By Sandi Rebert
Has your homeschool group ever considered presenting a play? Perhaps your family is large enough that you could present one all by yourselves! At any rate, a drama can be the highlight of your children’s school year. There is much more to be learned through a play than lines.
Working on a play will produce teamwork and camaraderie, as well as develop poise, personality, memorization skills, and artistic and creative abilities. You can go simple with your production or grab hold of some of the ideas in this article and really get creative. It’s work, but I know of no other work in the world that’s this much fun!
However, you must get organized!
Preplanning
The Director
Is there someone in your group who has some background in drama? A director is like a coach; he or she endeavors to bring out the best in each player, while helping them to work as a team in order to achieve the best results. The person you choose should not only know something about acting but also be able to work well with others, give instruction without offending, and not be easily frustrated. Remember that homeschoolers are accustomed to working as independent agents. Avoid problems by setting down some ground rules from the start, such as who is in charge of what aspect of the production and asking parents to please support those in leadership positions. (Parents—yes, unfortunately, even Christian parents—can be easily offended by Junior not receiving the lead role.)
Picking a Play
there are many good secular plays out there. However, I lean towards producing a quality Christian play, one that presents the Gospel clearly. (Unsaved friends and relatives will usually always come to see grandchildren, nieces, nephews, etc., in some kind of play or program.) Besides, if we are wanting to train our children to be servants of the Lord, shouldn’t we be training them to develop and use their talents for His service and glory? Some sources for plays would be Dramatic Difference Publications (www.dramaticdifference.com, 207-778-9696), Bob Jones University Press (www.bjup.com, 1-800-845-5731), and Majesty Music (www.majestymusic.com, 1-800-334-1071). Don’t forget to keep the play, your cast, and those who will be attending in prayer, both now and throughout the preparation and performance.
Casting
Read the play thoroughly several times. There are some people who will automatically “fit” into certain parts. Others, who are bursting with talent, can be put in almost anywhere or used in several parts. Those who are shy, or lacking innate ability, might be cast in smaller roles (at least for starters, until they’ve had more experience and gain confidence and acting skills). However, no matter who they become, everyone needs to know their part is important! The lead role would be nothing without the supporting cast.
Preparation
Scenery
What a great, practical application of art! Set design is one of my favorites. You can get by as cheaply as refrigerator boxes which are painted or wallpapered. For something more elaborate, take one-inch by four-inch pieces of lumber and make six-foot by two-foot frames. Then hinge them together, three in a row, to make a screen. You can use these over and over. They are lightweight and versatile. Simply staple the background you want onto the frame, whether it’s wallpaper, a scene painted on canvas, etc. We’ve even used a shower curtain that had a beautiful scene painted on it! Home improvement stores have some great paneling that looks like brick or barn board. The more you can add texture and detail, the better. These frames will stand up by themselves and are easy to move around. Depending on how you attach the hinges, they can be accordion-style or bay window. Attach several in a row for a large wall. For something very simple, but effective, purchase crushed velvet material and make panels to drape over the screens. Make several at least nine feet each in length. Just throw them over the screen, pinch them into gathers, and voila! You can buy the fabric from discount retailers, in several elegant colors, during the winter. They look beautiful and can create an instant backdrop for almost anything. To hang from poles, stitch a rod pocket at one end. (The best thing about these curtains is they never need ironing!)
A wonderful resource for economical scenery is Tobins Lake Studios (1-810-229-6666). They have plastic vacuum-formed scenery you simply cut out and spray paint, such as pillars, fancy windows and doors, fireplaces, etc. If you have a big budget (ha, ha) you can rent backdrops and purchase special lighting equipment as well.
Costuming
Anyone for home economics? This is a great application of those sewing skills you’d like to teach your daughter. Making costumes is fun and relatively easy. Most pattern companies now have patterns for costumes available year-round! You can find anything from Bible times to medieval to colonial, and the list goes on! Look for sales on fabric. Fancy trims and special touches add lots of professional flair!
Need some “southern belle” dresses and don’t want to spend a fortune on material? Go to your local thrift store and buy prom dresses; you’ll most likely need to modify the tops to make them modest, but talk about cheap! We were able to pick up a whole rack of beautiful dresses for five dollars each! Check with a bridal shop to see if they have any old “poofs,” as we call them (those huge slips made in layers that make the dresses billow out at the bottom like bells). We were able to secure these for free!
Use Christmas “snow blankets” to make sparkling angel wings. Attach to a coat hanger shaped like wings (you’ll need two hangers per wing), then shine black lights on them and they’ll glow!
(By the way, Tobins, mentioned above, also has armor on plastic sheets. Spray paint with metallic gold and they look like the real thing!)
Makeup
Lights make a person look washed out; therefore, someone on stage is going to need more makeup than usual. I wouldn’t bother doing much for the boys (for which they’ll be thankful!) unless it’s using eyebrow pencil to draw in lines showing age (just highlight natural laugh lines or have them crinkle up their eyes and highlight the lines to the side of each eye). If you experiment a little, you will be able to come up with a combination of different colored eyeshadows to create something that looks like a bruise. To age someone, simply use gray hair color that you spray on. (Make sure it’s the kind that washes right out!)
