D-Day+3 (Friday)

Throughout the week I have been leaving the tutelage of Mrs. Manning to help Mr. Sweet with the WCHS Drama class. Mr. Sweet is one of the pastors at my church, and I have known him for going on five years. Currently they are working on their fall production, Jack Tales, which is a collection of short stories from Appalachia derived from Grimm and other middle European folk sources. The stories traveled with the original settlers from Europe to the New World and became part of the place just as the people did. After simmering in a pot of oral tradition in the mountains for a couple hundred years, they were recorded in the 1930s in the previously mentioned volume. The production is an ambitious effort to reconnect students with a lost piece of their Appalachian culture and heritage.

This week I have collaborated with Mr. Sweet in minor ways; however, most of my time has been spent in observation of Mr. Sweet "blocking" (adapting the short story format to the stage) a couple of the stories. He wanted me to observe in order that I might block one of the stories on my own at the end of the week. And today, that's what I did. Mr. Sweet assigned to me the story "Fill Bowl, Fill," a tale of magic, trickery, faith, adventure, and wit; he also gave me the task of coming up with an alternate ending due to a somewhat abrupt and puzzling end to the original.

So, today I walked with the Drama class to the WCHS amphitheater (they have no indoor stage nor theater), notes in hand, ready (as best as I could be) to be director for the day, and wondering if the students had any idea that I had never been in drama class nor blocked a play before. I was just a bit on the nervous side. But when we arrived, I took center stage, called out the actors chosen for that particular sketch, and started directing: "You go here, now you enter stage right, exit here, now take him off stage and cue the screaming and chopping sounds!" (it's a rather bloody production, all in all).

And it all worked out.

The students liked my directions and stage adaptation of the narrative, and we all had a good time. During the blocking session, the teacher was backstage (but close within earshot) doing some necessary prop work and organization; he commented later that he was thankful for all the help that I gave, especially today, and he approved of the direction I took the actors.

I had never thought I would be able to direct, but now I have another way that I can contribute to the school outside the classroom.