Movement Based

If you’re looking for a middle school play that has it all, look no further than Box by Lindsay Price. Flexible casting, small scene and monologue opportunities, and dealing with issues that middle-schoolers can relate to, this vignette play is not to be missed. Sometimes we choose the way the world sees us. Black box – indestructible. Jewelry box – plain on the outside, shiny on the inside. Sometimes our box is defined by others – our parents, our friends, our enemies. A box built by others can feel small, confined, impossible. How do we handle the boxes imposed upon us because of our gender? Our race? From peer pressure? From parent pressure? Do we have to live with our box for the rest of our lives? Can we change? Director Sally Vopnfjord was thrilled to share the success of the amazing student performers at Kipling Collegiate Institute in Toronto, Ontario, who were able to create and share their own middle-school magic: “Our school recently performed BOX as part of the National Theatre School Drama Festival (formerly Sears Drama Fest). Despite competing in the festival for the first time and featuring first-time actors – we won! We were selected as one of the top 3 shows in our district. BOX will now be performed in the Toronto Regionals at Hart House – fingers crossed that we can take this show all the way to the Provincial Finals.” Congratulations on your success, Kipling Collegiate!

Are your students ready to take their theatrical techniques to the next level? Emotional Baggage by Lindsay Price is ready for you! The most unique play we sell, it is based solely on action and has no dialogue. Seven strangers meet in a train station. Instead of luggage, they all carry their “emotional baggage.” They must confront themselves and one another. Everybody carries emotional baggage with them. What’s yours? Suitable for performance and in-class work, the play focuses on non-verbal storytelling through mask and movement. Drama teacher, Jeannine LeSann was excited to share her students’ success with us. As a student directed production, the talented ensemble at Esterhazy High School in Esterhazy, Saskatchewan were trailblazers as the first EHS production to earn this award. “We performed at our Regional Drama Festival and won Best Overall Production! I just thought I would pass on this success to you along with some images of the play for you to look at. The best thing about this is that the play was actually student directed and this the director’s final year with us. It is so great that he is able to have success with such a great play and a dedicated cast.”

Cobweb Dreams by Lindsay Price is a fun-filled fantasy that runs parallel to the events of Shakespeare’s_ A Midsummer Night’s Dream._ Available in full length or one-act versions, this movement-based Shakespearean comedy is a fun-filled play that your middle school and high school students won’t want to miss. Cobweb is not having a good time as part of Titania’s train. She dreams of a life where she plays pranks all day long and doesn’t have to be a stuffy, stuck-up fairy in waiting. If only it was a simple as crossing the brook to be part of Oberon’s train! But life in the woods is not simple. The King and Queen fight tooth and nail, Cobweb fights to make her dreams come true, and her friends fight to keep her from being turned into a toadstool. A mortal with a donkey head has wandered into the grove and the flower fairies blame Cobweb. Oh will this midsummer night never end Under the direction of Emily Steelman , the incredibly talented drama group at the Redwing Drama Club in Eminence, Missouri made their ‘cobweb dreams’ a stunning and successful reality! Check out some of the pictures they shared to be transported to a magical forest full of fantasy, fun and fairies.

If you’re looking for a great adaptation of some of Edgar Allen Poe’s best-known works, then look no further than Shuddersome: Tales of Poe by Lindsay Price. Specters, ghosts and ghouls come alive in this vivid theatrical adaptation, which includes The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Masque of the Red Death. Multi-length versions of the script to fit every need. Under the direction of Nelson Berry , the drama group at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, TN brought these mysterious, dramatic adaptations to life, creating a strong production from a strong ensemble: “I really enjoyed directing and putting together my school’s production of “Shuddersome.” My colleagues and I really love the script, both for its helpful notes and also for the different styles of each scene. Honestly, I was considering the show solely because of “Tell-Tale Heart,” and reading “Oval Portrait” cemented my decision. I used an ensemble of 16 actors, assigning 2-3 roles to each person. We had a few rehearsal challenges, but ultimately the show came together well and we all loved the final product.”

