I currently have them working on assignments out of my textbook, Theatrical Design and Production by Gillette.

Thanks

 

[TDN]

That's tough- I occasionally get 20 students at a time depending on the rehearsal schedule, which is hard enough. I'd be looking at setting up rotating sections, so you have a chunk of students working on design projects while the rest are building, and everyone in the class rotates around. I don't know if you could set up a miniature light lab, or have a scenic model section, or have them doing a sample of construction drawings based on a design.

No chance of offering two sections, with 18 in each?

 

[TheaterEd]

I agree with TDN. I would split the class in to two groups. Group 1 is building while group 2 is working on costume design / vocabulary / model set building. I have a big enough after school crew that I only actually spent 4 or 5 days last semester building with the class. The rest of the time was spent learning about Lights / Sound / set design. I treat my class as a design class and model it on my intro college tech course (One they make the actors take). Other ideas for the non building crew is to have them read a play, and then design set / costume/ lights / make up/ sound for it. I used Red Herring and had them research different period vocabulary and what not so that they were also learning about McCarthyism and the cold war. Clearly there are other options as well. I think that next year I'm going to start them off with Our Town so that they appreciate reading Red Herring more

If you get a second I'd love to hear about any lessons you have that work particularly well. I have a thread going over here http://www.controlbooth.com/threads/your-favorite-tech-theater-lesson.31882/

 

[gafftaper]

When I was teaching, I sat down with my supervising VP and the head counselor and explained that when i'm building a show it is unsafe for me to be in charge of an unlimited number of untrained students. I couldn't possibly train new kids, keep everyone safe, and get done what I need to get done in preparing for the big spring show. We came to an agreement that first semester would have open enrolment and they could fill up with lots of kids. I used 1st semester as my training class and an opportunity to sort out the useful kids from those who were just taking up space. Second semester became a teacher permission only class. It required a prerequisite of successfully passing 1st semester. It worked out well for me. Stress safety and the ability to supervise 30 kids working in a huge theater. Good luck!