(Dr. Lori Major Carlin
is the Theatre Arts teacher at Northwood High School. She has been teaching in
Chatham County for 15 years. With the assistance of professional development
grants from the Chatham Education Foundation and the Northwood Arts Education
Foundation, Lori is attending the Broadway Teacher’s Workshop in NYC.)
Happy Friday the 13th! Other than seeing a man
covered in rats – things have been calm here in the big city. I should note
that he wasn’t covered in rats on accident or via misfortune (well, that is
debatable).
Thoroughly enjoyed War
Horse last night though I AM glad that we skipped it when I took students
to London & Paris last year. It is coming to DPAC and I highly recommend
seeing it there. (For the record, we saw 39
Steps in London instead & it was absolutely hilarious!). I did fall
madly in love with the lead as per usual, only this time the lead was a horse.
Beautiful, beautiful horse!
The workshops today were more technical in nature and I was
struck by how very many, many, many jobs there are in the arts. I heard from
obvious positions like playwrights and costume designers (the 2012 Tony Award
winning costume designer that is!), but ALSO heard from some computer/musician
nerds who are making a very nice living providing software to fill in
orchestral holes in a production, stage craft designers who specialize in
found/up-cycled materials, and a projection designer who was so low-key and
funny that you’d never know he is in demand all over the world.
I have to say that the Projection
Design for Everyone seminar with Zachary Borovay was my favorite of the
day. We are very fortunate to have district oversight that not only encourages
use, but actually makes technology available to teachers and students. As a
director who has struggled with set design (as my esteemed colleague and the
most talented artist I know, Leslie Burwell, will tell you) my entire career – I was delighted to see that there are new ways that I can tell stories
without needing to build/borrow/staple & duct tape a set together. I am
really enthusiastic about the prospect of using projection for some of our sets
this year. We can still use student art – only now we can include film,
photography, and so forth. Good things!
Costume & Set
Design with some of the crew from Peter
and the Starcatcher was really interesting. They have achieved so much
success from a show that began with virtually no budget. In fact, they created
an entire proscenium, costumes, and props using their brains before their
wallets. It was a refreshing session when confronted by the grandeur and excess
of traditional Broadway shows.
The Playwriting
workshop was a lot of the very same information that I use with my Acting I
class. In fact, I spoke (shock and awe) and told them about how my students write
scenes, we read & vote on the best, and then they produce them. Everyone
loved the idea and many plan to take it back to their programs. It was also nice to
hear from a playwright who struggled with many of the same issues I encountered
when writing Mirrors last year. Who
knows, with some (major) adjustments, I may try to get it published one day.
Finally, there was a presentation from MTI – the ginormous
licensing company that all theatre teachers work with at some point. They
answered questions and tried valiantly to justify the costs associated with
their materials. ;)
Tonight we get to see Peter
and the Starcatcher. I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am for this
production! I’ve finished up with
workshops early enough that I am going to take myself out for a nice dinner. See
you tomorrow!
