Greetings, and welcome to Theater is a Sport. My name is Bobby Keniston, and I am an actor, director, playwright, and theater educator. I feel lucky to be all of these things.
There are a great many misconceptions
when it comes to the idea of theater education, particularly at a
high school level. While many people would recognize that it is not
a visual arts teacher's job to tell a child, "This is how you
draw a sun, and this is the only way to draw a sun," these same
people may expect that when directing students in a play, or teaching
a high school acting class, that you tell the students how to act.
"Read the lines this way, with a big smile on your face, then
when he yells at you, act sad by sticking your lower lip out and
lowering your head. Listen to how I say the line and then do it like
that." This is simply not true. Or, at least, I believe it
goes against every little thing theater education should be about.
As a director, I try to NEVER give line
readings (having people imitate how I would say a line). To me, that
is akin to a visual arts teacher saying, "You can only draw that
this way." The only time I will do this, the only, only time,
is if I have a really little kid who cannot think critically about what
they are doing, and, only then will I do that in a production that
people are paying money to see. I don't even like to do it then.
Even when directing "Annie, Jr." and "Anne of Green
Gables" at the Center Theatre, I didn't do this unless
absolutely necessary, and never with anyone over the age of five. Why, Bobby, you may ask. The answer is simple. I feel my primary role as an educator is
to create actors and not parrots. It is my job to teach young people
about MAKING CHOICES. That is perhaps the number one job of an
actor--- it is what they bring to the table as an artist.
I do my best to give all cast members
or students tools toward building a character, understanding a
script, and discussing with them how they help to tell the overall
story. From time to time, I will have a students ask me in a
rehearsal or class, "How should I say that line?" I always
answer that question with another question: "Where is your
character at?" or "What are they thinking?" or, most
often, "What does your character want? What is their objective
for speaking this line?"
In this way, I am helping to create
actors, and actors who can analyze a script critically. If I tell them exactly how to do something, I cease being an
educator or a director, and I become a pirate trying to train his
parrots.
A director's job is to put everything
together to create an experience that is magical coming from the work of
many, and not just myself.
My job with high school students or
even younger actors is to facilitate them finding the answers for
themselves, guiding them to create something which comes from their
unique perspective, and discussing changes if I don't agree with
their interpretations, or don't believe it fits within the world of
the play. This is an important job.
You see, this is what happens in real
life, in the real world of theatre. Actors make choices. They are
not told exactly how to say a line. And I will not condescend to my
students by expecting less of them than I would of adult actors.
If a student registers for my class, or signs up for my plays, regardless of talent, I do my best to bring the best out of them. This, of course, has varying results. But by doing so, I am providing a richer experience for this student, and giving them a richer education.
I do not, at the high school level, believe in asking the weaker singers to only mouth the words, or the weaker actors to stand in the background like props or furniture. If I do this, then I fail as a teacher and as a director. When it comes to theatre education, it is just as much about the journey as the final result.
So I want my final result to be spectacular? Of course I do. Is that always going to happen. Of course it isn't.
But what can always happen, if I do my job, is that students can learn to think differently, use their minds more creatively and critically. And that is what makes a win in my humble opinion.
I do not create parrots. I assist
young people in realizing they are actors.
Thanks for reading theater is a sport. See you next time.
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