I guess it's going to be a stormy weekend, so batten down the hatches with a good book or movie!
Grade 10's: You will perform your satires on Monday. After having seen your "dress rehearsals", I'm still not convinced you have a clear understanding of how satire works. It is an integral part of "commedia del'arte" which we are going to be looking at in depth. Look on Youtube for sketches from "That's So Weird". That's a satirical show meant for kids and I find the sketches (the scenes they do) really funny. Their series, "Logan and Wilf", is very funny and I think the two women who play the boys have really created a couple of charming and funny characters that poke fun at the way kids see the world. Other sources of satire are "This Hour Has Twenty Two Minutes" (which satires Canada's political scene), "The Rick Mercer Report" (which also takes aim at Canadian issues) and of course, American shows like "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report".
You will be reciting "Think when we talk of horses" on Monday. Make sure you practice!
Grade 9's: I have read a couple of your heritage stories and I've found them to be excellent. If you haven't handed in your story yet, please take some time this weekend to talk to your family members about events in your family history that might make a good story. It doesn't have to be a huge achievement. My mother told all sorts of funny stories about growing up on the prairies. Here's one: my grandparents had a general store in a little town called Lang, in Saskatchewan. They lived there through the Great Depression when most of Saskatchewan was called a dustbowl, because there was no rain, and the crops were dying and there was no work. My uncle, Dudley, was sixteen and wasn't a very good student and thought he would like to get a job but of course, there were no jobs in Lang. One morning, my grandmother woke up to find a note from Dudley. It said, "I have decided to hitch a ride on a freight train and go out to Alberta to find work. Don't worry. I have five dollars." She cried and cried, until my grandfather decided to follow Dudley on the train. He got as far as Moose Jaw (that's a real place). Dudley had run out of money (or been robbed, I'm not sure which) and was so glad to see his father. That isn't an earthshattering story, but I think it fits the bill.
Some of my husband's ancestors were African slaves who were freed after the Civil War in the United States. His great great great grandfather moved to Texas with his family to start a new life. One day he came home from a day in town and he was very frightened. He told his wife and children they had to get away and so they packed up everyone and all the worldly goods they could get on the wagon and headed north. They crossed into Canada (they had to pay a head tax because of their race) and settled near Edmonton in Alberta where they started farming again. He never told anyone what had happened in town, but you can imagine, I think.
Grade 8's: You should be thinking about your fairy tale mime. If you have some music that would be good as an accompaniment, you may bring it to class on a CD or on your smart phone and I can play it for you from the booth. Be sure you know the story and that you know who you are playing and where the tableaus are. Think about how you can play a real character on stage. If you are the witch in "Hansel and Gretel", you need to think about how she could convince the children to come into her house and then what would she look like as she fattened them up before she turned them into soup!
Drama Club: We've started off with some very productive rehearsals. Some of you have mentioned that you might know someone who has a donkey head. Try and get a hold of the person and see if we can borrow it. Make sure you give Rachel Wong your schedule, so she can figure out a rehearsal setup for next week. I scheduled rehearsals of Act 4 for Monday. At lunch we will meet in Mr. Allan's room (thanks to him) as there is a presentation by VCC in the theatre at lunch.
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