The Life of a Theater Kid

To me, being a theater kid means that you're truly passionate and dedicated to the art. I may not be the best, but I am in love with performing and the relationships I build.

For this weeks blog, I would like to take you through what it's like to live the life of theater, and some benefits and/or struggles!

Family/Relationships
When you join a musical or play, you can make some very good relationships your cast. You might not be close with everyone, but, most of the time, you can form a very strong bond with people. Even if you're not in a musical, you can still form a strong bond with your fellow thespians.

For example, one of my best friends in middle school introduced me to theater, and we bonded over the it. Also, right now, some of my closest friends I made through the theatre department.

No Judgment Zone!
Another great thing about being in theater is that you're always supported! Unfortunately, we're in high school so there will always be some negativity, but for the most part, the community is very supportive.

Great Experience
At least for me, being in the musical helps with forgetting stuff that happens in life. When I'm at rehearsals, I am in the moment and tap into the character I'm trying to portray on stage. It's also a great place to get out of your comfort zone because you're not alone.

Randy Slovacek (Choreographer) and cast during rehearsal for A Chorus Line (Crail)

Rehearsals
Musical rehearsals can be really fun, but it can be a little stressful. As it gets closer to the show, rehearsals become longer. For my theater department, our rehearsals are about 4/5 hours long. I personally don't mind the length because  love theater, but for most people it's way too long.

That's one thing you have to sacrifice for theater; your time. And again, some people are fine with it, but some aren't because of other things like homework, chill time, sports, or family. This is stressful, but usually there's time during rehearsals for homework.

You've Heard of It?
One thing that is exciting if you're a theater kid, is when you're talking about a musical or play to someone and they actually know what you're talking about! Nothing is more groovy than talking about musicals with someone who can reciprocate their excitement.

It's also fun to joke around with your thespian friends because you get the inside jokes from rehearsals or just general theater jokes. "Regular" friends don't understand the references, and speaking from experience, might think it's a little weird!

Sister Act 

Costumes!
In my opinion, costumes are probably the most fun part of theater. Yeah, acting and getting to be a totally different person is cool too, but to actually look like the part and to play 'dress up' is very enjoyable.

However, there's nothing worse than having a costume you don't like or are uncomfortable in. If this happens, it's so hard to be confident and to put in 100% of your effort since you're distracted by the costume.
                                                       
Constant Singing...
When you're a theater kid, it's only necessary to burst out singing and/or making references. I can't tell you how many times I've made references to the musical and play I did last year and the musical I'm in right now. Honestly, probably about 100 times!

Last year, during a rehearsal, a group of us just randomly started singing the 'Phineas and Ferb' theme song. I'm not sure why, but stuff like that happens all the time.

Another thing is listening to show tunes. I am always listening to them, I have about 4 pandora radio stations for them. Whenever I'm in a car or hanging out with people and I'm in charge of the music, I never know what to play because all I have is show tunes and artists no ones ever heard of.


Citations


Crail, Charr. Randy Slovacek (Choreographer) and cast during rehearsal for A
     Chorus Line. 16 June 2014. Flickr, SmugMug+Flickr, www.flickr.com/photos/
     californiamusicaltheatre/14273507170/. Accessed 30 Dec. 2019.

Crail, Charr. Randy Slovacek (Choreographer) and cast during rehearsal for A
     Chorus Line. 16 June 2014. Flickr, SmugMug+Flickr, www.flickr.com/photos/
     californiamusicaltheatre/14273507170/. Accessed 30 Dec. 2019.

Whats Going on Here? What's Going on There?

What's Going on in New Hampshire?

In schools, the arts have kind of been pushed to the side and seen as not important. Thankfully, the Governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu proposed an increase to the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts' grants program. He proposed a 126% increase, which would take it from $233,000 to $505,000. This sounds like a big jump, and it is, but in reality it's not. 

The grant makes money available for nonprofit arts organizations, schools, health care facilities and community arts activities. This means that money has to be divided among these different areas, so the arts still aren't getting that much. 

