Utah Theatre Association

It's been more than a week since I've posted anything to this blog and there's good reason for that -- I was busy with a life-changing, mind-blowing drama conference at the Utah Theatre Association's annual conference in St. George, UT. When I heard about it, I asked my principal if I could go. It seems no one from this school (at least not since Mr. Peterson's been here) has ever gone. THEIR LOSS!!!!!

It took about 6 hours with gas and pit stops, but I made it to St. George and 50+ degree weather. I checked in and bought myself a "techie" cinch bag. My first session was with the keynote speaker Cary Trivonivich, a world-renowned pantomime artist. He not only taught us that pantomime is much more than French guys in striped shirts and white makeup, but that pantomime can touch the heart as much as just entertain. He also taught us some "simple" techniques so that we could do pantomime and teach our kids pantomime. It was an amazing session and I learned some cool stuff. He has a website that shows some of his stuff, and he does school assemblies. After his session, I couldn't decide which one to go to -- there were at least 20 offerings each block. Whew! Anywho, I chose to go to one called "Director's Concept" taught by a BYU professor.  He talked about how a lot of the pre-design, show and post-show is visuals (preproduction determines how successful a play is). He also added that rehearsals are where our ideas are tested, and that ideals become realization. His final words of wisdom were "Directing is the art of compromise" and that "Images tell the Story" and that "Live theatre is NEVER perfect". Beautiful. After a delicious Mexican dinner at a place called "Cafe Rio," I saw my first production of the conference -- "Putnam County Spelling Bee". Freaking hilarious!! Inappropriate at several times, but still very funny. Unfortunately, I will never be able to do that play here in Blanding. Even if I cut the "Erection" song, the cameo from Jesus is a little too much. A wonderful way to end the first night.

I started the second day off with a breakfast at the hotel and then the keynote address by Cary Trivonivich. His dramatic pantomimes had me in tears! After driving back to Dixie College, I attended a session about a new product called "Right on Cue". Basically, a musical director of the Hale Center Theatre in Orem has created a system where he uses "samples" of instruments and inputs them note by note until he has the full orchestra of a play in the computer. The sounds are converted into midi files. Then, here comes the brilliant part, by using a Wii remote, you can "conduct" the orchestra note-by-note. No real musicians required. Or, a way to supplement an orchestra. By clicking the remote, you can make the "orchestra" go faster or slower. It's a way to bring the art back into the performance. Soooooo cool. We are using a karaoke-type accompaniment for Little Shop and we are at the mercy of the one given tempo. Right on Cue is sooo cool. Next, after a teacher's luncheon where I networked and met a lot of drama teachers from around the state, I attended another techie-type session -- Busting Sound Myths. I learned some interesting things. First, I guess the FCC has reallocated bnadwidths. "Traditionally" high schools have used wireless mics with a bandwidth of 700 mHz for their programs. Now, that bandwidth is reserved exclusively for emergency personnel. Oops. The teacher from Lehi High School said it cost her $20,000 to replace all of her equipment. I'm not too worried since I'm in the middle of nowhere here. Aaron also told us that "wireless mics are BOUND to fail." Mrs. Adams never let us or even told us that wireless mics were available. We've learned to belt it out. My student director and I have decided to try our play without mics for several reasons. Our poor actors are freaking out. This session was beneficial because I learned where to apply wireless mic mouthpieces and other techie-type stuff. After taking myself out to Claim Jumper for dinner (hey, the district is going to reimburse me so what the heck), I attended my second performance -- Once on an Island. Not a bad play, but several technical difficulties that bugged me. It was a "musical" version of a Little Mermaid-ish story. The high school, which is only about 3 years old, blew me away! The lobby alone was bigger than my gym.

Day three (and the last) was also equally amazing. For the morning session, I had the option of watching a magician or watching improv from Off the Cuff. Well, that was a no-brainer -- Off the Cuff, of course. They are a improv troupe from Cedar City. I have heard amazing things about these guys and the auditorium was packed. They did six improv games: Late to Work; Forward Backward; Sound Effects; Revolver; Spelling Bee; and 1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Improvers. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. It was great! My students were all completely jealous. That reminds me, I should've taken some students to the conference -- it would've been soooooo worthwhile. I didn't know and didn't lobby my principal. Only I got to go. After the improv, I went to a session about Aristotle's Six Elements of Drama. The "teacher" was one of the Aerial Angels performers. She was petite, a spitfire, loaded us up on sugar and was named Spike. I learned about theme, plot, character, diction, music and spectacle. After a quick lunch, I went to the Utah Advisory Council of Theatre Teachers or UACTT (get it??) meeting. I had been thinking about joining this group for a while and glad I did. It was only $50 for a year. But in return, I got a huge binder of lesson plans and scenes/monologues AND I got two free season tickets for the Hale Center Theatre in Orem. WOW!!!! But most importantly, I gained support and resources from like-minded teachers. I am no longer "alone" in the drama world. In fact, it's already "paying off". I met a teacher from Cedar City who did Little Shop a few years ago. He said he has all four stages of the Audrey plant (which was going to be a financial and design headache). He told me that if I sent someone with a truck, I could borrow it. *speechless* Now my only problem is who is going to take the road trip to Cedar and how can I reimburse them for gas. The last session of the day was about "Using Masks as a Departure Point". It was "uncomfortable" but cool. I definitely want to do some masks next year.

To end the wonderful experience, I went to the Aerial Angels performance. My other option was a married Broadway couple doing a concert. I feel kind of bad because our venue filled up first and we had to send them to the concert (I guess not many people went to the concert). The trio of ladies told jokes, ate fire, used a bullwhip and did aerial acrobatics. Before I left the conference, I bought a few shirts for some people and some other stuff. After another six-hour drive, I arrived home.

Since then, I have been back at school for two days trying to catch up. Today, the reading specialist had me go with her and another teacher to observe a teacher in Kayenta, AZ. Now, I'm trying to catch up again. Ugh. Well, until next time...