Why Teach Theatre in Our Schools?

[Tex]

Happy first day of school!

The quote posted by the OP was almost certainly written by an actor. Being of the actor persuasion myself, I can say that we are, as a group much more touchy-feely than your average tech. I never much cared for all the mind and emotional games that actors play with themselves. I know how to recall emotions in a controlled way and I'm not afraid to let people see me do it. It's a skill, like any other. I'm not sure why actors have to try and make it mysterious and mystical. It's not any more or less difficult than say, welding; it's just that some are better at it than others.
When I read this kind of thing, it makes me cringe a little. While I appreciate that doing theatre makes people mushy inside, at the end of the day it's simply what we do. Just like welding is what the welder does.
What makes me emotional is when my kids reach outside of their comfort zone and grow. I love the look on a kid's face when he does something he always thought he couldn't do. So I guess what I'm trying to say is the most important thing we offer kids is opportunities to grow. They may get some of that other fluffy bunny stuff too, but mostly they learn about themselves.

Here's what I hope my students take with them:
The belief that when one makes a commitment, one should honor that commitment. Our actions affect others.
The ability to work cooperatively with a variety of personalities in a high pressure environment.
Good audience etiquette.
Confidence that they can speak in public.
An appreciation for the amount of effort it takes to make a show look effortless.
A love for live theatre.

I think that when we take ourselves too seriously, we come off looking very silly.
Sorry for the ramble...

 

[ruinexplorer]

In art, we interpret differently.
Why are you guys so hung up on this individual's reflection of theatre? We all have different personal and professional philosophies on why we do what we do. Your comments are a little harsh... and ignorant and elitist. When was the last time you worked full time in a school?
Not all schools have the funding to have a full time theatre teacher. So maybe they do split time with English or another subject. That doesn't mean they are any less qualified. How are you to say that students would get any different of an education or experience from it?
Money, facilities, and a well known institution does not equate to education and experience.

Hi, @DaveK. I hope that you take the time to introduce yourself and your background in the New Member Board. I hope that you understand that the membership of ControlBooth is quite diverse including High School and College students, Educators (as your profession indicates), volunteers, and professionals (stagehands/administrators/vendors/manufacturers). Simply, as you have pointed out, we all have our own viewpoints. You may not agree with what some members have pointed out and that is acceptable in this forum. Some of those with whom you disagree work fulltime in an educational facility or are students.

While I agree with your last statement to a degree, I can't say that I can completely say that you are correct. Just because a school has quality equipment does not mean that they have quality instruction. However, just because a school has wonderful instructors does not mean that they have the tools necessary to make their students successful if that is their career choice. Just as it would be very difficult to teach computer programming if you had no computers (don't have to be the newest model) for the students to learn on.

I have worked in nearly all areas of technical theater in almost every variety(educational to corporate). So, while this gives me a perspective through which I could add my own interpretation of the original post, I would never assume to call others' opinions ignorant nor elitist (harsh maybe, but I know that I can be blunt).

Please, take the time to introduce yourself and join in the forums. We all learn by looking at different perspectives.

 

[pmolsonmus]

As indicated in an earlier post, the quote was adapted from a Music Educator organization statement. More or less the word "theatre" substituted for the word "music". As a music educator for the past 20 yrs I can assure you that although I have seen it before it is by no means the statement that that organization uses to save programs in peril. They are very organized and somewhat successful if there is local community support to help make it happen. I would tend to lean toward the "bunny fluff" crowd myself but sometimes that type of argument and perspective is what reaches people.
I have seen it more often on posters in elementary and middle school general music classrooms for the general student population who want to know "why" they have to learn that music stuff and what difference it makes in the "real" world.

I think for that target audience the statement works. Not that they need to be "dumbed down" to, but an intellectual argument of aesthetics is hardly appropriate either.

My .02
Phil

 

[misterm]

as a teacher, i have to disagree with whomever said that theatre classes should always be "fun." i draw a huge distinction between fun and enjoyment. some kids who come to my class just want to have fun and play improv games and hate the class the other 90% of the time when we're studying theatre history and lit or when they're supposed to be rehearsing a scene. then i have kids who enjoy all the aspects of the art, from writing to directing to production, etc... They know that its not all fun. But they still enjoy every minute of it. I wish my rehearsals could always just be fun and goofy every single minute, but then we'd never get anything done. We have a lot of fun, but I believe that students should know how to work hard. Those that enjoy theatre will want to do the work for that show in 2 months and reap the benefits when the curtain finally goes up.
Someone else mentioned that its over "intellectualized." How is that possible? Our best students in our program are the ones who have taken the more difficult theatre classes and studied theatre history and lit, directing, and production desgin. EVERYTHING you learn translates into what you do onstage or backstage. without those classes, some of my students wouldn't be studying stage management or screenwriting in college now.

