Thesis Production Journal Musings

For the next little while I will be posting some entries from my progress on my thesis project for my Masters in Theatre Production. I will be doing a production of Dark of the Moon by Howard Richardson & William Berney. I will be producing the show in the Spring of 2011 and will have a bunch of entries for my production journal that will be a part of the thesis paperwork that I will post here for everyone to follow my progress.
Here is the first one!

It happened! I received approval for my thesis show to be produced today!! I gave my principal a copy of the script of Dark of the Moon at the beginning of the year to read and give me some feedback. Well, I finally was able to get her to read it and have a meeting with me in order to determine whether or not it would be ok to do for my thesis show in 2011. When I met with her I had totally expected to get a rather negative response since the show is about witches, they burn a witch baby, and there is a rape staged in the show. I had prepared myself with a bunch of answers to those issues, but when I met with her I ran into no such issues. She actually seemed to be quite excited about the show. There were no issues that she could find with the script that would keep me from doing it. So she brought in her secretary to dictate a note to in order to provide me with documentation that it was alright for me to do the show. As she explained the show to her secretary and what needed to be in the note both the principal and I could tell that the secretary was questioning the decision... As a result, we decided that it would be a good idea to present the show to the school’s Community Council which was made up of parents and teachers from the community in order to get a response from them and see how they might perceive the show.

The next night I went to the Council meeting and presented the show – gave them the synopsis of the play and asked for their response and questions that they may have to the play. Initially, I did not get any feedback (which was really quite intimidating…). I presented the plot and the major things that I could see that might be issues and the council sat, straight faced, without any kind of a reaction or a response. Thank heavens I had a couple of teachers that were in attendance that were batting for me! They started the discussion and asked some really relevant questions regarding how I would present things like the rape and the baby witch being burned. After I had finished my presentation, I was asked to leave and told by the principal that she would let me know the results of their decision the following day.

The next day she showed up in the middle of one of my classes and informed me that the Council was very enthusiastic about the show. They had voted unanimously in favor of the show being produced. One parent said, “It is about time that Skyline do a show with some meat to it.” The principal informed me that the council was excited to have a show that would prompt and promote discussion on some of the issues that the show would address.

This was my biggest concern – that the community would not receive the show well. Now that I have the approval of my administration AND the community behind me, I think that this show will be very beneficial for the kids and the community to experience. I was so worried that it would not be received well and that I would have to choose another show, but YAY no need – Dark of the Moon in Spring 2011!!!