Should I set classroom expectations or include my students? - Transcript

I have to tell you that my students loved performing Anne-Arky and Swimming With Sins last year. I'm really excited about the plays I've read from your service this year, too. My auditorium is going through a bit of a challenging time (space is tight). I'm going to go black boxes and minimal costumes this year, and there are so many quality one acts from your service to choose from. I can't wait to share them with the students.

Hi Lindsay, I have just come back from my drama group performing Hoodie as part of a one act play festival competition. I have no idea if they will receive any awards yet and I really don't care because I am just so happy with how they worked as an ensemble and the excellent feedback from the adjudicator and the audience members. People loved your script and it was absolutely perfect for our group of 11 - 13 year olds. With a 'Clump' that ended up only having 6 members, I wasn't sure how it would go but the great part about your script is that the lines can be delegated to as many or as few people as possible. I also had to make a couple of changes as to who played each role (things like my Woman 3 suddenly becoming unavailable and me then having to give those roles to the other 'Women') but the play is so flexible it worked perfectly! I wanted my Hoodie character to be a strong performer but then felt this role was a bit small and so I cast him as Jonas too and WOW! the change in his two characters was outstanding. Anyway I really just wanted to say thank you so, so much for a brilliant script and I will try and send you some photos as soon as possible! We really appreciated the opportunity to perform your wonderful play.

Our high school drama class performed Drop Dead, Juliet! The principal was so impressed with the production, that despite having only three hours sleep and planning to stay only twenty-minutes, she stayed for the entire show. What impressed me the most about this play was that the students did what I asked them to do, which was to "own" the play. They just loved it so much and they had formed a very tight ensemble. They asked me if they could do the play one last time just for themselves. After it was over, everyone was very still and quiet for a minute, they knew that we had to let it go. Thank you for such a high quality script, it gave the students such a worthwhile experience!