The play is happening in two weeks. The sets are tarnished and dusty, numerous parts of it unfinished. The actors are tripping and stumbling over their lines, the less fortunate would have rejoiced at having something whatsoever to stumble upon. Amidst the rising fatigue and the Arabian swelter, tempers are shortening and temperaments are turning belligerent. A few months ago, I would have banged my head repeatedly on the stage floor. Now, survival would be a plausible option.
The drama club was a product of my school’s attempt to invigorate its curriculum by encouraging various student clubs. When asked to be the Assistant Director, I was happy to oblige; there really was nowhere I would rather be.
Two months later, the school withdrew the time allocated for student clubs, after ascertaining that many students were misusing it. Meanwhile, the drama club had evolved surprisingly fast. Hence, I could not accept defeat. I stalked my administrator for weeks, feverishly producing argument after argument; I lurked outside his office, an indefatigable, yet terribly talkative shadow. After our repeated appeals, the administration agreed, on the condition that all our work was done after school hours.
There were about ten students working together on everything. We worked long hours, and in close proximity therefore clashes, differences of opinion and impatience were frequent. One afternoon we had gathered in the playground to paint our set, sleeves rolled up and paintbrushes held out like conductor’s batons, when Katie timidly suggested using blue. In the spirit of this newfound openness,John recommended yellow; apparently, the set needed a brighter colour. I was delighted at this newborn participation, and was eager to take ev...
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...igerence a result of hours of work, the ticking clock yet another deadline, and I could practically feel my teacher’s eyes burning into my back, challenging me to loose control of the situation.
Sometimes, it doesn’t even take a particular situation for this “drama mode” to spark up. Whether it’s the larger stock of patience I seem to possess, the budding optimism toward even the worst situations or the uncanny ability to force opinions out of people - the skills I learned at the drama club have become a part of me. Time seems proportional to their development: as the days go by I feel them evolving and expanding. I do not know what will ultimately become of them, but I will fight to preserve them, and part of me will always stay true to their very first attribute- forever looking for new ideas, people to observe, and opportunities to pursue the things I love.
“This is a great way to let kids have a chance to act and learn to direct because school drama programs can be limiting,” Tom Ellsworth, 17, the student Chair of C.A.S.T. said.
The students could hardly sit still during penultimate period the day before the long Columbus Day Weekend. The school was gearing up for the annual pep rally held during the last period of the school day before the Columbus Day Weekend. Lots of Calvary Hill teachers would stick it to the students before long weekends and vacations by giving tests and quizzes, others would give up the instructional time and let the kids watch a movie. Peter didn’t test or let the kids waste time with movies, he structured the time with games of Jeopardy and other fun activities that kept the kids engaged and thinking about the content material, while still having fun. When the final bell rang, the students could hardly believe that the period had flown by. They gathered up their materials and headed for the door.
Finally, it is fun to study drama. It is fun to dramatise and dress up and fall over dead behind improvised curtains and fence with blackboard pointers and cook up a witches brew and come to school with a spade over your shoulder for the Graveyard Scene. It is fun, and while all the fun is being enjoyed an incredible amount of language is pouring into these students' heads, through listening, reading, watching videos and learning lines off by heart.
As the dull scent of chalk dust mixes imperceptably with the drone of the teacher's monotone, I doodle in my tablet to stay awake. I notice vaguely that, despite my best efforts in the shower this morning after practice, I still smell like chlorine. I sigh and wonder why the school's administration requires the students to take a class that, if it were on the Internet, would delight Mirsky (creator of Mirsky's Worst of the Web), as yet another addition to his list of worthless sites. Still, there was hope that I would learn something that would make today's first class more than just forty-five wasted minutes... It wouldn't be the first time I learned something new from the least likely place.
Lazarus, Joan. "On the Verge of Change: New Directions in Secondary Theatre Education." Applied Theatre Research 3.2 (July 2015): 149-161. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1386/atr.3.2.149_1.
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