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. Sadness. Hopelessness. Irritability. Anger. Hostility. Angst. Doubt. With teenage depression and anxiety rates on the rise, plays like darklight by Lindsay Price are more relevant than ever. darklight examines depression and anxiety in teens. Characters fight their inner thoughts, search for their truths, and have surreal conversations with death. Some fail, some find hope. This is a relevant and necessary issue to explore. Let’s hear from the author! 1. Why did you write this play? It is becoming more and more evident that depression and anxiety are consuming students. That means it’s a topic that must be discussed – it’s vital that students know they are not alone in their struggle. 2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. A theatrical examination of depression and anxiety in teens. 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? There is a character called Luz who searches for those in need. She carries a lantern throughout. Her job is not to solve issues, or offer neat and tidy solutions. Her purpose is simply to hold a light. To let those in struggle know that even in the darkest night there are stars. 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? There are many sad moments in the play. It’s a sad topic. Don’t “play” the sadness. Don’t overdramatize the emotions, which is extremely hard to resist sometimes, for sure. For example there is a character who is everyone’s best friend, who appears happy, well adjusted and together but he suffers from terrible depression. But you can’t play the sadness because no one sees it in him. 5. Why is this play great for student performers? It’s an opportunity for discussion, community and communication on a topic that is happening to them and around them every day.

Middle schoolers face a tornado of questions every day. What do I wear? What if I wear the wrong thing? What is she wearing? What do I look like? Stop looking at me! Hoodie by Lindsay Price examines image and appearance in the vignette style and poses what may be the most difficult question of all – Do I stay in the clump or do I stand alone? The drama students at Washington Jr. High School in Manitowoc, WI asked and answered these tough questions in their performance of Hoodie. From the first read-through to the set design to opening night, it is obvious that this was a true labour of love. Not only were the students able to gain experience and insight into the theatrical process, but they were able to truly relate to the theme and messaging throughout the play: “You should learn how to be an individual and do what you want to do in your life.” “You don’t always have to be in a certain group. Just be yourself. Be unique.”

Do you hear the tap, tap, tapping? The thumping of a heartbeat? The creek of a door? The sound of beating wings getting closer and closer… In Lindsay Price’s vivid and theatrical adaptation Shuddersome: Tales of Poe, ghosts and ghouls in some of Edgar Allen Poe’s best known works come alive. Drama teacher, Shannon Boatwright , shared how the student group at Chapin Middle School (Chapin, SC) had the audience shaking in their seats with their unique and visually stunning interpretation of Shuddersome: “I can say that as a producer/director, this show has truly been one of my favorites. Our experience and take on your incredible script of Shuddersome was an enormous success! I am a music lover and dancer, so I incorporate music and dance into pretty much every show that I do. I love to feature the awesome & many talents of my students! So, our version of Shuddersome not only featured my stars singing and dancing, but also performing sign language. It all worked beautifully and really was an incredible adventure for myself and my 40 honors 8th grade students at Chapin Middle School.”

“This is the box my parents want for me. This is who my parents want me to be. A shining star… I don’t want to disappoint my parents, but this is not my box.” How do we handle the boxes imposed upon us because of our gender? Our race? From peer pressure? From parent pressure? Do we have to live with our box for the rest of our lives? Can we change? Box by Lindsay Price is a middle school vignette play with flexible casting. It can be expanded for a large cast or reduced to a cast of 10 with doubling. Excellent small scene and monologue opportunities. Under the direction of Stephanie Brook the student performers at GEMS World Academy in Switzerland demonstrated that the challenges of choosing how the world sees us is shared by students worldwide. “This was performed by my theatre class made up on only Grade 6 students (ages 11-12), from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities. We have Italian, Spanish, Swiss, Canadian, American, British, Scottish, Irish, Filipino, Dutch, Argentinian, Venezuelan, Brazilian, Israeli and Portuguese, to name a few. I had to do a lot of unpacking of the material for them to understand what the play was speaking about, but this is a beautiful age to be addressing stereotypes and “boxes”, and they really connected with it. I have been receiving messages from parents all evening telling me how wonderful it was. Several of the parents, kids and staff at school commented on how relevant, how real and how engaging the play was. One of the students really connected with it, and she was in Grade 4! She said it helped her to understand a lot of what goes on at school. The school counsellor wants us to take this on as a Grade 6 play every year – she thinks it is so perfect.” Congratulations GEMS World Academy!

