The Green Velvet Christmas Dress Bible Study Guide needs your help!
CAST OF CHARACTERS FOR GVCD “Jackson’s care of his family gave me pause to think about my own sacrifice for my family.” “ Laurel reminds me of myself in H.S. and in college. Like Laurel, I was so caught up in theater work, and spent a great deal of time there hiding from intimacy in my relationships.” “I want to be a ‘Barb’ and receive people and give lavishly, sacrificially like she did.” “Emma touches something very deep inside of me. I love her honest dialogue with God.” These are...
Read MoreAPPLYING THEATER (TERMS) TO OUR STORIES – Part 2
I’ve always felt theater is filled with principles that can hold value in other parts of our life. Many of them are like metaphors, analogies, or word pictures that can serve to point the way, give some direction, encourage the things we do in our day-to-day communication. With my history as a theater teacher and experience as an actor and storyteller, I’ve thought about a few of these things and come up with some thoughts concerning our regular living and relationships: SPEAK UP! ...
Read MoreAPPLYING THEATER (TERMS) TO OUR STORIES
APPLYING THEATER (TERMS) TO OUR STORIES Part One I’ve always felt theater is filled with principles that can hold weight in other parts of life and living. Much of it can hold truth and point the way because they are metaphors, analogies or word pictures about us and communication. Having a history in theater as a teacher/producer/director, actor and storyteller, you can bet I’ve thought about these. I actually apply many of them, teach them. They are here for your own ponderings and...
Read MoreIn Search of Theater for Teen Actors…just my thoughts
Okay, so where does director of faith-based theater go to research and find good material for H.S. students? After piling through sketch and play sites and a few other resources, I am considering the following: We need writers for high school aged actors (sketches and plays)… ones that will commit to writing the stories that matter to them! I need to write. Today, high school people are more sophisticated and wiser (worldly-wise) than ever before. My experience, after being back in the...
Read MoreRe-Story Theater 2014-15 & Your Art-filled Summer
“Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative place where no one else has ever been.” -from a poem by Alan Alda My H.S. Drama One class has ended and in a great way—a melodrama by Craig Sodaro, “Wait ‘Til The Sun Shines Nellie”! It’s been fun to see timid, apprehensive, quiet students blossom into confident and capable actors and servant-artists. And for those that possessed drama skills already, there was a refining of them that may have even surprised them. We are all...
Read MoreShakespeare & The American H.S. Drama Student
“We know what we are, but not what we may be.” –William Shakespeare Remember way back in August when I shared of how I would be teaching a H.S. theater class, once again? Every Friday, I teach a group of 15 H.S. students. It’s been a good year, so far! And a very stretching one for all of us. For me, it has been the reusing of old muscles and building back strength. And for most of my students it has been the building of new muscles. They’re a wonderfully creative group of teens. ...
Read MoreMOVING FROM LABOURER TO CRAFTSMAN TO ARTIST
He who works with his hands is a labourer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands, his head and his heart is an artist. —Saint Francis of Assisi This was the first quote that I wrote on the board for my Drama One students. It went in their new and empty Actor’s Journal. It’s a composition book where they are to relate their growth, challenges, ah-hah moments, and general thoughts about being a student-actor. It’s also a place they...
Read MoreHeading Back to School…and Back to the Classroom!
I said, “Yes.” Yes, to teaching Drama One to high school people, once again. I am excited about this. I am nervous about this. I am qualified for this. Are teachers better teachers years later? Yes. Why? Because of accumulated knowledge and tons of practical experience. I have never really stopped teaching. I lead workshops, coach and mentor artists, direct and produce shows. Plus, I have raised a teen and I am raising a teen. Teenagers no longer bring fear and dread as they once did when I...
Read MoreRe-Story Theater’s Beginning… An intimate look at the writing of “The Green Velvet Christmas Dress”
Last year, I wrote backwards! I started with a play, not the story first. I write stories all the time. I do my best to write one Christmas story a year and have begun writing one this year in the midst of the busyness of directing and producing “The Green Velvet Christmas Dress”. It’s called “The Unopened Christmas Gift” and I like where it’s going. After last year’s successful premiere, I began writing the story of “The Green Velvet Christmas Dress” and I had high hopes for it being...
Read More“Re-Story Theater’s Beginning… (Part 2)
But first, I must share with you about The Green Dress Velvet Christmas Dress!” I will share with you about “Improv In Our Everyday Living” in a future blog. I promise. But for now, I want to share about Re-Story Theater’s upcoming Christmas show December 7th, 8th, and 9th. My beloved theater group, Re-Story, is well into its second season (with one show under its improvisational belt) and has begun rehearsals on the reprise of “The Green Velvet Christmas Dress”. And we are loving the...
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