what do you want to see in BY school plays?

bigsis144

Tue, Aug 07 2012, 10:38 pm

Sherri wrote:

SimchaSays wrote:

by seeing what something we learn about can be translated into our times (what would the Rus scenario of our times be? Or chana and Eli's encounter about teffilah?) things like that are jewish, are thought provoking and yet can have humor and have a message for us in our times.

Great thoughts!

I know schools have done Biblical stories, but they're tricky in that you have to tread VERY VERY carefully around Biblical figures, and sometimes something they did wrong, that even if we learn a lesson from it, that having an analogous character make the "same" mistake would be seen as crossing a line.

Anybody ever see the VeggieTales episode "King George and the Ducky"? Instead of Dovid and Batsheva, it has a king who collects rubber ducks and sees someone else's duck as he's taking a bath (get it?), and takes it. The lesson is in selfishness, and it's obviously for little kids, but I'm sure that even if Natan HaNavi could give Dovid mussar about that, we wouldn't be allowed to use that scenario to teach a message.

For a slightly less s-xual original story, I don't know, Yosef and his brothers or Miriam speaking loshon hara about her sister-in-law (which is one of the 6 Z'chiros, so not a hidden story!).

I'm not trying to knock down people's ideas -- I'm just trying to further the conversation and hear different points of view.

groisamomma

Tue, Aug 07 2012, 11:18 pm

If you can get hold of the story "The Suitcases" by Anne Hall Whitt that would make a FANTASTIC play.

It begins in the Depression era, a story of three beautiful little girls whom the mother loves dressing up and the father spoils them until suddenly the mother dies and the father slides into a depression (shortest part of story) and kids are found by Social Services in the house during the day afraid to open the door and the "woman in black" (social worker) takes them to an orphanage and they are shuttled from foster home to foster home until they end up in a home temporarily and due to an oversight end up there permanently. (Run on sentence, I know. It tells better this way.)

From the preface written by the author:

The year is 1936; the month is March; the place is Charlotte, North Carolina. Three little sisters-the oldest not yet eight-have just returned from a chill cemetery and the funeral of their mother. Bewildered by all that has happened, they enter their old Victorian house with their grieving father and the door closes behind them. When next the door opens, the sisters will find themselves swept into the world of the orphan and foster child, a more frightening world than anyone who has not lived in it can know.

The story is told by six-year-old Anne, the rebellious and protective middle sister. She, like the others, does not understand what is being done to them, and the injustice is that no one will ever tell them.

"In the little world in which children exist," wrote Charles Dickens, "there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt as injustice."

This is the story of three orphaned sisters, begun in the Great Depression in the South, a story of family and love, and loss and survival. To the extent that it depicts the helpless life of the foster child, it is more than my personal narrative.

It is one of the most poignant books I have ever read.

The book is described as "A powerful statement of injustices done to 'children betrayed'..." and "Plain as pigtails and inescapably moving."

Mature enough to bring a mother to tears yet still easy enough for preteens and teenagers to identify with the characters.

If you can successfully put this story into play form, I'll be the first to buy a front row ticket.

bigsis144

Tue, Aug 07 2012, 11:33 pm

groisamomma wrote:

I'll try to find a copy of this - thanks for the recommendation.

Fox

Wed, Aug 08 2012, 2:47 pm

If I were put in charge of BY performances, I'd do something completely revolutionary: cancel the whole "school production" concept!

Why? Because of all the reasons pointed out by other posters and more:

* The talent pool doesn't support the requirements of the musical theatre genre.

* In order to involve the entire school (including those who don't really want to be involved!), additional choirs and "dances" are added until the wretched thing drags on until midnight. I digress slightly, but one local production lasted 3 hours and 43 minutes. Finally, a developmentally-delayed adult woman who was sitting behind me said loudly to her escort, "This has stopped being fun. It's too long. I want to go home." Everyone in the near vicinity began laughing -- not out of disrespect to the speaker, but because she said precisely what we were all thinking!

* Musical theatre is a difficult genre to pull off under the best of circumstances -- most BYs don't have the budget, the time, or the commitment to do it right.

* The cost of renting a theatre and putting on a school-wide performance is indefensible for schools that are struggling to meet payroll.

* The requirement that no one be offended by any aspect of the play means that the plots must be dumbed-down and scrubbed until they are devoid of any interest whatsoever.

However, not only am I not a killjoy, I believe school theatrical events are one of the most important things students can do. If our BYs are truly in the business of training young women to be "teachers" of the next generation, they darned well need to be able to get up in front of an audience!

So what would I do?

Schedule 3-6 smaller theatrical or performance events throughout the school year. Rather than trying to make triple-threats out of zero-threat girls, look at the talents and plan accordingly. Some possible ideas:

* Readers' theatre productions.

* Musical performances featuring students who play instruments or sing.

