Spring Fever

I remember doing some Fairy Tale theater performances when I was in high school. I was never on stage for them, but was either in the light booth, the sound booth or backstage. It was great to hear an audience full of little kids go from absolute silence due to their absorption in the performance, to roaring with laughter at something funny the Mad Hatter or Tinkerbell did. The retelling of classic fairy tales is a great way to involve both young and old audiences because the stories are aimed at children, but most adults have memories of being captivated by the characters when they were kids, either through books, radio, television, spoken word or the stage, and can appreciate them now, years after they were first introduced to the stories. The club has decided to do something similar for our spring performance. We will take two classic stories - Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - and perform abridged and adapted versions of them. As we prepare for the performance, the group will focus on improvisation, which is dealing with the unexpected and being spontaneous and creative with other actors while on stage. This will also provide a good opportunity to work on storytelling skills, as each member will be telling a chunk of the story on their own. Having a performance to work towards is always a good feeling and I think the next few weeks will be at times challenging for everyone involved, but very fun and worth the effort.

Welcome

My name is Erin and I'm a Peace Corps volunteer from the US. I've been living in Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania for 9 months and have been working with the drama club for nearly 5. Although I act as the director and coordinator for the club, much of what we do is up to the students who attend and whom I hope to pass the management of the club over to entirely (with the help of a teacher or two) when it comes time for me to head back to the states. I have little working experience with drama, other than participating in a club and taking several classes in high school, as well as volunteering at a community center theater. Despite my lack of experience, I love all aspects of the stage and hope to encourage the students I'm working with to pursue it as either a hobby or a career throughout their lives, if that's what they want to do. Currently there is no drama program at the Mihai Viteazul school, other than the few productions the teachers put on through their own time and interest. I hope that through the club, the students will develop a better understanding of drama, participate in some challenging yet fun activities, gain self confidence, improve their English skills (which are already amazing) and become interested enough in the art to carry the club out on their own.

We put on our first production, Christmas Good and Bad, in mid-December. During the preparation for skit, we focused on pantomime instead of using real items to perform the scenes. This was good for two reasons: 1) we had no budget and therefore could not afford props and 2) it provided an opportunity for the students to learn about body placement in relation to imaginary objects and really helped them to focus on simple movements and how to control them. We also worked on projecting the voice, body placement on stage, ie don't have your back to the audience, and simple stage terminology. Every session included some sort of theater activity and everyone seemed to enjoy the experience.

We are currently working on the art of improvisation and hope to put on a production of some sort in the spring.

I hope to get the students involved with this blog and to get them posting their ideas, experiences and thoughts here. Please stay posted for more updates and upcoming videos. Thanks!
erin