I am leaving VRG for at least one year between 2011/2012 and taking a gap year, so these ideas are just preliminary, and that should be taken into account when reading the plan. The end product would be the big theater production which could be shown to other students at school and possibly outside sources as well. Since I want to put some meaning into the whole production my plan is to donate all the money which is left, to charity. I'm considering maybe UNICEF or maybe BRIS, it depends. I might decide to donate it to some kind of fund for psychiatric help or something like that (the play is about a mental institute so I thought it was quite fitting). This will all be decided at the beginning of the project period.
There are many tasks to be done, but one has to start someplace, so I thought that reading books about different topics about theater sounds pretty reasonable. The things that are needed to be done in the actual play includes:
- Costumes
- Set
- Directions (as in orders from the director, me)
- Lights
- Make-Up
A place to start would be to get some background information about directing by reading books for directors, by directors, and about directors. I also think it's a good idea to read some books about acting even though I have done that before. But the fact that I am leading a group of amateur actors and that I have never directed before is quite scary.
When the background information has been gathered, I would have to start to engage the students at VRG. I'm considering starting a theater committee which would be the projects face toward the school. In order to complete a whole play I would need quite a lot of actors to work with, so I'm hoping some students are willing to express themselves through acting for a little while. I would also need some stage workers and light fixers, and I'm hoping that someone might volunteer. Otherwise I'll just have to do it myself (which would be very tough).
Once I've gathered my group of actors I would have to first decide who gets which parts of the play and also how much we have to rehears. This is probably the most important part of the process and without it the whole project would fail.
Some other things I have to take into consideration is:
- How to put the idea on the market and finance the whole project (I am currently considering sponsors for financial aid)
- To find a place to present the show at.
- To create the costumes.
- To create the set.
- Engage students.
I am also planning on conducting interviews with actors and directors in order to get the whole picture, with the books and the personal experiences from the interviewees.
As I said before, this is a plan for the future, and it might not be fully developed yet. But this is a rough draft of what should be included in the project. It might come to change over the next years.
My Project Plan:
- Summer before project year:
- Read both fact books and biographies of actors and directors.
- Think about the best way to present my play
- August
- Read through script and make notes on how I want to present every scene.
- Introduce the play to the students at VRG. I need to find out how many people would be interested in joining the play.
- Decide which charity I would like to donate to.
- September
- Start the theater committee.
- Look into places to present the play at.
- Think about a number of people I would want to interview.
- Start auditions if that would be necessary. Otherwise I would have to at least decide who is going to get which part.
- Look for sponsors.
- October
- Hopefully interview the actors and directors.
- Rehearsals starts. Have read through with actors.
- Continue search for sponsors.
- Book stage for January.
- November
- Rehearsals continue
- Start to think about how to build the set. Make a list of what would be needed in order to complete the set.
- December
- Rehearsals continue
- Build set
- Spread the word about the play.
- January
- Perform the play (if musical would be in February)
- February
- Complete the play (if musical would be in January)
- Donate the money.
- Write report.