* Multi-media events focused on a various themes where girls can make videos, display artwork, perform, etc.

* Collections of comedy skits -- the skits developed for various in-school programs are often hilarious and manage to convey significant messages without being too heavy-handed.

* Individual scenes from well-known plays or musicals. I once attended a fantastic event put on by the PTA of a struggling private school: they staged individual scenes from popular plays/musicals in each of six classrooms. Each scene was performed on a staggered basis about five times over the course of the evening. Refreshments were served in the hallways, and attendees could select which scenes they wanted to attend, taking their refreshments with them. It was incredible fun!

How would we all benefit?

* No more 3 hour and 43 minute productions. Need I say more?

* Allow students to participate in ways that will showcase their true talents and interests.

* Instead of forcing everyone to participate in a single "performance," focus on supporting one's classmates in their own endeavors (e.g., attending and being enthusiastic for a poetry reading, even if you're not that keen on poetry yourself).

* Teach girls that a performance is by necessity all about the audience -- not about yourself. This is a lesson that a lot of future teachers need!

* Instead of renting costly auditoriums and commissioning expensive scenery, focus on performance genres that don't tax our resources quite so much.

Perhaps I am prejudiced. Although I don't attend secular live theatre performances, I am fortunate to live in the city described by Terry Teachout as the "world capital of live theatre." And guess what? In all those ratty little storefront theatres throughout Chicago, producers, writers, directors, and actors are not trying to re-create Rogers and Hammerstein in 900-square-foot spaces. They're looking at their resources, using their creativity, and coming up with ideas that force Mr. Teachout and his peers to log more flying miles than a Midwestern girl looking for a shidduch.

It's not just about devising better plots and writing better scripts. We can do better.

Okay, rant off! LOL

Fox

Wed, Aug 08 2012, 3:48 pm

sky wrote:

Fox - not sure how it works in other communities - but in my BY the school play was a money maker for the school. The money is earmarked for something (don't remember what specifically).

I suspect whether a production is profitable or not depends on the facilities of the school. In Chicago, neither of the girls' high schools has an auditorium, so they must rent facilities elsewhere at a tremendous cost. Likewise with things like costumes, sets, and props. If a school has adequate storage facilities as well as staff members who can effectively manage large collections, then they may be able to minimize the cost of individual productions.

However, as the late Milton Friedman often noted, "There is no such thing as a free lunch." Schools with fancy auditoriums and large collections of costumes and sets must pay to maintain those amenities. Therefore, it's important to figure out whether the dog is wagging the tail . . . or the tail wagging the dog. Must we stage profitable productions in order to pay for the auditorium? Or do we pay for the auditorium in order to have a place for our productions?

Obviously, a school can't simply sell off an unwanted auditorium, so in those cases, profit-making productions may be necessary.

bigsis144

Wed, Aug 08 2012, 3:51 pm

Fox wrote:

However, not only am I not a killjoy, I believe school theatrical events are one of the most important things students can do. If our BYs are truly in the business of training young women to be "teachers" of the next generation, they darned well need to be able to get up in front of an audience!

So what would I do?

Schedule 3-6 smaller theatrical or performance events throughout the school year. Rather than trying to make triple-threats out of zero-threat girls, look at the talents and plan accordingly. Some possible ideas:

* Readers' theatre productions.

* Musical performances featuring students who play instruments or sing.

* Multi-media events focused on a various themes where girls can make videos, display artwork, perform, etc.

* Collections of comedy skits -- the skits developed for various in-school programs are often hilarious and manage to convey significant messages without being too heavy-handed.

* Individual scenes from well-known plays or musicals. I once attended a fantastic event put on by the PTA of a struggling private school: they staged individual scenes from popular plays/musicals in each of six classrooms. Each scene was performed on a staggered basis about five times over the course of the evening. Refreshments were served in the hallways, and attendees could select which scenes they wanted to attend, taking their refreshments with them. It was incredible fun!

How would we all benefit?

* No more 3 hour and 43 minute productions. Need I say more?

* Allow students to participate in ways that will showcase their true talents and interests.

* Instead of forcing everyone to participate in a single "performance," focus on supporting one's classmates in their own endeavors (e.g., attending and being enthusiastic for a poetry reading, even if you're not that keen on poetry yourself).

* Teach girls that a performance is by necessity all about the audience -- not about yourself. This is a lesson that a lot of future teachers need!

* Instead of renting costly auditoriums and commissioning expensive scenery, focus on performance genres that don't tax our resources quite so much.

Perhaps I am prejudiced. Although I don't attend secular live theatre performances, I am fortunate to live in the city described by Terry Teachout as the "world capital of live theatre." And guess what? In all those ratty little storefront theatres throughout Chicago, producers, writers, directors, and actors are not trying to re-create Rogers and Hammerstein in 900-square-foot spaces. They're looking at their resources, using their creativity, and coming up with ideas that force Mr. Teachout and his peers to log more flying miles than a Midwestern girl looking for a shidduch.

