Center Stage Youth Theatre

Posts Tagged ‘Magic’

The first thing that occurs to me when I think of what I have learned from the lit review is that this assignment has given me a great opportunity to hone my skills in reading and understanding (and in having confidence in my reading and understanding of) scholarly articles. I read many more articles than made it into the summaries section, and while I had previously been dubious as to my ability to think and on a level with researchers, I have discovered to my delight that I have very much enjoyed and understood what I have read. Also, the process of discovery when seeking and finding articles online feels like Christmas Morning to me; the very idea that we can type in a subject on the library webpage and instantly be treated not only to the titles of helpful books amazes me! And in the case of the articles, many times one more click brings the entire text to my computer screen! As a woman who grew up in the 70’s (this assumes I am a grown up now, of course) and experienced years of seemingly endless searches through microfilms and the physical pages of actual reality journals, the ease with which one can now access information feels for me very close to magic.
But to the subject at hand: My research brought many new perspectives as well as strong emotions to the forefront of my awareness as a teacher. I think perhaps the strongest change in my understanding has to do with the way I now understand better the complications of communication disorders and the social disconnects that occur in the various populations of impaired children.

Welcome to the portion of my life where it begins to imitate art.  As we move along in the production of TBCPE I find myself feeling more and more like Grace Bradley as we move from blocking and repeated attempts to keep everybody quiet backstage to actual acting skills, set construction, props gathering and…well,  more repeated attempts to ask for quiet backstage.

My world begins to revolve now around these 28 shiny young faces in a very real way, as they begin to get a clue about the magic that lies in wait for them on December 17th.  My job now goes beyond teaching them and encouraging them and costuming them and reassuring parents and begging for help from the same parents to actually beginning to let the kids themselves take control over the show with the very important backstage guidance of the stage manager.

It never fails, and while we have our work cut out for us:  new space, new program, no budget, almost no contacts, almost no lights, and a cast of exuberant, dedicated but largely inexperienced young actors – it doesn’t matter.  Because what really matters is the way they will all feel when the curtain goes up and they realize that they are ready.  And the way they will feel when it is over and success has been had by all.

There is nothing like it.  And I love being part of this process with them.