Peanut Butter and Jelly Day

Apparently, April 2nd is Peanut Butter and Jelly Day (I think this is celebrated in the United States, only).

Question of the Day:  What is a difficult phone call you have made?  (You will likely be getting a call from your C Block teacher before the end of the week, just to touch base and remind you that we are trying to continue to give you opportunities for learning over the time we are not able to meet face to face.  I don't like using the phone at the best of times -- I think I might have a phobia about it!)

Warm-up:  Try these tongue twisters.  Say each one five times and try to go fast.

Unique New York.
Toy boat, toy boat.
Rubber baby buggy bumpers.
She sells sea shells by the seashore (hard for those of us with sibilant "s" sounds.)
I saw a kitten eating chicken in the kitchen.

(This is a good vocal warm-up.)

Here is some advice for you as a person who is going to try to continue your learning without actual classes for a while:

1.  Have a place where you can work.  If you have a desk, tidy it.  If you work at the dining room table (I do), try to keep your workspace neat.

2.  Try to establish a routine.  It is good if you can get up at around the same time every day.  Get dressed.  Make your bed.  Plan your day's activities.

3.  I find it helpful to make a list.

4.  Get exercise.  It's good to go outside.

5.  Read.

6.  Keep a diary.

Here's something for all of you to do, if you're finished the exercises I gave you on Monday (or even if you're not.)

Watch Charlie Chaplin's "The Gold Rush".  (It is in the public domain, so you don't have to pay and it is available on Youtube.)  Here are some things to keep in mind while you watch:

1.  Is this the first silent movie you've watched?  Does it bother you that they don't talk?  What do they do instead of talking?  Do you think they're overacting?  Is any of it funny?

2.  What can you learn from the movie about the historical gold rush?  Why do you think the little tramp (Charlie's character) has gone to the gold fields?  Are his motives different from the other characters in the movie?

3.  Charlie Chaplin was in charge of every aspect of the production.   He wrote the script.  Do you think the story is believable?  He is known as a wonderful actor.  What do you think of his performance?  Many of the scenes in this movie are classics -- like the dance he does with the buns.  How does he perform the scene (look especially at his facial expressions)?

4.  What qualities do we see in the little tramp?  In Georgia?  In Jack (the ladies' man)?  In Big Jim?  Who do you empathize with most?

5.  After you've watched half the movie, predict how it will turn out.  Were you right?

Enjoy it!

Happy April Fool's Day!

Question of the Day:  Have you ever successfully played a prank on someone or had a prank played on you?  If not, think of someone who would be good to fool -- how would you fool them?

The only time I was really successful was one year when I told my husband (who I woke up from a sound sleep) that there was a fox in the back yard.  He was really excited and jumped up and ran to the window to see it and then I merrily said, "April Fool!" and he was SO DISAPPOINTED!  He had been so excited at the prospect of seeing a wild fox right in our yard and then his hopes were dashed to hear "April fool!" I haven't ever wanted to fool anyone since.  I always feel so badly about having disappointed him.

Warm-up:  How many four (or more) letter words can you make out of the name "Shakespeare"?  Give yourself two minutes and see how many you get.  This is a warm-up that gets you thinking!

Hope you are having fun with the little projects I gave you.  We had a staff meeting today to talk about where we are going next.  There is still not much information from the Ministry of Education and no one knows when we will be back to normal school.  The district has decided to survey students and see how many of you have access to different forms of technology -- make sure you fill in the survey because that is supposed to help things get rolling.

Any thoughts about what you could contribute to the yearbook about your pandemic experience?

How to Survive This

For Tuesday, March 31:

Question of the day:  How is "social isolation" going for you?  Are you isolating yourself?  (My answer -- I am isolating myself and it is going quite well.  I like to be alone quite a bit, and I enjoy reading and writing and watching old (and new) movies on tv.  Many of my neighbours have dogs so we all get out every day and talk even though we stand at a distance from each other.  My sons are here and we have dinner together every evening but for the most part, they are doing their own things as well (not with other people, though -- we are not socializing outside of the house at all).  Today, I had several "zoom" conferences with other teachers and I feel quite tired now!

