Today’s project: Pass It On
My sweetie is a teacher at a small high school in a small town 30 miles from home. He is FANTASTIC at what he does. Truly. And frankly, I applaud all teachers. To be able to go into work, every single day, and find ways to engage and educate our kids, every single day; I think it is a job that doesn’t really get the kudos that it deserves.
My husband is a choir teacher/director by trade, but one of the classes he has at his school is ‘Musical Theater.’ This is the class that rehearses and performs the shows that the school puts on twice a year. I think it is a fabulous idea because he can get lots of kids to participate. Versus other schools that rehearse the show after school or in the evenings – it becomes yet another thing that the parents have to cart the kids to/from and participation is greatly diminished by virtue of conflict with all the other after-school activities like sports and clubs and jobs.
Now, although, my husband has a LOT of experience in directing choirs of all sizes and genres, he doesn’t feel like he has a lot of knowledge when it comes to teaching students the nitty grittys of acting.
Side note: in my humble opinion, what makes a good musical is great acting. A lot of people can sing a song well, but if you don’t believe what these folks are singing at you then you might as well just play a CD. If it is just about enjoying the singing and the music, what’s the point of all the rest? No, I really think that a well-acted song, even if it isn’t sung quite as well, can be very entertaining and/or powerful. That’s what theater is all about.
Long story short, my sweetie has asked me to come in and help him with some of the acting aspects of his class.
This is a task that I have done before in other high schools, including directing the show myself, so I feel like I have some experience to pass on.
I spend a lot of time with the kids working on movement, voice and characterization, utilizing time-honored, well-tested theater ‘games.’ Well, they feel like games to the kids, but really they are structured exercises designed to help them understand fundamental theater principles.
Blah, blah, blah.
The truth is, I hope that I’m teaching these kids something totally different than how to properly mime brushing your teeth or how to ensure that the back row can hear you.
I sincerely hope that I am passing on to the students an appreciation of the arts. I know that seems a bit high-handed and frou-frou. But it is true. I know that these young people will someday (soon) grow up to be the people that buy tickets and (please god) write the checks that fund great programs.
I’m dreaming that the little taste of acting and performing that they are exposed to in my husband’s class will be that little nudge that makes them vote to keep arts funding active in our government. ‘Hey, I remember having a great time in Musical Theater. We should keep that going.’
And finally, I’m sincerely praying that these kids will start to learn things like empathy, to understand how their actions and words affect others, critical thinking skills, to be able to look at a given situation and see several outcomes, and sympathy, to be able to commiserate with someone else’s life and understand how they feel.
Think about it, if we could take the time to understand how others think and feel, to ‘walk a mile in someone’s shoes,’ how much further would we be down the road of peace and caring in our world?
So today, my project is to ‘pass it on’ and hope that my message of tolerance, understanding and empathy wrapped in the guise of a few silly games will change the mind of one, just one, of those kids in that room. Because, one is all it takes.
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