The 48 Hour Play Project

Episode 200: The 48 Hour Play Project In this episode we talk to a middle school teacher who takes her students from script to production in 48 hours. How does she do it? How can you do it? Listen in to find out! It’s a mega mix of skills: creative thinking, critical thinking, collaboration and communication. Show Notes * Drama Teacher Academy Episode Transcript Welcome to the Drama Teacher Podcast brought to you by Theatrefolk – the Drama Teacher Resource Company. I’m Lindsay Price. Hello! I hope you're well. Thanks for listening! This is Episode 200. Woot! Woot! And you can find any links to this episode in the show notes which are at Theatrefolk.com/episode200. 200 episodes! Celebrate! Fireworks! I’m trying to say, “Fireworks!” Okay, 200, that’s a lot. I know it’s not a lot for some podcasts. Some of the podcasts I listen to, I think The Nerdist is closing in on a thousand episodes, but we are just chugging along here, doing our little thing, making our little recordings. The podcast is one of the things that gets mentioned to me time and time again by folks when I go to conferences. So, I just want to take a second to, again, say thank you. Thank you for listening! Today, we are talking about putting on a play as part of a speed round. 48 hours from getting the script to performance. That’s what our guest does with her middle schoolers. Let’s find out the what, the how, and the why, shall we? It is a mega-mix of creative thinking, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. I’ll see you on the other side! LINDSAY: Hello everybody! I’m here with Angela Watkins. Hello, Angela! ANGELA: Hello, Lindsay! LINDSAY: Awesome! You sound like chipper, ready to go! Love it! ANGELA: Always. LINDSAY: Or you fake it really well, right? ANGELA: Yes! LINDSAY: Awesome. Okay, can you tell everybody where in the world you are right now? ANGELA: Where in the world I am right now is at the Telluride Middle/High School in Telluride, Colorado. It’s in the southwest mountains. It’s a beautiful little resort town that I’m lucky enough to get to teach at. LINDSAY: Awesome. Lovely. How long have you been a teacher? ANGELA: I’ve taught for about 25 years, but not formally in a school for that long. I’m going into my tenth-year teaching at a regular school and with a theatre curriculum. LINDSAY: Have you been teaching drama all this time? Or is it new? ANGELA: Yes, I’ve been teaching drama all this time. I initially founded a little theatre company here quite some time ago and my position was education and outreach. So, the school subcontracted me to do plays within the school. After – I don’t know – 15 years or so, I decided not to be in a theatre company anymore and just teach. That’s where this position came along. And so, I’ve taught, I’ve directed plays – you know, many, many hats. LINDSAY: Always, always, the drama teacher wears a gazillion hats. What is it about teaching drama that connects to you? ANGELA: Well, I guess, when I think about when I was young, what I enjoyed most about school was drama – the fact that so much can be learned in playing and pretending and role-playing and stuff. Every student, no matter who they are, can get something out of theatre, and some take it very seriously and go very far, but it can go in many directions and it’s so nice to give kids that don’t usually have those options some oppo...