Warmup:  Stand straight, hands loosely hanging to your sides.  Breathe in through your mouth, out through your nose (for about ten breaths).  Shake your hands to make sure they aren't clenched.  Flex your shoulders, pull down on your shoulder blades and then relax them.  Turn your head gently to right and left.

Slowly bend over from your hips.  Try to lengthen your spine but don't tense.  When you are as far down as you can get, shake your head slowly and make sure your hands remain loose.

Your neck should also be loose.  Slowly come up, one vertebra at a time.  Your head should come up last.  Keep breathing throughout.

Slowly stretch to the sky, tip-toes, fingers reaching.  Keep breathing.  Stretch with every muscle to the sky.  Then slowly back to standing, hands loosely hanging.  This is a good physical warmup and helps you relax.

*******

One of my video conferences was with the Fine and Performing Arts teachers.  Mr. Akselrod would like you to think about ideas you could put in the yearbook based on your lives under the isolation orders of the pandemic.  This is a worldwide event and the yearbook should reflect your experiences. He is interested in images, poetry, drawings, scenes -- think about what you would like to see in the pages about this topic.

Here is a terrific poem by the writer, Barbara Kingsolver (author of The Poisonwood Bible, The Lacuna, and Flight Behavior among others):

How to Survive This

O misery.  Imperfect
universe of days stretched out
ahead, the string of pearls
and drops of venom on the web
losses of heart, of life
and limb, news of the worst:

Remind me again
the day will come
when I look back amazed
at the waste of sorry salt
when I had no more than this
to cry about.

Now I lay me down.
I'm not there yet.

Distance Learning

I hope everyone realizes that this blog is a good place to look if you want to attend Drama class at a distance.  I am not sure how to communicate with all of you (my son's school district surveyed us to see if we all have access to computers, smartphones, ipads, etc., but I don't think Richmond has done that yet.)  I hope this won't go on for too long, but just in case any of you are bored with all the free time you've experienced, here are some things to keep you going until we figure out the next steps.  (That is supposed to happen this week.)

For Monday, March 30:

Question of the day:  What is something you learned over March break?  Here are some answers from me.  I learned a lot about the coronavirus.  I learned that you can do virtual tours of lots of great museums and art galleries around the world.  I learned that you can see productions from the Globe theatre on line.  I learned that it is really hard to get rid of ants in your house!

Warm-up:  Sit quietly in your room or outside or anywhere.  Give yourself two minutes of you not making any noise (you can set an alarm).  After the two minutes, list out the sounds you heard.  (This exercise is good for concentration and for sensory awareness.)

Theatre Production 11:  Watch the short clip from the movie, "Citizen Kane" (the clip is on you-tube and is listed as "Citizen Kane - Famous Last Words" http://j.mp/2jlHFgl).  What images, set pieces and props stick out for you?

With the music and the lighting, what would you predict the movie would be about?  (If you've seen the movie already, try to imagine you haven't.)

Kane says "rosebud".  That's his last word.  The movie tries to find out what "rosebud" means to him. What would your guess be?

(This movie is on every "greatest movie of all time" list, so it would be worth your while to see the whole thing.  It's a great story and there are lots of terrific performances and it really changed cinema in a lot of important ways and it's lots of fun to watch.)

Drama 9/10:  You are supposed to make two public service videos.  You have access to any actors and artists (like musicians) you want (in the class or even famous ones).  The first video is for young children and you want them to learn how to properly wash their hands.  Firstly, what do you need to know?  Secondly, how can you communicate that to children under 10?  The second video is for elderly people.  You want to show them the importance of social distancing.  What do you need to know?  How do you communicate this to seniors?

You could write a script of your videos and try to plan out all the details.