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. We are excited to feature We Are Masks by Lindsay Price – a one-act dramedy that challenges performers and audiences alike to examine the masks we all wear every day. We all wear a mask. Some hide for good reasons. Some for self preservation. Even when you’re ready to take off your mask, it’s a hard thing to do. What will happen when the world sees who you really are? Four teenagers wear a variety of masks: Imposter Foster. Persona Paloma. Nolan No-Try. Macy Maintains. Each has to make a choice – show the world their true self, or stay behind their mask. Who will reveal themselves? Who will stay in the shadows? Let’s hear from the author! 1. Why did you write this play? The idea of public persona and private persona is a great one to explore on the stage because unlike real life, you can show both. Anytime we get to see “inside” a character is amazing theatre. It was fun to decide which mask each of the characters would wear, and whether or not they would shed their mask by the end of the play. Not all the characters do. 2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. We all wear masks. What will happen when the world sees who you really are? 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? The masks! Both the ones that the ensemble wear that we can see and the ones the characters wear that are invisible. 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? Discuss with your students the idea of public and private persona. Your students are going to be able to provide a lot of insight about how the people they see every day wear a mask. How can they take their real world experience and translate to their characters? 5. Why is this play great for student performers? The theme is relevant, and there are awesome physical action possibilities with the ensemble. Everyone wears a mask – what’s yours?

Emotional Baggage. We all have it but how do we deal with it? The characters within this one-act dramedy by Lindsay Price carry theirs with them at all times. They convey their stories and struggles solely through actions and gestures. That’s right – this play has no words! Because of this, the play relies heavily upon the characters’ gestures and music to take the place of dialogue and convey the story. Jennifer Denty and her student group of performers at Northern Lights Academy in Rigolet, Newfoundland were not only up to the challenge but surpassed it with an award-winning performance. “My drama team from Northern Lights Academy just finished the High School Labrador Regional Drama Festival and we took second place! We also won best music (we used 30% from the script and added our own), best staging, and best director. Plus, one of my students (he played Overbearing Mother) won for physical comedy and my student who played Well Rounded Person won an acting merit award.” Congratulations, Northern Lights Academy! *Photo credit: Jennifer Denty

You may know the classic story of Pandora and her curiousity, but do you know the whole story? Drama teacher Kate Olena and the talented group of student performers at Nichols Middle School in Buffalo, New York took on Theatrefolk’s classical adaptation, Pandora’s Fire, by Judith White that left their audience not only entertained but asking some big questions. Kate’s admin sent out the following email after seeing the production. “….The story asks us to consider design and purpose. How did we get here? Why are things as they are? Who is responsible? We are also asked to consider the role of scapegoats and whether or not they deserve the distinction. Finally, we must also consider our own complicity. As always, things are rarely clear, but perhaps one of the many benefits of the arts is that they help us to understand ourselves and the times in which we live. We are still wrestling with these questions, maybe especially so during this election season, and I can think of no one better to guide our students than all of you who are wise enough to take the long view and confident enough to consider multiple perspectives. Thank you Kate for inviting these important questions, and thank you all for dazzling the world with your light. Burn, burn Pandora’s bright fire…” Great job, Nichols Middle School! *Photo credit: Tom Maynor

