Stories from Missouri State
Today is the last day of the Missouri State Thespian conference. Some thoughts….
We met a TON of student directors. Not random kids. Kids who go flicking through the racks of plays cause they’re bored and they didn’t go to workshops like they were supposed to and they didn’t go to the one acts, and so they’ve got nothing to do and they stand in front of the table going flick, flick, flick, not seeing anything, not looking for anything, just trying to waste time and wasting my time because they might be serious so I can’t tell them to go away ( not that I ever would) but deep down I know they’re not and they’re not going to ask any questions or see anything that interests them they’re just going to flick flick flick flick flick. Ahem. Sorry, was that out loud? Let’s start again.
We met a TON of student directors. Really serious drama students who were actively searching out one acts to direct. Some of them had directed before and knew what they were looking for. Others, a little lost, not even sure how directing works but asked all the right questions even if they were afraid of looking dumb. Which they didn’t. I’ve been constantly amazed this conference at the number of students looking for plays.
I met Tim (who I talked to a lot in Lincoln, NE in June at the International Thespians Festival) and he’s directing Tick Talk. He told be about the character work they’ve been doing (they play is intentionally sparse on information!) and he described how the opening scene is going to be lit. I can’t wait to hear more about it.
I met Amber who’s directing ‘The Bright Blue Mailbox Suicide Note.’ They had an incident at their school last year and she really thinks the play is important for the school to see. I’m going to keep in touch with her, because I’m in the process of working on the February edition of the Theatrefolk newsletter. It’s all about the issue play and how you work on one without being consumed by the issue.
Two girls picked up ‘The Pregnancy Project‘ and are trying to get their teacher to produce it at their school. They also came to my workshop and were focused and insightful.
A teacher picked up all the copies of ‘Tuna Fish Eulogy‘ we had. ‘This is my one-act,’ she said.
Both my workshops went well. I do a script analysis workshop that requires, well, some thinking. You can see it in the sea of eyes sometimes, that confused look of ‘thinking? I have to think? I’m not in school!” Both groups did very well with the thinking part; a lot of insightful comments. Doesn’t always happen. Always pleased when it does.
I come away again with such a sense of wistfulness. I so wish I had this when I was young. Sure I ended up in the arts anyway, I don’t think I had a choice, but oh to have such access to workshops and plays, and people….. to find others like me at that age, that would have been bliss.
Thanks for visiting! If you want to be notified the next time we post something, sign up for email alerts or subscribe to the RSS feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.