In the newsletter where this was reported, Mary McLaughlin, the author said, "We are grateful for the governor's vision and leadership and the Legislature's understanding that investing in the arts is important for New Hampshire's quality of life and economy." This is great, but it got me thinking. Why do the arts need to have grants? Why doesn't sports? I haven't heard of sports programs needing a grant.

She had also said, "Going forward, Arts4NH will work to ensure that the arts play a bigger role in public education and health care..." (McLaughlin). I feel like if they really want to ensure that it plays a big role in our education, our schools should actually include more money in their actual budget. 

Now I know not all schools have money to put towards the arts, but I know, for example, my school has more than enough. The problem is that our school is very focused on sports, and one of the reasons is because the majority of the school plays some kind of sport. Because of this, theater isn't though about as that important because not as many people do it.

But that is far from true.

What's Going on Around the World?

So, that was only happening in New Hampshire. But what's going on around the rest of the world?

I read an article about how Finland has the best education system, and that the rest of us actually can achieve what they have. 

One important lesson learned from their successful system is that "The quality of education shouldn't be judged by the level of literacy and numeracy test scores alone. Successful education systems are designed to emphasize whole-child development, equity of education outcomes, well being, and arts, music, drama and physical education as important elements of curriculum." (Strauss)

This is a very important lesson. I feel that test scores, especially scores like the SATs, don't reflect students intelligence at all. Whole-child development would be an amazing way to teach students. Also, having arts, music, drama, and physical education be seen as important elements is very critical. I feel right now that physical education already is and not so much the arts.

A way we can incorporate the arts into the curriculum is to make theater into an actual class. A problem with that, however, is that I feel like if there were to be cuts, the drama class would be cut first.

Citations

McLaughlin, Mary. "Letter: A win for the arts in New Hampshire." Concord

Monitor, 12 Nov. 2019. Concord Monitor, www.concordmonitor.com/

Arts-in-New-Hampshire-30146620. Accessed 5 Dec. 2019.

Strauss, Valerie. "What Finland is really doing to improve its acclaimed

schools." The Washington Post, 30 Aug. 2019. The Washington Post,

www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/08/30/

what-finland-is-really-doing-improve-its-acclaimed-schools/. Accessed 5
Dec. 2019.

Does Size Really Fit All?

We always hear the common phrase, "One size fits all," but does it really? In certain connotations it might; like if you're at a store shopping for some new clothes. There might be some t-shirts fit for everybody. However, in a school environment, that is not the case.

In a TED Talk given by Geoffrey Canada, he talks about how the school system has repeated itself for over 50 years, and clearly isn't working for students. He says, "One size fits all, if you get it, fine, and if you don't, tough luck. Just tough luck."

As he said this, I immediately thought about my own school. Now, I'm not trying to talk badly about it, but it's not perfect. I've noticed that our system feels very much like that saying; especially in math and science classes. I understand that it's hard to slow down the pace of a class for some students, but why?

Why should teachers just brush off the few students that still don't understand the content?

It was a struggle to get through my Algebra 2 class in my sophomore year. This was because when we took a test, there would be some students who passed with 100s and 90s, but the majority of the class either failed or got high 70s. Even knowing this, my teacher still moved on to the next unit, even though the majority of the class didn't know the previous content, or just barely understood it. He moved on because he was satisfied with just a few kids understanding it.

But this is a problem. In another TED Talk given by Sal Khan, he talks about how even though students will have gaps in their understanding, the teachers will move on anyway.

"On that test, maybe I get a 75 percent, maybe you get a 90 percent, maybe you get a 95 percent. And even though the test identified gaps in our knowledge, I didn't know 25 percent of the material. Even the A student, what was the five percent they didn't know?'

If I don't know 25 percent of the material and then we move on to harder units, and continue to get into harder units without me knowing the fundamentals, how will I understand it and learn it well?

