ISTA/Scene March 07

audience through the stage transitions.
The effect on the IB and MYP theater
courses was to provide a practical
context, allowing set, lights and sound,
and costuming as well as acting to be
the focus for many of the students. As
well, the idea of building a cast around
two ensembles, one of villagers and
the other of the evil visitors, proved the
cement around the performances
success.
With a small group of actors, we
explored the ideas of CHILD
LABOUR – thanks to M. Pasternak for
the push – in the very real context of
Lima and the street kids who cluster at
every street corner waiting to sell gum,
juggle, do flips or simply beg. Based
on research and real discussions and
using Boal image theater techniques,
the students explored the problem
realizing that who they were and what
they brought to their street corner
encounters was as important as
understanding street children
themselves. They developed a short
Forum theater piece for elementary
school children as part of CAS where
the actors followed their performance
with discussions about child labour
with the elementary students. The
investigation and performance led to
students working in orphanages
sponsored by a local Limian group
called Lima Kids, using drama games
and discussion techniques to get to
begin to understand the complexity of
the issues surrounding being a child
and alone in Lima. The year ended
with the graduating seniors who had
been part of the original group
spearheading a fund-raiser to support
Lima Kids which included performance
and hands on work with the schools
and orphanages associated with Lima
Kids.
Last, Todd and I with our Limian
Spanish theater colleague, Jose Luis
Meijia, produced a truly bilingual
production of Marivaux’s THE
DISPUTE. Based on a script
developed in English from a Neil
Bartlett production of the play (the
script is available through the National
Theater in London) at the Lyric
Hammersmith a few years ago and a
French version translated into Spanish,
we provided our small cast – 12
maximum – with the task of making
their own bilingual script from the two.
As Colegio Roosevelt is a bilingual
school this was in a sense easy.
Allowing the student actors to tell the
28 | Scene | 2006-7 March Issue 3
story, a simple one, in Spanglish, a
combination of English and Spanish,
the local Babel on campus, allowed
them to create a piece of theater that
in the end was essentially scriptless.
The original is equally delicious and is a
wonderful script for physical theater as
well as character work. And,
compared to THE VISIT, it lasted only
one hour. Plus it gave our students
experience with real improvisation,
physical acting and movement as well
as scripting skills.
Maggie Young – Pechersk School
International, Kiev
MORE LIGHT by Bryony Lavery
This play is a wonderful vehicle for a
group of girls. I used a group from
grade 9 to grade 12, second year IB
Theatre Arts. It has challenging
content and the chance for the
production team to shine also. One
student designed the set and another,
a series of dances for their Individual
Projects. We rehearsed over a sixweek
period and performed for two
nights. It is a about the Emperor’s
childless wives and concubines who
are buried alive with him when he dies.
The only way to stay alive is to eat him.
The interesting thing in the play is the
concept that in their dire captivity they
find personal freedom. Each woman
and child discovers talent within
themselves that was stifled by the
confined life of the ‘harem’. When the
food runs out MORE LIGHT, the
warrior, goes out of the central
chamber to find more and finds more
than she bargained for!!! There is love
interest! MORE LIGHT, now published
as a separate edition, appeared firstly
in the Shell/National Theatre collection
Connections. A new set of plays is
commissioned each year. At last there
Calderdale HS
is a fund of challenging texts that are
relevant to the 14 – 18 age group. I
have produced four plays from the
collections over the last few years that
include THE CHRYSALIDS and
SPARKLESHARK.
THE GOLDEN DOOR by David
Ashton, is described as a ‘twelve shot
myth’. It is a great opportunity for a
group of 13-16 year olds not only to
act but to create wonderful
soundscripts and scenery. It is set
underground and involves two
opposing ‘tribes’ who are struggling to
find both resources and a sense of a
future. It contains big issues and yet
its world-under setting allows for both
technical and artistic innovation. It was
the final piece for my Grade 10 drama
class and provides the opportunity for
everyone to get involved. You could
rename it ‘a hundred and one ways to
use a camouflage net’! We worked on
it for six weeks, mostly in class until
the final week and they designed both
the set, makeup and costume as part
of their course. It is also part of the
New Connections collection.
THE VISIT by Frederick Durrenmatt
is a great script for senior students. It
is about an old woman, forced to leave
a small town because of pregnancy,
who returns to exact revenge on the
man who betrayed her. It has lots of
opportunity for a big cast, good
character development and interesting
set. It is flexible enough to allow for
wide ranging directorial visions and lots
of opportunities for IB Theatre Arts
students to flex both their Performance
and Production muscles. We
rehearsed over a seven-week period
and gave three performances.
Parts were filled from lower
grades where interest dictated.