Directing the High School Play Part One – Choosing a Rose Among Thorns.
By Lindsay Price

The high school play can be more than tradition. More than rote. More than something to do. Teenagers can actually learn something, build self-confidence, develop self-expression and communication skills. Theatre at the high school level can change lives. Directing the high school play all of a sudden becomes something important…

Part One in this series of Directing the High School Play will focus on choosing the script.

THE DECISION PROCESS

There’s nothing like the moment when a director finds their next project. Or the first project, the one that sings and creates visions and gives you the ability to see the play come to life. The one that makes your brain buzz and you realize, “Hey, I want to direct.”

All well and good. But there are more factors than a buzz in the brain when it comes to picking a play for high schools. When I first directed a play in a school I chose a play that I dearly loved, and many years later have come to realize the cast despised. It was a somewhat hateful experience all around and I swore I’d never work with teenagers again.

Little did I know that was just the beginning… What finally made directing worthwhile was figuring out that my choices had to include more than just me. There’s more than creating my singular happy place in bringing a certain play to life. There are a lot of other elements involved.

One: The Students. Really, the students have to come first. I’ve talked to so many teachers over the years who won’t do a play unless they have the right mix of students. ‘I’d love to do this play but I don’t have the cast’…’This was the perfect year to do this play, I have the students.’ When choosing a play the students should always come first. After all, it’s their experience.

When choosing a play think about who is involved and what is their background. Their history is going to reflect how they react to the play you choose: Are they beginners, advanced, comedy driven, do they love musicals, have they only done one acts, or improv, or has there been no theatre at all? Who are they? In that first production, I tried to do an abstract poetry-driven piece with beginner improv lovers. The two just don’t mesh! This isn’t to say you can’t take students out of their comfort zone, we’ll talk about that in the ‘goal’ section.

Two: The School. Where are you and where is the place the play will take place? What is the facility like? A barn? State of the art? Is there a fly gallery, a trap door, an orchestra pit or none of the above? There’s no point in doing Peter Pan if you can’t make him fly.

In no other arena can the facility have so much sway over the choice of script. Again, if you’re creative enough, you can make anything work. Do you have time to be uber creative with your space? Are you working with someone, or are you alone? Is there administrative support? What’s your situation?

Three: The Play. Finally, you can think about the script! Of course, it’s not just the script. What is your goal with the script? Do you want to create an atmosphere of fun and frivolity? Do you want to work toward expanding the environment with a style of play the students have never done before? Take them out of their comfort zone? Do you want to explore a comedy? Drama? Musical? Issue work? Do you need to make money to support your program?

Define a goal and let the students in on that goal.

PART TWO of Directing the High School Play series will focus on Script Analysis. In the beginning, before the actors and the set and the blocking and the lights and sound and of course the audience… the director is alone with the play.

Lindsay Price is the resident playwright for Theatrefolk, an independent publisher of playscripts for schools and student performers. http://www.theatrefolk.com

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