Drama 8:    Mime exercise.
1.  Observe yourself doing some ordinary task (like making toast, for example).
2.  Mime the same task - pay close attention to detail (how you hold the knife, whether the butter gets on your fingers, what is the difference between spreading butter or jam or peanut butter or cream cheese - in this time of hyper-awareness of germs, would you lick your fingers?)
3.  Play some music.  Do the mime again and see if the mood of the music affects your mime.  You could try different styles of music and see how your mime changes.

Everyone:  The above projects will take a little time.   I just wanted to give you something interesting to do over the next few days.  If I were doing this, I would keep a diary of what I did, but I am not sure what is expected of you (or me) at this strange time, so spend about forty minutes on these exercises and then see what you want to do.

I'll post a question of the day and a warmup each day this week and hope that you are engaged in the above activities.  Feel free to email me or comment here if you like.

Happy World Theatre Day!

You say a theatre is "dark" when it is closed and many theatres are dark these days, because the coronavirus has made us isolate ourselves in order to protect people in our community.  The theatre needs community because, unlike other forms of drama, it requires people there both on stage and in the audience, sharing the experience.  To me (and obviously I am biased), it is the most glorious art form for that very reason.  It is a shared experience.  Everyone who works on the play works together.  They face challenges and they overcome them.  Every show is only as good as the weakest link.  You rise to the occasion.  You figure out solutions to a myriad of problems.  And then the audience comes in and together you make something happen.  They laugh and the people on stage hear it and love it and want more of it and work harder to get it.

One time, I played Lady Macbeth in a small theatre and the guy who was playing Macbeth staggered on stage after having killed Duncan and his hands and face were covered in blood and I was close enough to see a lady in the first row recoil when she saw him.  It was fantastic, because it was a real, honest reaction to the story and the horror of it and also to the fact that she was right there and might have thought that somehow the blood would get on her clothes.  You can't get that in a movie, or on tv, or with Netflix.

I was in a production of "The Playboy of the Western World" (written by J.M. Synge) in university.  I played Pegeen and the play starts with me, alone on stage, figuring out what I need for my wedding dress.  I had worked hard to master the accent and it was a big role for me and I was really excited.  I would sit on stage before the curtain went up and hear the audience talking and then quieting down as the lights went down and the curtain started to move.  These were some of the most supreme moments of my life -- a great play, a great role, me -- young and full of ambition and hope for the future.  On opening night, there was a guy in the front row and he laughed all through my opening monologue, which was not remotely funny in my mind.   I went backstage at the interval and of course, my acting teacher (who I loved and revered) said the old saw, "if they laugh, it's a comedy".

We are still not sure what next week or the weeks that follow will hold for us.  As most of you know, I really like school and would like to get back to class as soon as possible, but I also usually wish for just a few more days of holidays right at the end of the allotted time, so this year, it looks like I will get my wish.  I will try to keep you on the drama class track through this blog if we try to go with online learning, so keep checking in with me.

Here's a bit of a poem that says something to us in these days of uncertainty and upset:

The People Will Live On
by Carl Sandburg

The people will live on.
The learning and blundering people will live on.
They will be tricked and sold and again sold
And go back to the nourishing earth for rootholds,
The people so peculiar in renewal and comeback,
You can't laugh off their capacity to take it.
The mammoth rests between his cyclonic dramas.

The people so often sleepy, weary, enigmatic,
is a vast huddle with many units saying:
"I earn my living,
I make enough to get by
and it takes all my time.
If I had more time
I could do more for myself
and maybe for others.
I could read and study
and talk things over
and find out about things.
It takes time.
I wish I had the time.

The rest is great, too, but you can look it up.  But if you wish you had more time, here you go.   Read, study, find out about something that you're curious about.  See if anyone needs your help.  If you can't think of something to find out about, look up Carl Sandburg.  He was a very interesting guy and a very successful writer and poet.  You could memorize this bit of the poem.  Learning things by heart is great exercise for your brain.

Happy World Theatre Day!

No news is not necessarily good news . . .

