Gunning in the Park

            One of my favorite parts of teaching is being able to see your students progress throughout the semester.  I was very my proud of my acting class this year.  They did an excellent job performing our short play, The Trophy Case, at the Arts in Motion showcase this year.  They handled the transition from rehearsing in HMAC to using the giant stage at FCS without so much as hiccup.  This year we added a new venue to work in, the great outdoors.

            This summer we were invited to perform The Trophy Case in the Angelica town circle at their farmer’s market.  Performing outside bring a host of new challenges.  To prepare for this we had a special rehearsal a few weeks after the showcase.  To my pleasant surprise, the whole class remembered their lines, even though we hadn’t work together in over two weeks.  It was fun to have the gang together again and the students really seemed to enjoy the reunion.  We rehearsed once in HMAC then dragged our chairs out back and rehearsed a few times with the sounds of traffic, nature and everyday life.   It took a few tries to get it right with so many new distractions to compensate for, but they picked it up quickly.

            The next week we met up in Angelica to perform for the folks at the farmer’s market.  It was great to see to students working in this completely different environment.  They didn’t miss a beat.  The show went well, the audience seemed to enjoy it and the students were able to get the experience of playing to an outdoor crowd.  It was the perfect way to cap the semester and got everyone excited for what next year will bring.  Right away the acting students started inundating me with ideas for Plucky Pipsqueak III.  I guess I’d better start writing!

            Outside of HMAC, I had the opportunity to work with 3 of my former acting students in my production of Allegro with the ShortTract Town Theater.  All three are doing a great job and it has been really rewarding for me to be able to work with them on this level.  Allegro opens tonight and runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7pm in the Fillmore Central School auditorium.  Come see for yourself.