 

[gafftaper]

Gaff takes off his senior team badge and enters the fray as just a common CB community member to defend his honor...

In art, we interpret differently.
Why are you guys so hung up on this individual's reflection of theatre? We all have different personal and professional philosophies on why we do what we do. Your comments are a little harsh... and ignorant and elitist.

Yep that's me, ignorant and elitist. I have a masters degree from a state university. I chose to teach in a messed up urban school district. The kind of district where anyone who can afford it either puts their kids in private school or moves to the suburbs. Why did I chose to teach there? Because I believed that if things are ever going to get better the best teachers have to choose to work in the worst situations. What a fool, I was SO elitist thinking that I could make a difference!

When was the last time you worked full time in a school?

Well you got me there because I teach college now and I haven't taught high school for about 6 years now. But before that I spent 15 years working with high school kids in a variety of positions including 5 years teaching in one of the poorest high schools in Washington State. The school was situated right in the middle of 3 housing projects. 60% of our students were on welfare and we guessed that around 95% of our students had been on welfare at some point.

Not all schools have the funding to have a full time theatre teacher.

Yeah tell me about it. During my 5 years at that school, there was 1 semester that I was full time drama. The rest of the time I had 1 - 3 non-drama related preps.

So maybe they do split time with English or another subject. That doesn't mean they are any less qualified.

If they were properly trained in theater (or technical theater which is what this website and my post was really about) I'm not complaining. There are some really good mixed discipline drama teachers out there (I was one of them). Unfortunately there are many schools where a teacher took a couple acting classes in high school or college and they get put in charge of the drama program without any proper training. Some get lucky and are competent at teaching the kids about acting, but most have no clue how to handle the tech needs of their shows. So students end up starved for tech education. Hopefully they find CB where we can help.

How are you to say that students would get any different of an education or experience from it?

Well having taught Sophomore World history, Speech Communication at the same time as I was also running a drama program. I know for a fact that my students got a substantially lower quality instruction when I had to teach all that other stuff. It also was a huge drain on my personal life and not very good for my health.

Money, facilities, and a well known institution does not equate to education and experience.

I agree 100%. I got about $600 a year to run my drama program (depending on my cut from the student activities center's Coke machine sales). Plus every teacher got another $250 for personal classroom expenses, which I used on scripts and stuff for my theater program. With good management and careful selected season I left that school with a balance of $2500 in the drama department's bank account. My tech crew was top notch and many of them are still working in theater. My actors were good and several went on to colleges with acting programs. All at a school with a reputation for drive by shootings, not theater.

 

[What Rigger?]

Art IS math. And it IS science. And sometimes....if we (meaning "I") are lucky, the kid in high school who couldn't stand algebra (but loved geometry. That's how motorcycle frames are designed!), became the same guy who avoided math in college (yes, in the Cal State system it's possible, even probable), became the same guy who started rigging and flying people and now is stone-cold in love with the following: physics.

I don't make art, anymore. I make commerce. There's a LOTTA technology in my world, and very little soul. I get paid well, and lotsa folks want my gig. And that's okay! And it's totally not my point...where was I? Oh, yeah: I used to make art, and in a roundabout, weird sort of way, it totally back-doored me into the gnarliest part of math/science this side of quantum physics. So yeah, if you ask me, we do need to teach the arts in high school.

(and remember...I'm not even one of the really smart ones!)

 

[shiben]

Im reminded of a book im reading now on stage management: It says something to the effect of "if everyone worked like they do in theatres, our world would be a lot more accepting, efficient, and advanced". Theatre is one of the few places I can think of where we routinely create new worlds every few days (think of a tour), and have 4-5 different departments working in relative harmony to get things done, one of the few places where 100+ people can all work to a common goal and get there without blood being shed. I honestly feel like theatre can make any work enviroment better, if you can suffer through a 3 day load in and survive, how bad can the corporate grind possibly be?