Drama

Behind the Scenes of the MS Play: Hoodie

As the middle school’s spring play approaches, I realized not much had been released about it and that not many people were discussing how our middle school’s plays are designed and put into action. So I decided to interview the head of the drama department, Ms. Gordon and a Play Production service member, in the hope of learning more about it. I started by talking with Ms. Gordon.   Who decides on which play to create? I choose it. But I try to get input from students also.   What other adults help coordinate the show? I’m the director, so I spearhead the work and CJ Keller, our technical director, helps with the technical elements.   Can you give us a quick summary of what Hoodie is about? Hoodie is a conceptual play about adolescence and middle school. It’s about growing up. It’s about fitting in. It’s about appearance. It’s…

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MS Play Preview: The Phantom Tollbooth

Tuesday, January 16 was the first official rehearsal of the Middle School Drama production The Phantom Tollbooth. The Phantom Tollbooth was originally a book written by Norton Juster which was then produced into a movie by director Chuck Jones and  finally turned into the play the Middle School is doing by Susan Nanus. The plot of the story goes as follows: There is a boy named Milo (played by Alex Rice). Milo wastes his time and pretty much does nothing. That is until a huge box shows up in his room and takes him into the world beyond. There he meets his best friend Tock (played by Dev Gupta). Tock is a watchdog that loves automobile rides. There are two kingdoms inside of the “Land of Wisdom”, Dictionopolis and Digitopolis. On the way to the Kingdom of Dictionopolis the story of Sweet Rhyme (Milan Goyle) and Pure Reason (Gemma Kent)…



Thespians On: Character

Tips for Developing a Character So, you got cast in a musical, a movie, or whatever. How are you going to play your character? How do they behave? How do they respond to the other characters, the situations, the sets? What steps do you take to figure this out? Well, you need to figure out their motives. Figure out what makes them tick and how they feel. What are their relationships with the other characters? Think about these tips and you can find your character’s “voice.” (I mean, not their voice literally. That will just be your voice. But their…reasons for the things that they do and how they do them. See, voice is easier.) 1. What is your character’s motive in the story? This is about identifying why your character does what they do, why they say what they say, and how they say it. A line or an…


Play Preview: Sally Cotter and the Censored Stone

Hi! This is Tucker, Kyle, Jacob, Dev, and Charlie, and we are writing about Sally Cotter and the Censored Stone! This play will be performed this Friday at 7pm, and Sunday at 2pm. Following the Sunday performance will be an ice cream social! Plot This is a parody of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone with some parts from The Chamber of Secrets. Sally falls asleep after reading Harry Potter and in her dream she shows up at her first day at Frogbull Academy of Sorcery and Sorceressness. (No not Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, “because satires are completely protected from copyright infringement”.) Along the way she meets Dave and Harmonica. They become best of friends. They also meet some not so nice people such as Ursa and Shiftia Shape. As Sally struggles throughout the school year, she discovers the Censored Stone, a magical rock that grants the user…


Thespians On: Crying on Command

Crying is not generally considered a good thing, unless you’re “happy-crying.” Theatre is one of those weird things that considers drying a talent. Crying on command is a must-have skill for anyone trying to get into professional acting, because a lot of directors will have at least scene in their movie where someone is crying. Now, you could do that fake dry-crying where you make weird breathing sound that make it seem like you’re choking on cat fur, or you could actually learn how to get those salty droplets to roll down your face. If you don’t know how then WAIT! GUESS WHAT I’M ABOUT TO DO! GUESS, COME ON, GUESS! Yes. A LIST. You’re welcome. GET SOMEONE TO BLOW ON YOUR EYES   This won’t exactly get you to Viola Davis’ snot-acting level of tears, but if you have an off day and need a little kick to get…


Thespians On: Playwriting

Playwriting is a very, very, very, very, very, very long process. I mean, you could bang out a one-hundred page script full of lines like, “Yeah,” and, “Wow,” but that would be torture for the publishers and audiences alike. Some people think playwriting should be done on your own, or they refuse help from anyone else because they think they’re destined to be the new Shakespeare and Shakespeare wouldn’t possibly need help from anyone or anything. But truth is, the more people on the team, the better. I’m not suggesting you have one-hundred playwrights together trying to implement each of their ideas while also working off the others, but a good team of under twenty playwrights will create a strong creative environment. And if you’re lucky, most of them will have written a play before and so know a strong process. But just in case, I’ll let you in on…


Hamilton: What Do You Think?

In total, we got eleven responses to this survey. Most of them were not from the middle school, which was surprising! For example, Assistant Head of School Ms. Richards voted. The favorite song from Hamilton at our school is “My Shot,” and it won by about 9%. I didn’t get as many responses as I hoped, so it might not have been as accurate as possible, but it was enough. For those of you who did respond, thanks! Loading…


Thespians On: The Best Plays on Broadway

Musicals are enchanting, with their singing and dancing and high-energy flare. They make more money than you can shake a stick at and steal the Broadway spotlight. Unfortunately, they steal this spotlight from the smaller, shorter, and, quite frankly, simpler plays. I think this is a sad occurrence, because there are some really funny, really touching, and really moving plays on Broadway, and I think they deserve to be known. The following are, in my opinion, the best plays on Broadway (and off of it.) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime Off-Broadway (Tickets for Shows at the Kimmel Center) Based off the novel by the same name, this tells a touching story of an autistic teenage boy who is trying to find his mother. I strongly recommend this play, however, it does curse once in a while and handles some difficult themes for young children. Present Laughter Broadway…


Thespians on Diction

Once, during the intermission of a play, my music director stood up from the pit, banged on the stage, and yelled, “Diction!” I thought it was really weird that he would do that, especially when there were still people in the audience. I understand now, though. Diction is one of the most important parts of a performance. Don’t know what it means? Dictionary.com says it is: DICTION [dik-shuh-n] the accent, inflection, intonation, and speech-sound quality manifested by an individual speaker, usually judged in terms of prevailing standards of acceptability; enunciation. Got it? Good. I’ll say it in English, too, because I don’t know about you, but I don’t always speak dictionary. Basically, diction means you pronounce your consonants sharply, like you’re stabbing them, and your vowels roundly, like you are trying way too hard to push them out of your mouth. It’s really important, because if you don’t pronounce your…


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