"Only a crazy person would start a new blog. You already have another blog, dedicated to your four children, that you don't even keep up with. (Need I remind you that you have four children? Time is not something you have to spare.) Why on earth would you start another one?"
The only answer I could muster echoed the famous line from Hamlet: "The play's the thing."
I've been interested in drama all my life - acting, directing, singing in operas and musicals, reading and studying plays, and taking Shakespeare classes. I taught drama classes for many years, until it simply became too much to juggle my classes and my growing family. With four kids under the age of six, my life is still filled with drama - it's just the kind that involves screaming toddler tantrums and finding peanut butter on everything I own. I slipped from the role of "Active Drama Teacher" into "Drama Lover, Occasional Adviser, and Loaner of Costumes and Props" for other drama groups around the city. But I never stopped thinking about it, missing it, and wishing I could somehow stay involved without taking on ALL the responsibility of teaching a class and directing a play.
Enter my crazy new blog idea.
My vision for this blog (which will probably change as it goes along, since I am more of a "make it up as you go along" type planner, as any of my former students could probably tell you!) is to make it a smorgasbord for everything relating to drama. Anecdotes - instructive, humorous, or just horrifying - from plays I've directed, seen, or participated in. Advice (to be taken with a grain of salt) for aspiring directors, actors, backstage managers, playwrights, etc. Ideas for new plays or how to adapt existing ones. Reviews of plays I've seen (I'll be nice, I promise!). Resources and links for scripts, costumes, props, lights, etc. Random soliloquies concerning Shakespeare guaranteed. Hopefully a few guest posts from friends and relatives who are currently more actively involved with drama than I.
I make no pretense to be an expert. I'm an amateur, self taught, mainly through trial and error! I have taken a few theater classes,several Shakespeare classes, both acted in and directed plays, and read and watched a large number of plays. I have a degree in English with a minor in History, which are often relevant to drama, but no "genuine" qualifications. My advice is mainly opinion informed by personal experience. Feel free to take it or leave it, as it seems good to you! (Feel free to disagree with me via comments as well...I relish a good argument, as long as it's civil!)
I make no promises of regularity in my posts. (See aforementioned 4 children.) If you don't hear from me for a few months, don't assume I died or had all my fingers broken by the Mafia for not paying my protection money on time. I'm probably just busy. However, I will do my best. I'm looking forward to getting back into the world of drama again, even if it's only virtually.
The stage is set...let the first act begin!
I've been interested in drama all my life - acting, directing, singing in operas and musicals, reading and studying plays, and taking Shakespeare classes. I taught drama classes for many years, until it simply became too much to juggle my classes and my growing family. With four kids under the age of six, my life is still filled with drama - it's just the kind that involves screaming toddler tantrums and finding peanut butter on everything I own. I slipped from the role of "Active Drama Teacher" into "Drama Lover, Occasional Adviser, and Loaner of Costumes and Props" for other drama groups around the city. But I never stopped thinking about it, missing it, and wishing I could somehow stay involved without taking on ALL the responsibility of teaching a class and directing a play.
Enter my crazy new blog idea.
My vision for this blog (which will probably change as it goes along, since I am more of a "make it up as you go along" type planner, as any of my former students could probably tell you!) is to make it a smorgasbord for everything relating to drama. Anecdotes - instructive, humorous, or just horrifying - from plays I've directed, seen, or participated in. Advice (to be taken with a grain of salt) for aspiring directors, actors, backstage managers, playwrights, etc. Ideas for new plays or how to adapt existing ones. Reviews of plays I've seen (I'll be nice, I promise!). Resources and links for scripts, costumes, props, lights, etc. Random soliloquies concerning Shakespeare guaranteed. Hopefully a few guest posts from friends and relatives who are currently more actively involved with drama than I.
I make no pretense to be an expert. I'm an amateur, self taught, mainly through trial and error! I have taken a few theater classes,several Shakespeare classes, both acted in and directed plays, and read and watched a large number of plays. I have a degree in English with a minor in History, which are often relevant to drama, but no "genuine" qualifications. My advice is mainly opinion informed by personal experience. Feel free to take it or leave it, as it seems good to you! (Feel free to disagree with me via comments as well...I relish a good argument, as long as it's civil!)
I make no promises of regularity in my posts. (See aforementioned 4 children.) If you don't hear from me for a few months, don't assume I died or had all my fingers broken by the Mafia for not paying my protection money on time. I'm probably just busy. However, I will do my best. I'm looking forward to getting back into the world of drama again, even if it's only virtually.
The stage is set...let the first act begin!
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