Beyond Shocktober- Confronting Stress for Improvement
“It’s that time of year.” Every teacher knows that the school year has a predictability, a cycle of excitement, stress, anticipation and reflection. Sometimes we attribute behaviors and energies in...
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Preparation: Key Element to Contest Season
As I write this, I am listening to my students singing Bohemian Rhapsody in the dressing rooms down the hall. They just closed the curtain to the matinee performance and will begin preparing for the...
View ArticleOne Tongue, Two Ears
How much voice or opinion should your students have in a theatre company? • Should students have a choice in selecting play titles? • Should students have a say in casting? • Should students be...
View ArticleMaestro Theatre Blog Posts Update
Blogs from the authors will continue after the holiday season. Monthly blogs will begin on the first Monday of January. Happy holidays to you and we wish you a wonderful 2017! Maestro Theatre...
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“Kid Power”: Leadership for the New Year
I love the promise of a new year. The holiday usually gives me some much-needed rest and I am full of energy and hope for the second semester. I would have time to get prepared for the first few...
View ArticlePerseverance
In the past few weeks, I have had the fortunate opportunity to clinic sixteen shows in different parts of Texas. I always leave feeling challenged, inspired, and blessed. This past weekend, I...
View ArticleWHO’S GOING TO STOP ME
In the late 1980’s I submitted scenes from A Lie of the Mind, by Sam Shepard, as our entry into the Texas UIL One Act Play Contest. Lynn Murray, the State Director, called me to tell me the reading...
View ArticleTo Every Thing There Is a Season
If there is one thing that is constant in life, it is change. We all know it’s going to happen, and yet we carry on as if things will always remain the same. Sometimes, we embrace change. It can come...
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Counting Down to Year’s End- Strategies For Review, Reflection and Celebration!
Almost there, almost there, almost there… The days are warming up and the students are starting to talk about their Summer plans. You are in the home stretch, the annual countdown of days has...
View ArticleReturn to Directing, Plot and Actors
I saw many beautiful shows this past UIL OAP season. I saw beautiful set designs, intriguing concepts, incredible movement, spectacular special effects, etc. I definitely saw some stunning plays,...
View ArticleMillennials in Theatre
I do not have a television in my house. Some guests comment in disbelief, “How can you live without a television?” Television is not bad; too much television was bad for me. It was hypnotic and...
View ArticleIt’s Audition Time Again
I have a love/hate relationship with auditions. As a director, I’m excited to see the growth of my students’ auditioning skills from their previous auditions. I’m optimistic that new jewels are about...
View ArticleMy Facebook Friend, Don Nigro, Or Why You Should Be Speaking to Your Playwright
I remember the day I pressed enter to send a request to be Don Nigro’s friend on Facebook. I was sitting across from Mandy Connor, who had just produced his play, Paganini, and she and I were...
View ArticleMUSICAL MUSINGS
Three weeks ago, we closed our musical, Godspell. I know some of you reading this are jealous because you are either in the middle of musical rehearsals or beginning them and I am done! We put up our...
View ArticleIf Eastwood Hill Could Talk
“Relationships before issues,” is the phrase I use to begin every Maestro Theatre training workshop. I stole that phrase from a Catholic priest who began my summer high school church camps this way....
View ArticleLooking Back and Looking Forward
As teachers, we’re accustomed to referring to two different calendars—-the traditional yearly calendar and our school calendar (which usually has every square filled using multiple colors of pens, some...
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