It's not just about devising better plots and writing better scripts. We can do better.

Okay, rant off! LOL

Serious out-of-the-box food for thought.

It would take retraining of both the audience and student body -- there's a certain amount of spectacle that's expected, as this is many people's "night out", and the frum world isn't used to intimate black-box-style theater or chamber music.

But artistically, it certainly is a great medium.

3-6 shows throughout the year could be difficult to swing, though. It's bad enough to disrupt the school year for one play -- the smaller scale would probably lead to less taking-over-the-school-with-play-related-chaos, but in a way, having all that insanity be centralized is part of the experience.

Fox

Wed, Aug 08 2012, 5:11 pm

bigsis144 wrote:

3-6 shows throughout the year could be difficult to swing, though. It's bad enough to disrupt the school year for one play -- the smaller scale would probably lead to less taking-over-the-school-with-play-related-chaos, but in a way, having all that insanity be centralized is part of the experience.

See, I disagree with this analysis.

Part of the reason that play-related chaos overtakes the school is because it's a single big event that requires everyone's involvement.

But staging more-but-smaller productions wouldn't require the entire school to essentially shut down precisely because the whole school doesn't need to participate in every single event.

For example:

Let me use my DDs' school as an example. They have approximately 160 students in four grades. Of that 160, they have maybe 2 "triple threats" and 5-6 "double threats." Only a handful of the girls have had any training or instruction in dance or music. The school must rent an auditorium at variable cost, depending on the venue, and the production is lucky to break even. To their credit, they have discovered a pipeline of adult BTs from nearby Northwestern University who, as adults, can (a) adapt and direct these plays; and (b) reproduce in order to ensure a supply of performers with genetic advantages (or at least loud voices).

But what would happen if they staged, say, a readers' theatre production in the fall; a multi-media event in the winter; and in the spring, a program of comedic skits?

The fall readers' theatre production would involve a cast of no more than 4-8; committee heads for ticket sales and publicity; and a student director aided by a staff member. No costumes needed, and if you wanted to get really fancy, buy bar stools for $25 each for the actors. Use a classroom, or if you want something fancier, rent a shul social hall. Tickets could be priced at $2-5 to cover expenses.

Now, the best part is that the girls with acting ability can perform without needing to sing or dance. As it now stands, jobs like ticket sales and publicity are basically done by seniors and adults. After all, the stakes are too high to risk having kids run the thing! But the stakes are much less in an in-house readers' theatre production. Girls can gain actual experience and do the work themselves!

Because the cast is small and the length limited, rehearsals could easily be done after school and on Sundays without involving the whole school. A single carpool would accommodate the cast, and rehearsals could even be done in someone's basement. No need to throw the whole school into chaos.

The winter multi-media event would actually be in formation while the readers' theatre ladies are in rehearsals. A committee of faculty and students would be formed to curate the event, and admissions can be solicited. At my DDs' school, I know of girls who are capable videographers; talented artists; and orators. Sadly, the annual musical production doesn't much call for their talents. However, they could be encouraged to submit pieces for a multi-media event on a particular theme.

The event itself could be held at the school or at the same shul social hall, and refreshments could be served -- again, for a modest ticket price and without keeping anyone up late.

Now, the real piece de resistance might be the spring comedy revue. My DDs' school creates skits for virtually every Shabbaton, program, and student assembly, and some of them are so good that they have become almost famous within our community. Ninety minutes' worth of these skits -- along with a couple of new ones -- would be delightful. And some of the skits, of course, include music or dance -- thus giving our "threats" a chance to show their talents.

The production of these skits doesn't seem to disrupt school unnecessarily when they are created for various events and assemblies, so there would be no need to close down the school to simply string them together in a revue.

Now, I'll go out on a limb and address the issue of the centralized chaos that you describe as being part of the experience. I do understand the appeal of that. However, I don't necessarily feel that centralized chaos is the right thing to be teaching our daughters. Sure, they love it -- but it teaches a not-so-good lesson.

Let me give an example: A few years ago, I worked with a woman on a local fundraising event. My job was to show her how to use a computer program to make it all easier and avoid the all-nighters that had become associated with the planning. Well, she fought absolutely everything I tried to teach her, arguing that "it wouldn't work" because she "did things differently."

Finally, someone on the committee said to me, "Fox, you're absolutely right. But you have to understand that Chavi doesn't want to make things more organized or eliminate the late nights. It makes her feel like she's back in high school, working on production or something."

And that was it! Instead of learning how to enjoy accomplishing goals efficiently, Chavi associated fun and female bonding with the chaos of high school production.