Sal Khan suggest to change the school systems to mastery-based learning. I really like this idea because it helps students have a learning experience that is unique to them, not having them be put into a box and learn one way. This new system does sound like it could be difficult, but it would definitely be worth it in the long run.

Mastery based learning consists of students being able to work at their own pace, and not worry about a deadline on when they need to fully understand the content. That gives them enough time to fully master the material, hence the name 'mastery-based learning'. I, again, really like this idea because it would take the stress off of us students. I think it would especially for high schoolers because we are so stressed to pass all these classes because if we don't we won't get into the colleges we want to get into.


Citations

Canada, Geoffrey. "Our failing schools. Enough is enough!" May 2013. TED, TED
        Conferences, May 2013, www.ted.com/talks/
        geoffrey_canada_our_failing_schools_enough_is_enough/up-next. Accessed 22
        Nov. 2019. Lecture.

Khan, Sal. "Let's teach for mastery-not test scores." Nov. 2015. TED, Ted
        Conferences, Nov. 2015, www.ted.com/talks/
        sal_khan_let_s_teach_for_mastery_not_test_scores. Accessed 22 Nov. 2019.
        Lecture.

Student's Mental Health and Safety in Schools

In an article by Amanda Litvinov and other colleagues, she talked about different problems public schools are having today. Within it, she mentioned school safety and student's mental health. These two problems caught my attention because being a high school student myself, I am also dealing with these issues, and so are many of my peers.

Kathy Reamy, a school counselor at La Plata High School said, "Honestly, I've had more students this year hospitalized for anxiety, depression, and other mental-health issues than ever," in an article by NEA Today. She also added that "There's just so much going on in this day and age, the pressure to fit in, the pressure to achieve, the pressure of social media."

I related to this quote because I personally struggle with mental health issues, and I know others who do as well. The problem with our society today is that since everyone is trying to fit in so much, we all become the same person. Different trends become so popular, like clothes, songs, or sayings, that everyone is wearing the same things, listening to the same music, and saying the same phrases. This is fine, but society also says that you should be different and stand out.

How can you stand out when you get made fun of or bullied for it? Why is it okay for people to preach one thing but not practice it?

All of this pressure to be different but to also fit in can help build up anxiety and depression in us.

Another issue that doesn't help with anxiety is school safety. According to CNN, there had been 22 school shootings in 2019, just up until July.

Litvinov mentioned a survey by the Pew Research Center, saying that 57% of U.S. teens are worried about having a shooting in their school. And that was just a couple months after the Parkland school shooting. The percentage probably has gone up.

A sad thing about school shootings is that since we see them all over the news these days, it seems like it's just become a norm. I have also observed that since it's a normal thing, people joke about it all the time. Now I know that a lot of people use comedy as a coping mechanism, but I feel as though this topic shouldn't really be laughed about because it is so relevant.

Citations

Flannery, Mary Ellen. "The Epidemic of Anxiety among Today's Students." NEA
Today, National Education Association , 28 Mar. 2018, neatoday.org/2018/
      03/28/the-epidemic-of-student-anxiety/. Accessed 14 Nov. 2019.

Graf, Nikki. "A Majority of U.S. Teens Fear a Shooting Could Happen at Their

School, and Most Parents Share Their Concern." Pew Research Center, 18 Apr.
      2018, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/18/
      a-majority-of-u-s-teens-fear-a-shooting-could-happen-at-their-school-and-most-par
      ents-share-their-concern/. Accessed 14 Nov. 2019.

Litvinov, Amanda, et al. "10 Challenges Facing Public Education Today." NEA
      Today, National Education Association, 3 Aug. 2018, neatoday.org/2018/
      08/03/10-challenges-facing-public-education-today/. Accessed 12 Nov. 2019.

Lou, Michelle, and Christina Walker. "There Have Been 22 School Shootings in the
      US so Far This Year." CNN, Cable News Network, 26 July 2019, www.cnn.com/
      2019/05/08/us/school-shootings-us-2019-trnd/index.html?no-st=1573741101.
      Accessed 14 Nov. 2019.