As a teacher, I am not afraid to say that I look forward to the summer. Everyone needs a break, right? Everyone needs to get away. I love to get away, not just away from school, but away from it all. I love to travel. My heart yearns for new lands and new people. I am passionate about freedom and discovery.
Yet, what I have discovered about myself over the past few years is that I do not look forward to the summer because of any form of vacation or break. I keep busy all summer long. In fact, my work during the summer months, particularly July, rivals that of the 10-month school year.
I have been blessed by the good graces of Tony DePrince, project coordinator for Camden County Technical Schools, and the 21st Century Program (we're the only high school in the state with this amazing grant) with the opportunity to share my love for the craft of acting and performance with students through Drama Club. Drama Club serves as an extension of the Performing Arts Academy, which is headed by Terry Bles, a spectacular teacher and enthusiast for acting, singing, dancing, and overall performance. Ryan Hewitt is the music teacher in the Performing Arts Academy, whom is extremely gifted and teaches his students with great fervor and passion how to use various instruments, including vocals, and it is predicted that sometime in the near future he might have his own program to head up; perhaps a Music Academy? One can only hope. Both have brought new life to the arts at Camden County Technical School. Of course, the extraordinary efforts of Tony DePrince have made much of this possible. He is truly the backbone of the arts at our school and in our district. Without him, I doubt much of what we do would be possible. One might even venture to say that without him, CCTS would be without the arts. He has meant that much to the growth and development of the arts.
During the school year, the Performing Arts Academy along with Drama Club engage in various productions. This year we explored World War II, highlighted through 2 very different plays. Our first major production of the 2009-2010 was our fall play, THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK. For the spring musical, we returned to the battlefield with a much different play in our production of CABARET. We like to maintain a thematic approach to our selection of shows. Both productions were sell-outs and people actually submitted complaints about not being able to purchase tickets. Hopefully this will not be a problem in the future, since DePrince has waved his magic wand once again and magically afforded us the construction of our very own black box theatre. Next year's first show is a murder mystery and it will open the black box as the new venue for CCTS theatrical productions.
We heart the arts! Thus, our productions are not limited to the 10-month school calendar. We have the 21st Century Performing Arts Summer Theatre Program to keep us engulfed in creative endeavors. During the month of July, I was deeply entrenched in the 21st Century Summer Theatre Program with Terry Bles, Ryan Hewitt, and Tony DePrince. For this year's summer production we selected to follow the yellow brick road and try our stage hand with the beloved classic, THE WIZARD OF OZ. The show performances were this past weekend and the kids did an excellent job, so the efforts of all involved were rewarded.
This musical is perhaps one of the most popular of all time, so we knew that expectations would be high. When we initially decided to set our sights on OZ as the sophomore production of the 21st Century Summer Theatre Program and opt to “follow the yellow brick road” with a group of about 40 CCTS high school students from both Gloucester Township and Pennsauken campuses, we had a good understanding of the task that lie before us. THE WIZARD OF OZ is a big show. We didn’t have to worry about any witches, but there were certainly obstacles that we had to look out for. We might have been missing some parts essential to the production of the show, but luckily we had the nerve, the brains, and the heart to follow through with it. The end result was something just as magical and breathtaking as the Emerald City. We had a blast working with the students this summer. Watching the students grow and develop as performers is always truly awe-inspiring. The students are the ones that make it all worthwhile, and this production was a reflection of their talent and a credit to their hard work and dedication to the performing arts.
As with any theatrical production, there were many people whom lent a helping hand to support the arts. These good people, consisting of parents, siblings, and loved ones of the cast and crew, made themselves available to do work on set, serve as customer service representatives during performances, and simply aid and assist in such a variety of ways during production. Without their help and support, we would have never made it to OZ.
I guess, like Dorothy, most teachers want to get away because they believe that the summer grass is greener (and some of it is!), but at the end of August, we remember where our home is and our brain, our heart, and our courage lead us right back to the classroom.
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