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RAISE THE STAKES:Take Your Talents to the Next Level
Welcome to
BUT FIRST:A WORD FROM UIL…
BEFORE WE GET STARTED…
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Attendance for CPE credit
RAISE THE STAKES:Take Your Talents to the Next Level
Presented by:Daniel Gambill, Sunnyvale High School
Overview■ Introduction
■ Things to Remember
■ Script Selection
■ Thinking outside the box (but remaining within the rules)
■ Placing the spotlight on your students
■ Questions
■ Raise the stakes!
Introduction■ Daniel Gambill
■ I’ve got two sons and a beautiful wife.
■ 10 Years of OAP (Both MS and HS)
■ I have won at each level. I have lost at each level.
■ I’m a contest manager.
■ I’m a clinician.
■ I’m a director. (I have even been a judge.)
■ I love the contest.
Things to Remember■ These are my opinions, and they aren’t the only way to approach OAP.
■ OAP should be broken down into two distinct sections: – It’s an art. – It’s a contest.
■ Your production: do it your way.
■ EVERY PLAY IS A TRUE STORY.
“Play selection is one of the most important aspects of OAP. Never choose
a play because you think it can win. Pick a play you are passionate about.”
-Larry Balfe,Adjudicator
Script Selection
■ Buy plays.■ Borrow plays.■ Read plays.
– (SECRET: Start reading at the end!!!)
Script Selection: Where to Start
■ Who are your stars?– Who will LEAD the show?– What are their strengths?– Where can they grow?
■ Read scripts that would feature them.
■ Build the show off of them
■ (SECRET: I judge a play based on it’s title.)
Script Selection: How to Decide
■ MUST be good literature.
■ It needs to mean something.
■ MUST fit you– Your strengths: Movement? Visuals? Ensemble?
■ SHOULD fit your students– As a group, are they… Fantastical? Funny? Serious?
■ MUST FIT YOUR COMMUNITY.– Don’t push the envelope just to push the envelope.
MYTH: “That’s overdone.”■ The truth is: productions can be overdone…
– Don’t reproduce– Do your own cutting
■ If this was true, no one would do Shakespeare or the Greeks…
■ Do your own production, and people will forget that they have seen it before.
“The rules provide a destination, but what’s on your journey isn’t provided on
the map. Think outside the map.”-Jess Bentley,
DirectorMalakoff High School
Thinking Outside the Box■ There are conventions in theatre… BREAK THE RULES!
■ Know these rules, and keep them for the majority of the show
■ Break the rules, when it’s time…
RULE HOW TO BREAK IT
Don’t turn your back to the audience Emphasize an up-stage actor/moment
Have good diction Have authentic storytelling moments
Choose a play for the kids Choose a play for the kids… AND YOU!
Don’t have too much on stage HAVE EVERYTHING! …keep the focus
The strongest part of the stage is DSC… Make whatever part of the stage the strongest with composition
Thinking Outside the Box(But still inside the rules)■ “I want to fail as big as we can fail.”
■ Expect more than the students can give…
■ Communicate your vision early.
■ Give them your vision, then make your kids create the show! (24 brains are more creative than 1… or up to 4)
■ I have RARELY gotten special permission from the State Office…– Safety– Level playing field– Ease of running the contest
“The play is a story. And it only asks an honest rendering. But for it to be
honest, it must be allowed the luxury of TIME.”
-Billy Dragoo,Director
Austin High School
Spotlight Your Students: CUT■ Cut YOUR show.
– Tell the story– Feature your students– Allow places in your story where the audience can stop– PRATT: Summarize the story for other people as succinctly as possible,
everything else can be cut.
Spotlight Your Students: ACTion■ Direct your students to find their moments
– “The apron is where awards are won.”– Allow them to be un-blocked when it is their moment
■ Acting is ACTion.– “Acting is not just gestures and parading of emotion.” –Dragoo– Allow the action to be clear.
■ Ask questions:– How do you want the other person to feel?– What can you do to make that happen?
Spotlight Your Students
■ Give them an entire meal!!!– Meat (or other main dish): give them room to grow– Sides: the stuff that makes it interesting– Spices: nuanced touches to EVERY performer– Fruits: enjoy the sweet truth in every character– Desert: find fun in the words that are spoken
■ Every story is their story… even if they are playing their own villain…
Raise the Stakes!■ I challenge you to…
– …read every script you can!– …find the right fit– …give your students the whole meal… sides, meat (or main food), spices, desert, fruits
Make sure they eat it all!– …connect the script to your students… and then to the audience…– …break the rules– …make the work you do tough.
Thank you!One Act Play Community
UIL State Academics Office
Paula Rodriguez and her staff
STUDENTS WIN WITH UIL!!!