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. Today we take a journey through Ancient Greek choral storytelling with a modern twist, courtesy of Pandora's Fire by Judith White! Everybody knows the story of Pandora. She was given a box that was not to be opened under any circumstances. But her curiosity got the better of her and she is to blame for releasing jealousy, grief, greed, and disease into the world. But is that the whole story? Pandora's Fire is a wonderful mix of Ancient Greek choral storytelling with a modern twist. Why did we publish this play? When we’re looking at theatrical adaptations to publish, it’s not enough to take a story from another genre and slap it on the stage. What questions are being asked? What new twist is being brought to life? And most importantly, what makes this version truly theatrical? (Big hint – narrators are not theatrical) Pandora’s Fire offers a perfect blend of old and new - an ancient story with a fresh perspective. It’s an engaging way to introduce students to Greek mythology, combining traditional choral elements with modern dialogue. Show your students the power of language in shaping a story. Traditional characters, new light. Can the interpretation of Pandora’s actions change? Is curiosity always a bad thing? Let’s hear from the author! 1. Why did you write this play? I wrote Pandora’s Fire when I discovered, through my research, that the gods, especially Zeus, created Pandora out of vengeance against humanity. Prometheus was set up! Pandora was a machine with only one purpose: to poison and destroy humanity. Only after she discovers her early connections to the earth can she be fulfilled as a human being. As an actor, teacher, and director I value the quality of curiosity and felt Pandora got a bad rap. In writing the play, I set out to validate the quality of Curiosity. 2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. When everything you take for granted is stripped away by destructive forces, you can survive with imagination and curiosity. Hope is a by-product of reflection, and positive, creative actions. The box itself is transformed into a vessel to ensure the survival of the human race. 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? The attack of Pandora by the evil daemons from Pandora’s box – and her transformation through nature as she recovers. 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? Pay attention to the language. Create your own parallels to the actions of the play. Think of contemporary parallels. 5. Why is this play great for student performers? The play is about empowerment in the face of enormous obstacles — and the folly – Zeus’s folly – of acting out of anger, vanity, and revenge. Pandora is a victim of abuse, objectified and used by others. Like such victims, she has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, forgetting even than she has borne a child. She must get in touch with her most elemental self before she can identify her strengths and recover her humanity. The message is one of redemption.

