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So sorry it's late readers! My Monday was "manic"!

In these economic saavy times utilizing every strength without spending every dollar is vital. Being your own choreographer is one of the ways you can save your pennies and put them towards something else.

Think area college dance program. High school dance team captain. If you purchase an MTI showkit they come with choreography dvds that you can easily appoint a parent or an older student to walk the kids through the dances.

Educate yourself. Youtube is a wonderful thing when trying to remember what specific dance moves look like. Watch performances. Get ideas. By no means am I saying to steal another's work, but sometimes it is "okay" to not reinvent the wheel. Take dance classes. If doing Joseph take a line dancing class for "One More Angel in Heaven". Many dance teachers will do work pro bono if given the chance. You can also give them incentives (as mentioned in the last post: signage, tickets, etc.) that is fruitful to them as well.

More importantly, if you are not a dancer but have kids that do dance well, remember that not every child can do 5 pirouettes, so if you can't demonstrate it yourself, don't ask your students to do it. If you have a few students that have danced competitively or for a number of years, make them a dance captain or student choreographer with clear expectations of what you are looking for in each number and let them have a solo dance number. After all their hard they will deserve it.

Last thought: A few of the staples of musical theatre dancing: Charleston, jazz square, grapevine, chasse, pivot turn: If you are reading these terms and do not know what these are, please look them up. Even if you have a choreographer. As a dance teacher and a choreographer, there is nothing more frustrating and time consuming then having a director say "can they do one of those cross over thingys right there?" Also, learn the proper terms so that your students are well educated. When these kids go out into the world it is a reflection on you and your program. Don't send them out thinking a jazz square is a box step. Then when they have an audition for a ballroom scene they blow it not knowing what is being asked of them.

Keep up the good work! It is now February. How many of us are planning or already planned our summer shows?

My last post bit into how to fundraise and use sponsorships and I wanted to expand on that a little more. At JTF I attended a fantastic session with Nick Pramic. Some of this is from that session. As always, I did add some of my own ideas and thoughts.

1. Look at your community. Think of your relationship with the business in your area/town as a sponsorship. A sponsorship is a business relationship. You give them something, you get something. Businesses are more likely to treat you and your organization with respect if you present what yourself with this mentality.

2. Branding: Include company logos on posters, t-shirts, on signage in the theatre, seasonal fliers, mail outs, newspaper ads, tickets, and in your newsletter. You can even have crosslinks to their website on your website, fb, or twitter. Another idea is to allow your bigger sponsors to have a booth at one of the performances or host a vendor event.

3. Match fundraisers with shows. If Willy Wonka think candy sale. If Cinderella think pumpkin carving contest. The list could go on.

4. A colleague gave this website kickstarter.com (or org, not sure)  which is for theatre stuff. There is also donorschoose.org which is a fantastic site that matches your projects or needs with donors. Donorschoose requires you to be a part of a school system. However, if you are a community theatre setting with a good relationship with the schools or a school in your area/town they may allow you to associate yourself with them to sign up for the site.

5. Franchise owners: This was new territory for me. Being from a small town with only local, small businesses, it is hard for me to get used to a bigger city with franchises. The larger companies (Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Starbucks were named as examples) have a community manager that can authorize in-kind donations. Send copies of what you do for their business every quarter, cultivate a media relationship with them by having your kids star in their commercils or provide voiceovers for the radio.

6. Invite local new producers to productions.

7. Talk backs: Allow your students to do that talking. Let them tell the sponsors what it means to them. In another twist, have a sponsor that relates to the show give a talk back during intermission. (Flat Stanley=travel agent; Damn Yankees=baseball coach or player)

8. Create a database and include your patrons and business sponsors in your emails.

9. School performances: This idea is TOP NOTCH: On half days of school schedule half off performances. This would be extra out of the normal performance schedule, but I am a firm believer of having extra things in my students repretoire for such occasions. This idea also work for boy and girl scout troupes. They have a theatre badge.

10. Holiday parties: One idea: Kids dress in Dickensian costumes and sing Christmas Carols as entertainment.

11. Swapping: get an ad, give a coupon; comp tickets; pre-show reception

12. Use college programs and continuing ed. programs.

13. At your first rehearsal or class on your students info card ask what school they go to, where they go to church, and where their parents work. That alone will give you a huge network to start.

14. Small informances that are audience participation in improv that really involve the corporate sponsors invited. You can also do this for parents and include a silent auction.

As always I hope this is helpful and opens your eyes to new possibilities. Often as the "grown ups" we tend to narrow our scope to what is familiar or comfortable. In theatre we truly have the opportunity to keep dreaming and keep thinking outside of the box. For the sake of our craft and the sake of our

As a director, you can sometimes find yourself without resources. This can be equally true in a community or  school setting. Here are a few simple things that can cut costs and help you keep your sanity. 

