Back to School, September 2012

Welcome to Drama class at ODCVI.

ADA 1O  grade 9 Drama
We covered Tableau this week.
Your Portfolio Covers are due tomorrow, Sept 07.  I'm looking forward to seeing them.  Some people  were already done today!  Caylee and James, congratulations on getting a head start on the semester.


ADA 2O  grade 10 Drama

• We welcomed new people and covered tableau, theatre terms and some fun games.

• Warm-ups included deep breathing, stretches and vocal warm-ups.
• Your presentation, "My Life In a Box" is due on Monday, Sept. 10.

June 16, 2012

Banting Memorial grade 9 drama students created masks for their commedia dell 'arte performances.

Later, we created a performance of "The Real Inspector Hound", using props and costumes.

This past week we staged our final performance, "Wrecked" on the cafeteria stage with lighting expertly done by Donovan Proulx.  Actors included:

• Quintyn Farrar and Donovan Proulx as  'Lyle'
• Caylin Frankland, Elizah McFarland, Marco Mupangulay, Roger Desjarlais, Cooper Braud, Brittany Lansi as 'Teens'
• Alli Doucet  as 'Buddy'
• Danielle Phekoo as 'Sharon'
• Ryan March as 'the Bartender'
• Dania Terry and 'Suzy'

with Hunter Hanselman as co-director

and  Susan Abu Middin and Kayla Brown doing backstage props and set design.

Congratulations on a wonderful performance.  An extra big thank you to all friends and family who came to watch our show.

April 11, 2012

Banting Grade Nine Drama Students

Today marked the first time students presented a scene study:  "The Terry Fox Story".  Congratulations to all three performing groups for preparing your presentations on time, and for adding your creative ideas to make each performance unique.

Up Coming Events:

• Most students have signed up for the Toronto field trip May 09 to see a performance of "Huckleberry Finn".  We're all eagerly looking forward to a great day of theatre.
• Get ready for the Banting buy-in "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown", featuring our own students  both on stage and behind the scenes  Friday, May 11, 2012.

Summer Fun:

• Theatre By the Bay in Barrie presents "Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang".  You can volunteer to help out backstage.
•  Gibson Summer Theatre School!
  Registration is now open for The Gibson Summer Theatre School!  Hurry because the early bird price ends April 30th. The Summer Theatre School is open to all children ages 6 to 18 and will be cast in one of two productions: Bye Bye Birdie or Peter Pan.  Auditions will be held on June 12th and 13th from 5pm to 9pm.  Please click on the links below for more information or call The Gibson Centre at 705-435-2828.

February 19, 2012

ADA 1O  Grade 9 Drama @Banting Memorial

* Friday was a great performance day for our four Tableau groups:

-Dania, Caylin and Kayla were the resident medics overseeing the very pregnant Quintyn as he gave birth on stage to his baby, Ryan.  I must admit there were some looks of total surprise in our audience, but they all gave a fine performance.  A most memorable tableau story.

- Donovan and his helpers created a vicious lawnmower with some really fantastic facial expressions.  Donovan's group will present on Tuesday when Fawez and Marco return to class.

- Elizah, Danielle and Suzanne created wonderfully diverse students for Brittany's classroom.  Of course, Brittany was a model teacher, so why weren't those students behaving properly?  The scenes were easily recognizable, told a complete story, and made sure ( by 'cheating') that our audience didn't miss anything by looking at someone's back.

-Hunter was the wild animal in the forest and Roger, Alli and Cooper took turns driving the ATV and taking aim.  The body language and focal points created for this tableau performance were outstanding.

Thanks to everyone for their hard work and effort in preparing these performances.

Tuesday, we will continue with Mime and move into stage vocal preparations on Thursday and Friday.  If you think you can bring in a copy of one of Dr. Suess' books, please do so by Thursday.
Have a great Family Day Weekend.


"You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown"



Auditions are now complete, and our Cast List was posted on Friday.  Congratulations to everyone who will be preparing for our stage performance of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown", May 9, 10 and 11.

If you won't be on stage performing, maybe there's a place for you backstage doing tech, lights or sound.  Props and sets must be built, along with costumes.  We will also need hair and make-up people. Talk to Mrs. Phelps, Mrs. Bridger, Ms. Reinders or me, Mrs. Sawatsky, if you want to be part of this charming stage production.

for a look at the Stratford Festival's back stage set building, check out this video about "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJgUpqHM_NE

Post #28 February 01, 2012

So.... Drama begins at Banting Memorial High School next week on Monday, Feb. 06.  As a grade nine class, we will get to know each other and begin work on our drama / stage skills.

