Episode 96: How to Succeed with a Class Production

Have you tried to put together a class production and it just didn’t work out? Teacher Rassika Risko shares the successes and challenges of getting 28 grade nines in front of 300 middle school students.

Show Notes The Happiness Project Promo Video http://vimeo.com/97140116 The Happiness Project Poster

The Happiness Shop Teacher's Guide Set the Stage for Student-Written Monologues

Episode Transcript

Welcome to TFP – The Theatrefolk Podcast – the place to be for drama teachers, drama students, theatre educators everywhere. I’m Lindsay Price, resident playwright for Theatrefolk.

Hello, I hope you're well. Thanks for listening.

This is a replay of Episode 96 and you can catch the links for this episode in the show notes at theatrefolk.com/episode96.

One thing that many classes do in a semester is put together a play and perform it for a feeder school. Some classes devise the play or in this case they have a playwright in the area (me) who comes in and works with them  from brainstorming to reading to rehearsal and now performance.

And this was not an senior class or an after-school program or a drama club but a grade nine drama class, and the experience has had its rewards and challenges for me, just as it’s had for their teacher, Rassika Risko.

So, I thought it would be a great podcast to talk to her about those successes and challenges in getting an entire class on the same page, to do a play, and then not only perform it for each other but an invited audience. They had to perform their play in front of 300 middle school students.

So, let’s get to it.

Like this?

Yes!

And put a spring in your step!

Like this?

Yes!

I do all these things, but I still don’t feel completely happy.

I know what you need! You need to become a Roppet!

A Roppet? What’s that?

Lindsay: All right! Here we go.

So, I am here with Rassika Risko. Hello!

Rassika: Hi!

Lindsay: How are you?

Rassika: Fine. Thank you!

Lindsay: So, we just had a rehearsal. You’re in rehearsal right now with a play that I wrote and it’s your grade nine class, right?

Rassika: Yes, it is, and you are rehearsing a show with your class to perform in front of your theatre middle schools.

Lindsay: That’s correct. So, what I wanted to talk to you about was about, I know that there are a lot of our teachers who listen who either do a show with their class or want to do a show with your class and I thought we could talk about the good parts about that, the pitfalls about that.

So, first of all, what’s your work background? How long have you been a drama teacher?

Rassika: I’ve been a drama teacher since 2001 which is – oh, math! – a long time ago! I am a science teacher as well.

Lindsay: Thirteen!

Rassika: Thirteen years ago, and I’ve been teaching drama, if not full-time, at least part-time for that time. I taught at one school for five years and then I’ve been at Governor Simcoe since 2006.

Lindsay: Cool. Oh, and the exciting thing for me is that this is actually happening live in my backyard because, usually, I do these over Skype so I never get to talk to anybody.

Rassika: Oh, that’s exciting!

Lindsay: And why drama? Why did you choose drama?

Rassika: I had an amazing drama teacher in grade ten and I’m not athletic and I was awkward socially and drama was the place for me. It was organized. I felt like I could be part of a family. I had friends from different grades. It was easier for me to get to know people in drama than it was for me to try and get on a team that I just wasn’t going to get on.

Lindsay: And that just sort of stuck with you always?

Rassika: Yeah, we did a show in grade ten, then eleven, then we got a new teacher in grade twelve and I loved her – I loved her, she’s the reason I became a teacher – and then I learned how to stage manage and direct kind of through that avenue there.