All black: Put your kids in performance blacks or a solid colored shirt with black pants. If you are in a school that does uniforms, use uniform pants (think navy, kaikis, or again black,) with a coordinating color. This simple costume can be jazzed up with scarves, hats, ties, etc. The latter items can be found at thrift stores and garage sales.

Show t-shirts with jeans. You may even have a local printing company that will donate the shirt to you if you allow their logo to be printed on the shirt. Or you may have a sponsor that might get them for you in a trade for the ad space of the shirt.

Borrow! If you are in an area that is saturated with musical theatre programs or have a college in the area that will let you rent or borrow: Utilize that relationship. This works for set pieces, props, and a million other items as well!

Community education or home ec classes: If you have a community college or active senior home or a high school with home ec program ask if they will help you out. They may sew some costumes for you and they may even have kids that will volunteer as dressers or costume matrons.

Set pieces: We all scour antique stores and thrift stores (and if you don't, START!) but in this digital age you can find things on craigslist, ebay, amazon, overtstock.com, and other websites. Even MTISS  has an area where you can communicate with other companies about renting costumes and sets.

Other ideas: Estate sales, garage sales, flea markets.

Performance spaces: Not everyone has a stage or in this delicate economic time, access to a stage. So think outside the box. Football fields, parks, restaurants, historic homes, playgrounds (Godspell in a playground in summer, Can you just picture it?!)

As you formulate your plan for the year really look around and make smart choices for your program and for your kids. If you are stressing about money and resources your staff, parents, and ultimately students feel that too.

Have a great rest of your week!

I need to build chip's cart.  Anyone have plans?

It was brought to my attention a few days ago that part of my expertise lies in finding a place for everyone. This seems to be an interesting aspect of children's theatre these days. There are programs out there that are competitive and believe in only having the best, doing the best, and great for them to do so. There are also those programs that do what they can with what they have and sometimes it "is a mystery" (Shakespeare in Love) how well things really come out.

I like to think of myself in the middle. This leads to our topic of "But what if?..." But what if I have a kid that has to be involved but hates to act? or what if I have a group of girls that are ganging up on one other girl? There are lots of scenarios that we as teachers handle on a daily basis and we hope that by dealing with these situations we are making that child or group of children better. That we are allowing for them to see the greatness that we see. Fine arts in general are about acquiring lifeskills. Team building, trust, public speaking, orgranization, and the list could go on for pages.

So I provide for you a few ways to include kids that need to be included or that you are just trying to make an impact on. Also, don't just stick with "artsy" kids. I attended a small high school in rural Michigan. Theatre was something (thankfully) that anyone could participate in. From all ranges of the adolescent social spectrum. It is not just about the amount of kids that go on to the professional world of theatre, but the amount of kids that understand how important preservation of theatre is as well.

Please note: These are general ideas and yes, stereotypes. You know your kids. Just be aware that "Children will listen." (Into the Woods)

Scenario 1: The dreamer. This child is often in its own world. Not really a singer, not really an actor, not really anything to the untrained eye. Often likes to read. Take this child and place into an ASM position. An ASM position? What? Yes, friends. An ASM position. The assistant stage manager position will gently force this child into the social world of theatre without too much pressure. I often have my ASMs run lines while my stage manager is calling cues during rehearsals.

Scenario 2: The loudmouth. They have a comment for everyone or love to contradict the director. They often are bitter about what part they get. This child is the child to double, triple, quadruple the amount that child should be on stage. Make that child SO busy they can't see straight. Even consider making them a dresser for one of the leads so not only are they busy on stage, but busy off stage.

Scenario 3: The kid with so much natural talent it hurts your teeth because they just don't care. This one is a tough one. You often need this child. Mostly, they are ridiculously charming. However, if you base your program around this chid, it will break your heart. It's a tough lesson but often these children are over extended and can't say no. The only way to deal with this is: Be aware of your kids. Be aware of what you are asking of them. Excellence is a wonderful expectation, however, it can end in heartbreak for you as well as them.

Scenario 4: The junior director. Often, the brains of the kids. Like the loudmouth, can have critiques for other students but more often, has critiques for you and other adults on staff. The "But what if we added 4 stair cases?" or "But what if we krunked to "Circle of Life?" or my favorite so far "But what if Romeo came back to life?" This child doesn't always realize that they are simply thinking out loud. A favorite way of mine to reign in this creativity is by giving that child an idea book and encouraging them to write their ideas down every chance they get. Then at the end of rehearsal I read their book. I also end up finding one out of the 1000 ideas that I can use.

