So, I’ve been working on my Middle-School Drama Production since October! Opening Night is one week from today!

The drama production is called ‘Princess Who?’, a fractured fairy-tale comedy purchased from Pioneer Drama. The script is quite funny and combines a lot of fairy tale characters in random and bizarre situations. The website ‘Theatrefolk‘ has also been a great help because of the tips, tricks, articles and posters that it provides for drama teachers!

So, why are school productions ‘my nightmare’, as the title of this blog-post suggests? Well, being the reflective teacher that I am, I know that school productions are the biggest test for my shortcomings. I am aware of the fact that I can be too much of a ‘control freak’, and I’m not the best at ‘sharing responsibilities’. However, one person alone can not pull off a school drama production, and I know that very well!

Moreover, it’s hard for me to be nice when I’m stressed, and nothing stresses me more than the school production! I have to put in the extra effort of being nice to the cast members, even when it’s one week to go until opening night and they haven’t yet fully memorized their lines (I kid you not!). Sometimes I just throw in the towel and bring out the mean-nasty-diva-director in me (I can sometimes be the ‘Piers Morgan’ or the ‘Gordon Ramsay’ of school productions :P). It’s harder when you’re working with teenagers and young adults because you want to give them feedback but not damage their self-esteem!

However, I’m grateful for a lot right now: the costumes are finished and ready, the set is finished and ready, I have a great team of two assistant directors and a stage manager (all three from Grade 11), I have the support of many teachers, the sound cues and light cues are set and ready to go, posters and tickets are printed, so much is actually falling into place and I’m starting to get excited!

Let’s see what happens in the final week of rehearsals!