If you want your students to take their character development to the next level, introduce them to Laban Movement. Laban Movement will provide them with a clear and understandable tool set that will enable them to grow their own movement vocabulary and discover new ways to physicalize character. This work is not just technical but spends time teaching the students to recognise and act upon creative impulse in the body. What is Laban Movement?For a long time Laban movement was primarily used for dancers and dance choreography to discover new ways to move. In the 80s and 90s, it began being used to help actors and improve performances. I first encountered Laban work while I was training at the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. While the Laban work comes out of modern dance exploration, at Dell’Arte they were using Laban’s Eight Efforts to explore character in the body. They used it as a way to extend an actor’s movement vocabulary and ability to play characters physically. The Eight Efforts became a cornerstone of my work as an actor. They help an actor both physically and emotionally identify and play characters who are different from themselves. This embodied work helps the actor in understanding internal impulse and in developing an expressive body that can make clean, precise choices. It also helps the actor create and maintain a strong physical instrument that will serve them throughout their training and future professional work. Who is Laban?Laban is named after Rudolf Laban , who was a movement theorist, a choreographer and a dancer. He is considered a pioneer of modern dance. Laban categorized human movement into four component parts: • Direction • Weight • Speed • Flow Each of those parts has two elements: • Direction is either direct or indirect. • Weight is either heavy or light. • Speed is either quick or sustained. • Flow is either bound or free. So, for example, if you’re looking at Flow and the movement is bound, then it’s very tight. It’s very held in. Think uptight businessman or administrator. Whereas someone who moves freely is the opposite of bound. Think of children. They are always running, always free. And if you’re looking at direction, you’re either moving toward something directly or you’re meandering toward it. Laban then combined these parts together to create The Eight Efforts: • Wring • Press • Flick • Dab • Glide • Float • Punch • Slash For each effort, Laban identified which component parts were to be used. For example: For WRING • The Direction is Indirect • The Weight is Heavy • The Speed is Sustained • The Flow is Bound How can you use Laban in the drama classroom?Student actors have a hard time moving outside their own body. Every character they play, moves like they do. Introduce a process to students that gets them thinking about different ways to move. Then with every character they play, they have a vocabulary to draw from: Does this character move with a flicking movement? What weight does this character have? Am I bound or free? There are many different ways an actor can begin to employ these efforts into their work. Observational work: The actor can take time observing individuals and creatures in the world around them with an eye towards identifying the Eight Efforts within the movement and behaviour of the observed subjects. After careful observation and replication of the efforts, the actor can begin to apply what they observed to the creation of a character, borrowing elements of what they observed and rehearsed. Text work: The actor can carefully analyze the text and look for speech patterns that are similar to the Eight Efforts. Our language is a representation of our inner lives. By looking at what and how the character expresses themselves, the actor can find clues for which one of the Eight Efforts to explore. For example – in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the character of Peter Quince speaks in monosyllables. QUINCE “Here is the scroll of every man’s name, which is thought fit, through all Athens, to play in our interlude before the duke and the duchess, on his wedding-day at night.” His text is made up of short quick words. This could be a clue to the actor to try vocally playing Dab in the voice and seeing how vocally playing the Effort affects the body and the physicality of the character. Playing off this same idea of using the text to find the Effort, Oberon (in A Midsummer Night’s Dream) talks a lot about aggressive hairy animals and seems to be aligned to the animal world. Many of the animals he speaks of have Alpha Males in their social hierarchy, which tend to be Heavy, Direct, Free and Quick. This might be a clue to the actor playing Oberon to play around with a Slashing quality in the voice. Emotional work: One can look at the personality of the character and the emotional makeup of the character to look for what kind of Effort to experiment with. We can look at a character’s personality and think of them in terms of the Efforts. On the TV show South Park, the character of Carman is pushy and aggressive with his friends. He tends to try to dominate any situation he is in and is quick to anger. You could think of his personality as a Punch. Eeyore from Winnie-the-Pooh is light and indirect in his personality and the way he interacts with the world. He could be described as a Float or a Glide. Ask your actors to look at their characters’ emotions or how they react to the world around them. This can help them find an effort to play. Costuming: Finally, we can play around with costuming. What kind of costume is the actor called upon to wear or how does the period clothing inform the actor as to what effort to play? If we think of Gwendolen from The Importance of Being Earnest She is usually costumed in light dainty fabrics that tend to have a great deal of lace on them. How can the actor translate the delicate nature of the fabrics and lace into an Effort? It is light and free – so could the actor play Glide? Or does the actor find the clothing light but binding and play Dab? By experimenting with the Laban Efforts and ways to interpret them, you can create a language to give your students to get them out of their bodies, out of their shells and into a new physicalization. What do the Eight Efforts look like?If you’ve never used Laban before it is definitely like learning a new language. What does it mean to Punch or Glide?

“The poems in Drum Taps represent Walt Whitman’s firsthand account of the Civil War. See the words, the emotion, the blood come to life in this theatrical adaptation. This is not your traditional readers theatre or poetry recital. This is flesh and bone words breathed to their fullest humanity. This is struggle and pain. This is confusion and contradiction. This is war.” The primary danger in theatricalizing a series of poems is that such adaptations tend to be static – they amount to not much more than a poetry recital with lights and costumes. I’m not dissing poetry recitals, I’m just saying that they’re not inherently theatrical. By the way – can you believe “dissing” passed my spell checker but “theatricalizing” didn’t? I wasn’t quite sure what I was expecting when Lindsay told me she was working on an adaptation of Leaves of Grass, a collection of US Civil War-era poems written, modified and rearranged over an entire lifetime by Walt Whitman. I wasn’t familiar with the poems at the time nor, being Canadian, did I have that much knowledge about the US Civil War. But my main concern was this: will it be theatrical? I am proud to report that it is. Even just reading the script I could see the actors, hear the chaos, smell the gunpowder, feel the loss. I can’t wait to see a production of this! Two versions are included in the same book: A small cast version (5 actors – 2M+3W) and a large cast version (20 actors – 6M+14W) . The casting is very flexible, however, and is limited only by the director’s imagination. Genders can be switched for many characters and the cast size can be expanded or contracted fairly easily. Both versions run about 35 minutes, ideal for most contest requirements.