Now, granted, this isn't the worst thing in the world. Most of us have memories that we treasure that are not paradigms of efficiency and effectiveness. But happiness is ultimately based on challenges and feelings of accomplishment. We should be encouraging our girls to effectively take on challenges and experience genuine accomplishment -- not waste time doing things in the least productive ways possible.

It's one thing to recognize and honor our mesorah. But what's the mesorah for musical theatre productions? If we're going to insist that our reach exceed our grasp, why not go all the way and stage full-length operas? Hey, who's up for Carmen or if you want something lighter, Cosi Fan Tutti?

Or if people are really so in love with musical theatre (hey, after 3 hours and 43 minutes, I was beginning to fantasize about pretending to be the disabled woman's caretaker and sneaking out with her!), stage one every other year.

Bottom line: even public high schools with 4000+ students, including students who are seriously pursuing the performing arts, are challenged to present a musical theatre production each year. Asking our BY schools to do it is, well, like teaching a pig to sing. It makes the pig mad -- and the pig never does sing very well.

sarahd

Wed, Aug 08 2012, 5:17 pm

Fox wrote:

sky wrote:

Fox - not sure how it works in other communities - but in my BY the school play was a money maker for the school. The money is earmarked for something (don't remember what specifically).

The high school I attended didn't have its own auditorium either. We rented the local public high school auditorium. We earned over $25,000 profit for our school, which was a lot more 28 years ago than it is today. I have never heard of any school that lost money on a production, although I imagine there could be some that do.

Fox

Wed, Aug 08 2012, 6:21 pm

bigsis144 wrote:

Question for Fox:

Do you think most girls are honest enough about their own abilities that they could happily be split like you're suggesting?

For the shows that I've worked on, I always ask the girls to fill out a preference form ranking how they'd like to participate in the show, with options like "a singing part", "a dancing part", "big part, lots of lines", "big part, few lines", "small but memorable part", "I don't want to go on stage AT ALL".

I get SO many girls asking for big acting parts who totally don't deserve them, and when I'm choreographing dances, I've always got girls who were pushed in due to family connections or crying enough to the principal.

And even though many girls are unhappy with their 4 lines or being pushed to the back of a 40-girl choir, there comes a point toward the end where it turns into "we're all in this together", and the euphoria afterwards is shared by all participants, no matter how small their role was.

Do you think that smaller-scale shows would turn into a hierarchy of who's in what? Would girls be allowed to participate in both, say, a visual-art gallery show, and get to sing in the revue?

Good questions! I think that the paradigm of the single big production actually makes all of these problems worse.

Basically, if you don't have a "good" part in the annual production, you're out of luck. It doesn't matter whether you are, shall we say, talent-challenged, or whether there are just too many other talented girls.

However, offering a number of different opportunities makes it possible for someone who doesn't get a "good" part in one production to get a "good" part in another. It makes it possible to say to someone, "Look, maidele, you can't sing your way out of a paper bag, but you're a great actress. Why don't you try out for the readers' theatre production, etc.?"

I would handle try-outs on a strictly voluntary basis: no one is forced to participate, and the principals should limit their involvement to counseling girls regarding their strengths, weaknesses, and aspirations. Now, obviously, there would be a lot of promotion in urging girls to not only try out, but to take on other responsibilities as well.

Will a hierarchy develop? Well, yes and no. There will always be cattiness and one-upsmanship ("Oh, I'm in the most popular skit and you're just the ticket head."). But diffusing power and prestige across a number of productions will make it harder, not easier, for the kinds of problems you describe to occur.

Were I a principal or director, I'd much rather be in the position of telling the major donor's father, "I can understand that Mimi wants a major role, but this is a straight play, and Mimi's greatest strength is her singing, not her acting. Let's encourage her to give a solo performance at the multi-media event -- I think everyone would really see her star quality there."

In short, no, the girls will not be honest enough about their own abilities. Most of us aren't! That's why teachers and principals will need to encourage them to look for opportunities to show off their strengths -- not try to force themselves to be something or someone they're not. And helping our girls learn to evaluate their skills as honestly as possible and focus on opportunities that match their skills, interests, and talents -- well, we'd have a lot fewer young married women asking about careers!

As for the "we're all in this together" feeling, I agree that it's nice when the whole school comes together for a common goal. But how much nicer to teach girls that being "in it together" sometimes means being part of the performance and sometimes means being part of the audience. Learning to take your turn in the spotlight and graciously allow others to take theirs is actually a very difficult acting skill -- not to mention a difficult life skill.

In a perfect world, our schools would have the resources available to offer opportunities for kids to explore as many interests and nurture as many talents as possible. In a perfect world, we'd have instrumental groups, choir, field hockey, and perhaps Future Farmers of America. But even though we can't offer as many opportunities as we might like, we can try to make sure that the activities we do offer really teach the lessons we want, and we can try to vary activities enough that everyone can find her "place" in the school.