I'm really looking forward to meeting everyone on Monday!

Here are two great places to continue your Drama studies after high school...

             

Mrs. Sawatsky

Sunday, November 20, 2011

No drama classes or after school plays for now.  I was at ODCVI for about 2.5 weeks in early September, and since then, I've been a substitute teacher.  Since late September, I have covered two classes each afternoon for a person who is on sick leave.

I thought I'd include my drama bio here.

Bio for Marg Sawatsky

The first time I ever saw a play was “Anne of Green Gables” in Charlottetown, PEI, when I was twelve years old.  My Mom and Dad took our family to the East Coast for a holiday, and I had just finished reading the “Anne Books”.  To see a play made out of a book was really fascinating. A few years later, I got involved as a student in after school drama helping backstage with performances of Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians” and Gilbert and Sullivan’s “H.M.S. Pinafore”.  There were other plays, but those are the ones I remember.

 More Drama:       After finishing high school, I studied fashion design at Ryerson U in downtown Toronto.  Some of my fellow students intended to work for theatre, and one actually made costumes for the Canadian Opera Company.  Another one got work at the Shaw Festival Theatre, making hats.  At Ryerson, I got to see the theatre department’s costume warehouse… and quite a few of their stage productions too.  Although I attended stage productions, I didn’t think I would get involved, but that all changed when I became a secondary teacher in 1998.

High School Drama:       My school, Parkside Collegiate in St. Thomas, ON, put on a musical stage production every other year, and although I didn’t teach drama, my friends were the drama and music teachers, and I always got involved in those plays.  We staged several original works written by our staff:  “RockShow ‘ 79” and “The Stork Club”.  Other things we did included:  “Suds”, “Godspell”, and “Jesus Christ, Superstar”.  We also staged Shakespeare’s  “Twelfth Night”.  At that time, I taught English to grades 9-12, and when I had a chance to do my Honours Specialist, I chose to do “Teaching Shakespeare in the Classroom” through the University of Windsor, on location in Stratford.  Just some more drama.  That was when I started to really use drama in my classroom, and things got to be rather fun.

MuchMore Drama:                  Two years ago, at an interview to teach English, the principal suggested that a drama job would be available in the fall of that year, and would I consider taking Drama Part I?  I registered for Part I, got the drama job, and have taught drama ever since:  grades 9, 10 and 11.  I also helped with some other stage productions:  “High School Musical 2”, and Woody Allen’s  “God”.  Here I am taking Drama Part IIIJ.

Post #26 September 22, 2011

ADA 3O -01
This week, grade 11 students performed / presented their chosen jobs in the field of theatre and drama. Performances included amazing costumes, music, a great instructional video and of course, plenty of useful information about pay, benefits, education, work schedules and networking. Thanks to everyone for jumping in with both feet, and getting the assignments prepared and done on time.  Good work!!

• Michayla, Shanya and Twyla demonstrated stage make-up; talking about the history as well as modern practices.
• Tram Pinney and Peter Webb demonstrated stage combat in an amazing video they posted on Youtube -- search:  Adealgoneterriblywrong.
• Will McHugh and Brandi Despins created an adorble skit about stage lighting.
• Emily Renkema, Karley Cooper and Tina Bennett really used the stage space well and performed a great skit.
• Bailey Booth prepared information on playwrights, but we didn't get to hear about it.
• Justin Morgan-Read, Hailee Clark and Jesse Hotte did a hot runway presentation of costume designers.
• Victoria Thompson-Goersch and Courtney Moloney demonstrated and taught a mini-dance workshop, where everyone had a good time.
• Lina Ceniccola, Tara Schell and our exchange students Melanie Ajac and Carolina Aroujo Sabel performed the role of a director.
• Michael Young, Chris Middlebrooks and Zach Taylor performed the role of  a producer, throwing money around the stage and audience.
• Hope Sutherland and Rachel Langdon will present in the next few days for their new teacher, Ms. Couvrette.

Grade Nine Students

ADA 1O1-02
** We read and performed the short dialogue "Loathe At First Sight", by Ellen Conford.  Stellar performances included Walter's amazing British accent, and Bronwyn's excellent work Walter as his alter ego.  Lucas and Evangeline really used the stage well, and made sure to "cheat" and face their audience.  Lauryn and Eli were brave and went first.  Thank you.  Holly and Lindsay did a somewhat funny version with Lindsey's excellent facial expressions and Holly's amazing clear reading/speaking.

I will miss all of you wonderful students at ODCVI, and hope to get back to visit you in the near future.
Mrs. S.