We received a letter from the Ministry of Education and the union, but they still don't really know what we should expect next week.  They continue to tell us to try our best to enjoy our spring break and not worry too much about what lies ahead, so that is the message I am sending on to you.  Do as much as you can to relax and take it easy and sleep in and all those things you said you wanted to do over spring break and let next week take care of itself.  If you are involved in "Ripper", you should learn your lines as you were told to do!  You want to be ready when we do get back.

I am reading Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron.  It is a huge book full of stories told by ten young people who leave Florence and go to the countryside to avoid the ravages of the plague (it was written in 1348).  This is before the time of tv or the internet, so they decide that each of them will tell a story based on a theme chosen by the "king or queen" of the day (each of them gets a turn as the ruler).  Just like nowadays, with you edgy young folks, many of the stories are quite shocking and some are very funny and some are violent, but it is interesting to see what each person does with their assigned theme.  I am trying to write something similar in play form, but I am not much for creating things of a shocking nature.  Maybe, as I soldier through, I will ask for suggestions of stories from you guys!

After all that great spring weather, we are getting rain today.  This is the time when, all of a sudden, everything turns green!  One of my favourite times of year.  Even though all of us are practicing social distancing, the New York Times points out that birds don't care about that and it suggests watching some geese or ducks enjoying themselves as a way to de-stress.  Daisy and I walked to the creek this morning and we were sorry to accidentally disturb some ducks who had decided to paddle there.  When we came over the little rise at the front of the creek, the male duck made himself very tall to see who we were, and when he realized that we were not to be trusted (although I assured him we were), he and his mate flew off.

Take care of yourselves!  I hope I will see all of you very soon.

Monologue Madness!

Here's something to do if you're missing Drama!  Pioneer Drama Service is a reputable company that supplies scripts and drama books to teachers and anyone who is interested in doing a scripted play.  When I was an actor, I usually had about 10 monologues in my head at any given time (maybe more) -- some funny, some serious, some "classic" (like our buddy, Shakespeare) and some "modern" (for me that would be Tennessee Williams, but for you guys it could be David Mamet or Michel Tremblay or Trey Anthony or David French, or even stuff from tv or film).  Some tips?  Always look for some humour in a monologue, even if it's serious.  People usually see a joke, even if it's on them.  Play the opposites.  If you love the other person, think of how dangerous it is to tell them so!  Try doing the monologue with no movement at all and see how that plays.  Then methodically add movement.  See what happens.  If it's supposed to be funny, see if you can do it all very seriously.   Ask yourself why the character is telling this story.

Join us for Monlogue Mania

Thanks for joining us for Monologue Mania! We thought we'd start with some lighthearted, silly monologues to keep everyone's spirits up! If these don't tickle your fancy, no worries! Over the next few (several??) weeks, we'll post a wide variety--- comedic, dramatic, and tragic--- and will make sure they span a range of grade levels, as well. Teachers, there are several ways you can get these monologues to your students. Of course, you can forward this email to them, but even better, why don't you have all of them subscribe to our newsletter themselves? That way, they will have immediate access to every new monologue. (They can always unsubscribe from the newsletter down the road.) To have your students subscribe, just send them this link: https://www.pioneerdrama.com/ContactUs.asp?id=7 We'll also post each newsletter in the archives section of our website. To access our archives, go to www.pioneerdrama.com and click on the orange button that says RESOURCE ARTICLES in the very middle of the page. So here we go... We invite you or your actors to actually perform one of the monologues below, recording and posting it to share with us and others.  Here are the guidelines: Perform the memorized Pioneer monologue either with or without costumes and/or props. The posting must include #pioneerdrama and #monologuemania so we're sure to see it. We suggest posting the video on either YouTube or TikTok, as these are the two platforms we will be monitoring most closely. Uploading the video and tagging it with #pioneerdrama gives Pioneer Drama Service explicit permission to share the entire video on our own social media platforms. The video must start with the following:    The performer's name The full name of the play The name of the playwright(s) "Published by Pioneer Drama Service" A short introduction to set the scene. For many plays, this can be done in just one or two lines. Do NOT include any school name or location since we want to protect everyone's privacy. Now start recording and break a virtual leg! We can't wait to see what you create!