Hello old friend

It probably seems like I've forgotten the blog world, but I've been keeping it all in my head while I've been planning my CTG experience. An update:

Graduation was on June 9th-the earliest in 28 years of teaching. A bit bittersweet as my number 2 and 3 daughters graduated from HS. The fun part is that I got to give them their diploma.

Two days after graduation our production of Starmites moved back into Bridges Auditorium for a ridiculously difficult rebuild/two performance/prep to take 45 kids, 8 adults, and the entire show to the International Thespian Festival in Lincoln NB. The challenge was closing Forty-Second Street one week and opening Starmites again for the first time since February. I also brought in a TD who helped us redesign the show for a 2800 seat road house and an 800 seat Theatre with no fly space. We rehearsed the show, the build (we had 90 minutes in Nebraska), the strike and the truck load.

The kids had two great shows on June 15 & 17 and we finished loading the truck at 1:00 am. It drove off with an amazing dad behind the wheel and the rest of us left in shifts over the next few days.

The entire week I spend a lot of time really looking at the show and all of the skills the kids were learning. How did I teach them? What worked? What didn't? What could be taught differently in a classroom without the "A" team and have a similar outcome?

One of the reasons for our success is that I continue to bring theatre artists and technical professionals who bring a lifetime of experiences different than mine to share with the students. I think many of my tech students learned four years of work in two weeks.

I also learned about the importance of reaching out to a playwright and what an amazing impact that can have on students. Barry Keating (author of Starmites) had left a message on our Theatre Facebook page in the spring. I contacted him to help us secure royalty free performances at the festival and he sent me his cell phone and many messages of  encouragement. More on that later.

Fast forward to Nebraska. The low points: Family emergency with our Musical Director and she never arrived. The entire cast, our principal and most of the adults having an emergency landing in Denver. The high points: Watching the five kids I took a day early meet with the entire tech staff of the theatre and, based on their preparation and questions, impress the technicians and get approved to run the show without adult assistance. Seeing my students perform on a Friday in one theatre and Saturday night in another and act as if they had been doing it their entire lives.

The best moment was when the VP of Samuel French Inc gathered the students around her to show them a video Barry Keating made for them to congratulate them on their selection to perform at the festival. It was amazing! It's on YouTube under Barry Keating/Claremont HS/Starmites. After seeing the show the reps from Samuel French asked if our dept would be willing to workshop musicals for them-very cool! As of result of the Barry Keating connection many of the students are in contact with him and learning how much a project can still mean to a writer 25 years after it is written. This isn't something I have ever taught or talked about in class (except for our experiences with Sister Helen Prejean and Dead Man Walking) but I will certainly suggest to kids in the future that they consider making a connection with a playwright.

So what does Starmites have to do with my project? I used the week in production and in Nebraska to really look at what 21st Century skills are and spent many a late night reception with Jim Palmerini (Educational Theatre Association) and Anita Grant (a colleague on a Arts Task Force) talking about my project and what I need to do to prepare students.

Sooooo in the 1 1/2 weeks I was home I looked over some materials on 21st Century Skills, how to create and prepare workshops and making lots of plans.

Here I sit in my hotel room in Manhattan (just arrived four hours ago) and this is what I have set up so far:

Tomorrow I am meeting with Barry Keating to give him a scrapbook my students made for him. He would like to talk about doing a project together. Tomorrow afternoon I have an appointment at the NY Library for Film and Theatre to look at their archives and see a screening of the Patti Lupone version of Gypsy. Tomorrow night I will meet with DJ Gray, CHS alumni, to talk over my long range plan and brainstorm with her what I need to look for while in my workshops. She and I have worked together since 1994 and she knows the CHS students and our program very well so she is the perfect sounding board. In addition, she lives in NYC and is a Broadway choreographer (Xanadu, Spelling Bee) so she knows what skills are needed in professional theatre.

My Broadway Teacher Workshops are Monday-Wednesday. I'm fortunate to have two friends, also Thespian State Directors, who are attending so I can have some ongoing conversations with teachers I know as the workshops progress.

On Friday I will spend the day with alumni Ana Rose Greene as she readies Million Dollar Quartet for the road, has a Spiderman rehearsal and loads in Follies from DC. Ana Rose co founded Juniper Street Productions which has had as many as seven shows running on Broadway at one time. Not bad for someone who graduated in 2001!

On Saturday I will be meeting our one of my favorite alumni John Lee Beatty. John has been nominated for 14 Tonys (won two) for his set designs. He will be a great resource as someone who has had a long career in the arts and how learning and technology has changed what he has done since he began in the early '70's.

I am also meeting with Michael Alden (CHS-'74 who won his Tony for Grey Gardens) as he prepares to leave for London to produce The King's Speech for the stage. Michael will have a unique prospective because he is the only alumni I am meeting with who did not attend college. I look forward to hearing some insights on this from him.

Lastly, I am seeing Eli Bolin (my first Thespian President at CHS) who is the co creator of The Story Pirates (which is now bi-coastal) as well as being a composer on Sesame Street.

Somewhere in there I get to visit Joe Norton (Broadway Cares/EFA VP of Education) for an office tour and chat, as well as a couple of other unscheduled stops.

In the beginning of this process I wondered how I was going to fill my time. Now I am finding myself frantically trying to figure out how I am going to see everyone and still sleep enough so I don't snore during the shows I'm seeing.

Stay tuned!