Lighting and Special Effects
It doesn’t have to cost a fortune to add some great lighting techniques. I recently found some high intensity spotlights that look like rocks! There were two for just $14.95 from Collections, Etc. (By the way, this place has great items categorized by themes! Everything is $14.95 or less! You can check them out at www.collectionsetc.com or call them at 620-584-8000.) Add some colored cellophane, such as blue or red, over the lights for a special effect. Put a florescent light backstage behind a window with a painted scene. It will look like the sun is shining! Remember our heavenly angels? You can also use black lights to create an eerie effect such as a dungeon scene. Fake fireplace logs that have a rotating light behind them add a realistic look to fireplaces or a campfire. Buy up electric Christmas candles and flicker lights during the holidays. They make your historical plays come to life without creating a fire hazard.
By the way, as much as I hate Halloween, it a great time to find special effect items such as cobwebs and fake spiders (to add to your dungeon) or use electrified witches’ cauldrons (don’t panic—if you spray paint them gold they don’t look like cauldrons anymore). We purchased some from a discount retailer this past year for just ten dollars each. We had two as hanging lights in our village of Bethlehem (which we had recreated on stage). One was placed on top of a gold stand and became a light in Herod’s Palace, and another was placed on a decorative pedestal table in the Temple for an altar light. They look like real fire but are only orange lights shining on thin white material that flickers from a fan inside the pot. What a realistic effect they created! We even went a step further. As a homeschooling project our son created torches that our soldiers could walk with, based on the same principle, that used batteries for their electricity.
Want to add fog, plastic bats or chickens, hats of all kinds and shapes, plastic swords, and so on? Look no further than Oriental Trading Company (www.orientaltrading.com, 1-800-228-2269). Send for a catalog—this is a great resource!
Advertising
Decide now who will be in charge of advertising. With today’s computer capabilities you can design some wonderful posters! Take pictures of your cast in costume, with scenery, and create a collage of scenes, or use clip art available with publishing programs such as Print Shop. What do you know, another great homeschool project that develops art as well as computer skills! Put posters up in stores, advertise in the newspaper and on radio (community events), and use direct mailing to send invitations to friends, relatives, or whomever! The more you advertise, the more of an audience you will have. Programs can be made using the same graphics.
Nursery
What does a nursery have to do with a play? Everything! There’s nothing like a crying baby to interrupt a great scene. To avoid distractions, put someone in charge of lining up a place to play and sitters for little ones.
Practice and Performance
Setting Dates and Times Scheduling is one of the hardest things to work out when producing a play. Everyone today is balancing busy schedules! You will need to set down practice times and performance times that will fit the schedules of those involved. (Nothing like having the curtain go up without one of the main performers!)
Also, if you have enough people to work with, make sure you have understudies for the main characters. I could tell some horror stories of plays we’ve produced and the unforeseen circumstances that almost kept them from happening, but I’ll spare you! (One little hint: don’t tell your performers to “break a leg.” It does happen at times!)
Memorizing Lines
The best way to memorize is called the “whole” method of memorization. Simply read the part in its entirety, rather than memorizing one line at a time. It will make the lines flow better and actually be easier and quicker. Don’t forget to memorize cue lines as well.
Acting
The more natural the acting, the better. Each member of the cast could write a character sketch of their character(s) using the lines and any description given in the script (either in the cast of characters list or in dialogue or stage directions) such as personality, idiosyncrasies, voice inflection, etc. Emphasize speaking loudly and clearly. (If you have good sound equipment, you are blessed!) Remember, the message is most important. If the audience can’t hear your performers, they’ve missed the play! During your first practice you may want to simply read the lines aloud several times to get the flow of things. Making an audio tape as you read and then giving copies to each cast member is a good way to help them practice and memorize. At the second practice the director may begin “blocking,” deciding who moves where and when. Having “properties,” items that are hand-held, such as a book to pick up or a flower to finger, will help your cast feel comfortable on stage and give them something to do with their hands besides dangling them at their side! The goal is for each person to “become” their character (while on stage only!)—not just to act like them, etc. This will give each one their “motivation” (i.e., why they do what they do or say what they say).
Dress Rehearsal
This is an all-important date, just as important as the performance itself. This is when you put the whole thing together, including lights, costumes, and sound. Perform the play in its proper order with everyone making the correct exits and entrances. Don’t stop to make corrections; wait until the entire play is finished. And don’t panic! They say that if a dress rehearsal goes badly the performance will be great. Our Christmas musical this year was proof!
Performing the Play Do a last-minute check to be sure costumes, properties, people, etc., are in their proper places.
You’ve done all the work.
Now it’s time to sit back and enjoy!
Sandi Rebert is the author of Praising God on the Piano (a self-teaching piano course), Seventy Times Seven (a Christian novel for teens and adults), and numerous Christian plays, programs, cantatas, and musicals. A graduate of Bob Jones University, she is a pastor’s wife, homeschooling mom of 16 years, and piano teacher. She also enjoys teaching a Sunday school class of 4- and 5-year-olds, as well as a monthly ladies’ meeting, and directing church plays. Sandi’s burden is for young people to develop and use their God-given talents for His glory. To view in detail or purchase any of her homeschooling resources, visit www.dramaticdifference.com or call her at 1-207-778-9696.
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