Looking at Theatre in a New Light: being creative with your high school drama program

Episode 144: Looking At Theatre in a New Light In this episode we have two interviews that explore theatre in a new light. That’s the wonderful thing about theatre - it is malleable, it’s changeable. You can approach the act of theatre is so many different ways. It can happen in a theatre, it can happen in a parking lot. It can be realistic, absurd, intimate, epic, people can break into song at any moment. You can take a piece of theatre and put it in a different style. You can take something from another genre and apply it to a theatrical form. Clark Taylor took a podcast and turned it into a play with shadow puppetry, actors, and live music. The students at Shelby High School took a script and filmed it in locations around the school. Theatre can happen any time, anywhere. Show Notes * Dead Men Don’t Do Radio Plays   Episode Transcript Welcome to TFP – The Theatrefolk Podcast – the place to be for Drama teachers, Drama students, and theatre educators everywhere. I’m Lindsay Price, resident playwright for Theatrefolk. Hello! I hope you're well. Thanks for listening. This is Episode 144! 144 and you can find any links for this episode in the show notes. Where are they? Theatrefolk.com/episode144. All right. Today, in this episode, which would be 144, we’re going to look at theatre in a new light, and I think that’s the amazing, awesome, wonderful, spectacular thing about theatre. It’s not static; it doesn’t have to be. It’s malleable. It’s changeable. You can approach the act of theatre in so many different ways. It can happen in a theatre. It can happen in a parking lot. It can be realistic, absurd, intimate, epic. You know, people can break into song at any moment and people will go, “Yeah, that’s theatre.” You can take a piece of theatre and put it in a different style. You can take something from another genre and adapt it to a theatrical form. All of this – all these different explorations and approaches – those are the reasons that I love theatre and why I like writing and being in this form. That’s what we’re going to do today – look at theatre in a new light. First, we’re going to talk to Clark Taylor. Clark is a Drama teacher in Georgia and he took a podcast and adapted it to the stage using shadow puppetry, live actors, and live music. When I got that email from Clark, ogh, I knew I wanted to talk to him about this. After I talk to Clark, I’m going to talk to a group of students who took one of my plays and adapted it into a film – used their school as the location, as the landscape. But, first, we talk to Clark. Let’s get to it. LINDSAY: All right, I am here today with Clark Taylor. Hello, Clark! CLARK: Hey! How’s it going? LINDSAY: Awesome. How are you? CLARK: Just fantastic. LINDSAY: I like to hear that. So, first off, tell everyone in the world where you are situated. CLARK: Well, right now, I’m direct from my living room in Atlanta, Georgia. LINDSAY: Awesome. How long have you been a Drama teacher? CLARK: I’ve been a Drama teacher a long time. LINDSAY: Is it too long to put numbers? CLARK: You may as well cut my leg off and count LINDSAY: Okay, all right. CLARK: Let’s just say that. LINDSAY: Let’s say… CLARK: Really, I didn’t get started… I was out of college and I was pursuing my career here in Atlanta and, I don’t know, I’ve gone through all these other art, artistic stuff in my life starting as a visual artist and then...