Scenario 5: But what I really want to do is art. We often get consumed with "Oh, Mark is a great painter. He will paint and design all of my sets for me. He did it last year/show." Well, that's not always the case. A great way to get art kids involved is set dressing. The hunt for odd items and placing it "just so" is often a great way to use those artists.

Most of all, encourage your kids to use their talents in a way that allows THEM to be successful. If that is done, then you as a director will be successful no matter the outcome.

Equipment: I have a laptop. It comes with a webcam. I prefer the portability of a laptop so I can move from room to room. However, the logitech brand is great if you are tied to a desktop. I just suggest getting a longer cord so it can be moved depending on what activity you are coaching that student on.

Still warm up. Many students once they are on their own often forget  ot think they don't need to warm up or stretch. Ask your students what warm ups they are doing before an interview or audition.

If you have used Skype, you already know there can be a terrible delay time. Out of all of the times I have used it, less than half have had that delay time. When the video is wonkey, you can often use just the phone feature without any delay time. The quality of tone is better than what you would get with a standard speaker phone feature. There is another video program out there called Evoo. I have never downloaded this program to my pc simply because those that have downloaded it have had issues with viruses and spam. However, this program has no to little delay. Now, as far as applications go for these smart contraptions out there: There are a ton. If you have not begun using these apps in your classroom (if you have one) in conjunction with your Smart Board: GET ON IT! Not only are there piano and percussive apps, there are digital tuners, solfege apps, composing apps, etc. If you are anything like me, your students may have the latest and greatest in phones: point your students to these apps so they can pour their energy into their creativity.

If you keep a social network for your student community keep it kid friendly and set it up so former students can still feel a part of the community. Set up a nook on the site for those that have gone beyond to share their experiences. Think about including on your site proper warm ups, health tips, a friend of mine posts healthy, cheap, easy meals for her students. (I personally LOVE that idea)

Hope these few things continue to help. Have a lovely weekend!

im verry sad that jtf is over its one of my favorite places i leaned so much and met tons of new people i cant wait to see smash i think its going to be great im so ready to be back there it allways brighten up the new year :) 

This last weekend I attended the Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta, GA. It was my first time attending and I attended on the Professional Development track. During the session explaining about this site and other MTI resources, a fellow vocal coach asked for a space to be added to this site that will support those students that have gone to college or straight into a professional career. A mobile nest to come to and get a strong dose of positive encouragement among the harsh rejections that come from the big wide "grown up" world.

This is where I come in. I, my dear colleagues, am at simplest a girl that has loved musical theatre her entire life. In short detail I am a fine arts educator with dual degrees in vocal music education and theatre. Much like many of you, I have taught in a variety of places, spaces, and fields with various sized budgets (or no budget), a wide array of kids, and in many different areas all over the country. I am at the point in my career where I have realized as I get older, so do my students and they are now spread out through the United States and Europe following their own adventures.

Which brings us to the question at hand: How do you support them as they bravely make their way into the world? Below are just a few ideas and a few resources that I have found to be helpful.

1. Become technological. This does not mean "complicated". Even Kindles come with Skype applications now a days, If you are an "I" supporter (pad/phone, etc.) face time your kids. These modern forms of video phone are a great way to run through an audition piece. Plus, we all know face to face contact is always best. Use the walkie talkie application. At the very least, text.

2. The written word. Although place of residence can be tumultuous at this time, a piece of snail mail is still the best form of affirmation. If you are worried about finding a card or writing a note, don't be! Simply send a flier of a show the child was in with a catch phrase like "Break a leg" or "Knock 'em dead!" My personal favorite: "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you will land among the stars." Sent at the right time (often for me I don't know it is "the right time") it sends a reminder to the students to buck up, be positive, go, and do.

3. Allow those students to have access to you. Something that has worked well for me is a virtual office time. I alternate between Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening where I am available by Skype, text, email, phone, etc. You may be thinking that seems out of the question, you are too busy. Please know, I do not stop my life the 2 hours of the office time. I often am working on my lesson plans for the next week, so it works well. We fine arts educators are masters of multi-tasking anyway.

Tips and tricks on how to use the above tools effectively will be coming in the next blog. Until then, keep doing what you do.

hanging with christina and were hyped about leaving at 3 we cant wait!!!!! gonna b a long trip but so worth it. good luck to everybody and break  a leg!! :)(:

i cant wait till jtf its gonna be great. im ready to meet new people and learn everything i possibly can from jtf . this performance is going to be very special to all of us at cct because of the fact that were dedicating it to Phillip who has came with us the past 2 yrs. i hope everyone does their best and may the best group win. 2012 jtf here we come!!!! :)(: