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A.P.Fraser
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Hi Everyone!
Welcome to my home page and that of the LCS Theatre Department!!
This is a space where I can share valuable information with all of you-either curricularly or extra-curricularly. It is also a place where I can update you all on the continuous activities of the theatre department so you can be aware of all the awesome things we are doing!
April 1 2010
Lockerby Production Arthurs Stone Merlins Fire a Success "Afterglow"
On March 23 we opened with our very first two act production and our first theatre production to encorporate dance and live vocal music. It is therefore, with pride that I say it was a success. We successfully completed a five show run with maturity and team work. Kids, I am so very proud of what we have accomplished. The best part of what we accomplished is the fact that we did it all ourselves, students created the set, costumes and edited sound and lighting cues. You all epitimize the idea of committment. Thank you to Mrs. Fraser, Mrs. Persi, Mrs Catto and Mrs. Tripp for your help with choirs, set paiting and costumes.
I would like to share my directors message from the program with all of you.
Directors Message
Commitment: the act of binding oneself intellectually, physically and emotionally to a course of action or a common goal.
It is with great pride I welcome you to this years production of Arthurs
Stone Merlins Fire: The Making of a King a show which I am very proud
to say exemplifies the very idea of commitment. Society can give teenagers
quite a derogatory reputation, therefore, it is special to work with students
whose drive reaches beyond their maturity to create magic; whose initial
reaction in the face of adversity is not I can’t but I can. So first
and foremost this show is both theirs and for them as it started with
a conversation we shared.
In the months of September and October I searched with intensity to find
a show that ‘fit’ our program-one that was challenging, yet
within reach, so much so that it became common to see me hauling bags
of scripts back and forth from work and hear me answering the question
“what show are we doing” with increase frustration. Then I
found Arthur, set aside due to an extreme amount of males I pulled it
back out and began to read. The themes of religious tolerance and strength
in the face of adversity were captivating and although seemingly complicated
the story was actually quite simple. It was the story of a young man who
puts innocence and childhood aside to choose his destiny and fight for
his friends. Then the bell rang and as always a heard of teenagers barreled
in the auditorium bantering away about this and that , lost in Arthurs
world and knowing a coworker was supervising I noticed naught that two
had plunked themselves down on either side of me to take a peek at what
I was reading—sneaky young people are. My reverie was broken by
an excited Kelsey and Anthony exclaiming “is this our play”?
“I don’t know” I said “this one has a lot of costumes
and set, we’d have to make rocks and I think we’d need to
buy some lighting…but it’s really cool, actually I…
love it”. Time went on and I kept reading but my mind always went
back to Arthur, Merlin and Nimue and their journey in the forest that
symbolized so much, nothing I was reading seemed to compare to their adventure.
I often found myself reading through old technical theatre notes on ‘rock
creation’, and medieval costumes so much so that a friend finally
said I think you found your show---I think you should just own it. But
I needed to know that my students were committed, so we had a meeting,
I explained that the show I wanted to do was both a technical and artistic
challenge, that we would have to be more committed than ever, that we’d
have to have tech days and sewing days and no one could skip out on rehearsals-in
short we needed to be a team. To this my fighters exclaimed “come
on we already are a team, we can do this…we can do anything”.
With that we went to work, with a ferocity second only to Arthur himself
my young actors, technicians and I saved rehearsals for the weekdays and
met on weekends to carve rocks, chess pieces and wands, assemble torches,
grind, grout, weld, paint and yes sew. Kids, like Arthur you chose to
commit to the challenge before you and through adversity fought to achieve
it-so this show is truly yours, great job!
Before I close there are others who I must thank, without which this show
would never have got off the ground. As always Ms. H Gaffney, Ms, H Downey
and Mr. D Bertrim who recognize the importance of arts and whose support
is simply unfaltering. Sandy Fraser, Carol Persi, Cathy Dionne Mr. Ealdama
and Kelsey Mazzuca who sewed and modified almost every costume you see
tonight. Gord Fraser, Holly Thorne, Mr.Carr and Jordan Scarlet for all
their help with set.
February 7 2010
Lockerby Composite School Experiences its first Sewing Bee with successful results!
I myself am not a great sewer, in fact "costume technology" was my least favourite of the technical theatre units in University-May have been the three hour safety lecture who knows. However, this weekend a bunch of brave teenagers, parents and siblings came to lockerby to sew costumes with me. This was an experiment, we had never worked as a set to costume a show-granted we'd never needed too. Well I must say this was the best idea my mother ever had, in one day we have all but three costumes sewed to completion. Kelsey proved to be our leader-yes this 16 year old lady guided all in the room. She cut all of the boys tunics with a pattern we printed out from the internet on a 8x10 piece of paper-no we don't have midgets, Kelsey is just that good. Alessandra braved the needle with patience, enthusiasm and a enthusiastic guide-her and Sandy finished her costume as a team. I think in the end she actually enjoyed herself. Kaitlyn tackled Morgains wings with a vision and without having sewed before proved that an artist is an artist no matter what medium she was working in. Now we just need pants for the boys, 4 tree costumes, 5 water pixies and one young ladys costume and we're good to go! We're going to make it!
Zach spent the day working on a 'hilt design', experimenting with canvas, a strange form of rivets the guy at home hardware insisted upon and my flat-glue mixture. I do think hes' onto something although we have to wait for it all to try. Thanks Zach for trying on ALL of the boys costumes, I know dress up is not your favourite thing in the world but you 'done good' kiddo. Brian spent the day with his dremmel-no this isn't a pet but a device used to engrave, polish and put fine detail in material. Alone, he patiently took multiple layers of tarnish and mould to reviel a gorgeous cauldron underneath. It sparkles! Go Brian! Alessandra, Emma, and Emily S spent the day in "dry wall mud land" and finished mudding the other two rocks as well as primed them. I am proud to announce that their work ensures that we will no longer be picking pieces of blue fuzz off the auditorium floor-at least a hope not. Emma, Alessandra and Emily also repaired the crack and thumbhole cracks in Arthurs stone-results of stage fighting errors from the week past.
Thank you: Alessandra, Kelsey, Kaitlyn, Celine, Emily H, Emma, Emily S, Zach, Melissa, Sandy, Cathy, Carol Persi and Sara Lalonde!
In terms of Rehearsal this week could not have been much more productive. I said the second stage of this process was a revisitation of all scenes now that they were blocked. I am proud to announce that we are halfway through this process!!!Yes we are back to precentages again and we are 50% through stage two. GO KIDS! Anthonys and Zachs fight scene continues to progress...we have moved back to wooden swords to prevent killing the metal ones before show day. I must say the wooden one doesn't fit into the stone in the same way-the result of which was the stone falling over DURING a rehearsal-quite commical. This blooper gem was actually caught on tape so evidence will follow. The other boys are almost done choreographing so that is also excellent news: Go Justin, Zach, Devin and Connor. Kelsey and Tristas spooky scene is also coming together very elegantly, it gives me shivers every time I see it. And I would like to highlight Emmas' progress with her sermon from scene seven I'm excited to see it with the rest of the characters! I do have to remind everyone that as we get closer to show time attendance becomes more and more important! We are a team we need you all there and working! Bring homework to do between your scenes! Great job Kids its been an adventurous week Good job!
Science
This week we have covered quite a few topics essential to success in grade 10 science. We began by reviewing the classifications of matter, chemical vs physical properties and the periodic table. Thursday we then began to investigate ionic compounds in terms of how they transfer electrons between them to become stable, then on Friday we began ionic Nomenclature.
This coming week we continue this path with polyatomic ions (monday), molecular compounds (tuesday), a safety video, Conservation of Mass and Word equations. Nomenclature is something that you have to practice/rehearse like you would arts or sports, make sure that you are doing your homework daily and handing it in for checks. If you need assistance.
February 1 2010
Welcome to semester II! When you get your final marks I want you to use them to guide your work ethic in semester II, if they are wonderful you know you have to keep doing what you are doing and if they are lower than you think then you know you need to modify your habits-don't get down get inspired!
Step Science Kids
We are starting with Chemistry! Chemistry has its origin in Alchemy-to the extent that most early peoples beleived when they were doing chemistry experience they were really doing magic. To begin the semester I want you to think back and forget everything you know about science-now only for about 5 minutes-and think, if you knew nothing of science and saw someone mix two substances to create an explosion-don't you think you would feel they were magical too?
Now remember everything you have forgotten. We are going to begin the semester with looking at how atoms-the smallest unit of matter combine to form everything we see. Please brush up on your knowledge of the periodic table, the classification of matter and the difference between a chemical and physical property! I'm in the auditorium in the morning before school and lunch if you need extra help-as is your peer helper. Make arrangments if you need an alternative time. Great Job its been an adventurous week!
Extra curricular Kids
Its all about Tech. Yesturday (January 31st) a number of the cast and crew came to school on a Sunday no less to assist me and a few other adults create the set for this years production. We started at ten thirty and didn't end til 6:00 but the long hours were worth it. As a set we managed to : carve the other two rocks (thanks Kaitlyn, Garrett, Emily, Devin), re-mud Arthurs' rock, prime Arthurs rock (Alessandra Emily and Celine),put casters on the dock (Anthony and Company), create all 8 torches (Jordan and company), paint all 8 torches (Holly and Michael), make tea light holders (Holly and Michael), paint a tree (Anthony), make Kelseys' hood (Kelsey), finish Bryden's Dress (Sandy), finish Kaitlyns Dress (Kaitlyn) and clean clean clean. We even finally took down the Christmas decorations (Ryan) I went home a very tired, dirty (klutz plus drywall mud=mess), but extremely proud director. It says something about our actors when they extend their involvement from the stage to behind the scenes and dedicate their own sundays to do so. As a result we only have one set piece left to construct. Go cast and crew!
Thank you: Gord, Sandy, Holly, Jordan, Anthony, Ryan, Derek, Melissa, Celine, Emily H, Alessandra, Kelsey, Kaitlyn, and Garrett!
January 29 2010
In Class
As all arts students know this past week as been the one in which we evaluate the culminating performance tasks students prepare for their final exams. In theatre this means we do a monologue (a performance done by a single actor) As always it is an interesting and gratifying experience to see how students have grown throughout the course of 5 months. There were a number of very powerful highlights to note and many should be proud of their accomplishments. In two sections (60) of Grade 9 Connor, Kevin, Iokepa, Lauren, Meghan, Mike, David, Samantha, Mac, Alex, Carlee, Trista and Sara all gave very captivating performances. In Grade 10 we have Cherra, Wade, Clay, Chance, Alexis and Shai while in grade 12 we have Garrett, Emily, Steven and Jordan. Great job kiddos your intense work with character analysis and subtext allowed you to drop into character and stay in the moment-something that at is difficult to do no matter what acting level you are at-I could not be more proud and you should share your progress with your parents!
Extra-Curricular TheatreArthurs Stone Merlins Fire
I am proud to announce that we are making great progress in this piece. I am oh so proud of all of those who came in the Thrusday of exams to rehearse-expecially those who had to take the bus in in the morning to do so. We made much progress in this period-Zach and Anthony worked out the kinks in their fight scene, Kaitlyn, Garrett, Anthony, Kelsey and my grade 9 girls got to do some very in-depth character work and a number of students got some work done on the set.
This is a reminder that we are moving into a very difficult stage of the process and your attendance is more important than ever. I am oh so proud of you and know you will continue to 'bring it'. Rehearsals begin again on Tuesday! Please check the calender and watch for e mails. Also, there is a tech day this sunday.
Break a Leg!
January 17 2010
As one more week passes and we come closer and closer to exams I must take a second to remind all students to ensure they are caught up in all their courses. I have learned that math help is now running three days a week-Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and all students should take advantage of this.
In terms of my courses I want to remind all students that their final written exams are coming upt his week. Grade 9s are writing on the 20th and 10/11/12s on the 19th all in the balcony. The performance exams in the form of a monologue begin on Thursday January 21 and all students must sign up for a time on the door of the auditorium. The auditorium is open all days until 5:30 for students to work if need be.
In terms of the play I am happy to announce we are moving on to stage two! This means that we begin running scenes together and work on subtext, transitions and polishing. This is an exciting period where we see lots of interesting things. One is the fight scene between Anthony (Arthur) and Accolon (Zach) in Act I which is turining out to be quite...epic. The video will follow.
January 10 2010
This week I am very happy to report that we have FINISHED blocking this years production of Arthurs' Stone Merlins' Fire! SO on to step two!I could not be more proud of this! I would also like to announce that Emily has secured our first sponsor-this is amazing news! We have also acquired a number of props that we need so things are definately coming together-slowly but surely.
In terms of class work we are moving into culminating tasks and exams. All classes will start their monologues on Monday-this is a performance done by a single actor. All classes will also begin reviewing for their final written exams. The grade 9s will write on November 20th while the 10s, 11s and 12s on January 19th. All students with access to resource are reminded to SIGN up if they intend to write their exams in the resource room. Also ALL students are reminded to find out if they are behind in ANY classes and catch up before exams-the more caught up you are before exams the better you will do in the class. Last but not least you are all reminded to pay attentin to reviews-there is a reason why teachers give you these. KEEP WORKING and I know you will be successful!
December 20 2009
THREE shows -one week! And Happy Holidays!!!!
This brings an end to another busy week in the theatre department. I have a number of updates this week. The first is we have managed to block 81% of the show already, which is amazing. I am so very proud. We have also been able to grout the rock and start the second rock (Thank you Kelsey). Similarly, Brian has been able to finish our dock and its awesome-Go Brian!
As I mentioned before, Sunday my students had the opportunity to Tech A Christmas Carol at SSS which was an amazing experience. However, we also were able to tech the Christmas Concert (Thank you Chance for setting up) and the Christmas Assembly (Thank you Zack, Kelsey, Anthony and Brian). Great job!
We also had an opportunity to act in the Christmas assembly-Zack and Stephen did awesome musical performances and the grade 10-12 theatre class rocked the whole house with a rendition of a scene from my own past-they even danced! Again I am impressed with my students ability to work as a team to solve problems, great job.
I hope everyone has a Happy and safe holiday as well as a Happy New Year! You all deserve a nice long rest!
December 13 2009
"Snow Days, and Tech Work and Christmas Carols OH MY!"
This closes another busy week in the theatre department as well as one of progress. Due to our quick pace rehearsal was cancelled this Monday as we managed to block a whole extra scene on thursday (this is rare). This meant for an extra day for my cast to catch up on homework and study for tests, ironically we had a snow day this wednesday so our rehearsal was cancelled. However, what does the drama department do on a snow day? MAKE A MESS-well a technically progressive mess at least. My dedicated and couragous theatre students who made it through a snow storm and I managed to create Arthur's rock out of styrofoam. We started by gluing 8 sheets of styrofoam together with silicon glue, cutting the whole thing width wise and then gluing the pieces together....this brought us to stomach height. Kaitlyn our resident visual artist, Brian assistant stage manager to the max and I then planned out how it would look and started carving. I must say my experience with styrofoam sculpting is of a novice level so we learned a lot together. Although it was awesome to work with in terms of effect and we have a gorgeous (still blue) rock the stuff got everwhere it is also static so it stuck to absolutley everywhere. Next step is actually to grout it...interesting I'll let you all know how it goes...Go Kaitlyn, Emily and Brian you did well!!!!!!!!!!! And thank you all for cleaning up.
Sunday brought us the long awaited community and inter-school Christmas Carol reading at the Sheridan Auditorium. I was approached by the organizer in October whether or not I would stage manage the reading and whether or not, since it was an inter-school event, my students could act as a backstage crew. I picked 9 of my students to work and 7 were able to help in the end. This was our first show that we run 'on the fly' as my old technical director would say and to be honest we did an AMAZING job. Kaitlyn flew in set pieces which was pretty neat to see. Emily gave all of the cast their calls, and acted as a runner pulling every group in the scene before they were needed so they were ready. Great job! Garrett cued ME from a script, and Chance cued a band on his own, Kelsey/Garrett Mic'd a blue-grass band, Emma/Kaitlyn/Chance/Kelsey dealt with a very testy and heavey grand piano, and last but ont least Falon had the patience to switch a powerpoint slide every 10 seconds. Also, Emma, Kelsey, Garrett, Kaitlyn, Emily and Chance dealt with a funny inadvertant set up. The overall experience was pretty interesting. Very seldom do we work as a school board to create art, and in this instance we did just that. In the midst of hearing "Joy to the world" which my students set up, SSS's Brass ensemble played, Jean Hanson our leader introduced and students from Lasalle, Lo Ellen, Lockerby, and SSS sang, I couldn't help but sit in wonder at what we could create when we all worked together. It was interesting to see so many arts kids and teachers work together to create art. Thank you SO much Ralph for giving us this opportunity and Emily, Falon, Kelsey, Kaitlyn, Emma, Garrett and Chance for their very hard work-I know you learned lots.
December 5 2009
Extra-curricular
This week we have two things to celebrate. The first being the second annual LCS arts day, this is an important event because we as a department are able to open our doors to share our passion of the arts with grade 8 students from MacLoed, Alexander and Coppercliff plublic schools. Students had the opportunity to drum circle with Mr. Jensen, sing with Ms. Tripp, paint with Ms. Catto and last but not least stage fight with the LCS drama students and I. This is an interesting opportunity for my theatre students to share skills they have learned in class with their younger peers and I must say they did a flawless job. I could not have done such a complicated workshop without them. Great job Kelsey, Kaitlyn, Celine, Emily, Stephen, Zach, Chance, Emma, Anthony, and Zach, I could not be more proud!
The other success we have to celebrate as a department is our progress in this years production of Arthur's Stone, Merlin's Fire. This show is inspired by the Arthur myth and traces his journey in accepting his destiny as king. Offering many challenges including speaking trees, water pixies and sword fights-not to mention being our first two act play. My students have risen to the challenge, making great progress in our development of the production. This is our third week of rehearsal and we have 'blocked' (found the movements and positions of) 70% of the show. Just for comparison it took us until February to block this much of the play last year-that is 10weeks! In addition, after extensive training we have successfully choreographed our first sword fight as a department. Go Zach and Anthony! Last but not least my leads have made great progress in their discovery of their characters. As a director it is always amazing to see this happen. We have a solid Arthur, Nimue, Merlin, and Morgain, Great job Kiddos! Keep it up, I can promise you all if they do this will be a production for the history books! Lets have it all blocked before Christmas, 16 more pages! YAY!
Drama Classes
Grade 9
Monday nines are finishing their stage fighting presentations. YAY! Then we are moving into Neutral dialogues, we'll get the first two done this week.
Grade 10-12
We're still in our Comedy unit. They are presenting "Tag" scenes Monday/Tuesday and then their Parody Scenes Thursday.
November 27 2009
The arts students (visual and dramatic) just returned from a successful arts trip with the visual arts department in T.O (And Ms. Catto). We all had an opportunity to enjoy the AGO, ROM and CN tower. We also were able to see a very interesting (and successful) production of A MidSummer Nights dream at the Hart House Theatre at the University of Toronto. The show used a innovative concept to reinforce the themes of the piece , using gypsies instead of fairies to produce a show so clean the scene changes were even captivateing. Thank you to Ms. Catto for her amazing vacation planning skills and awesomeness, Mr. Beatty and Mr. Bouchard for coming with us and all artz students who participated, it was a wonderful group!
PS: Our hostel also wrote a blog about how wonderful our artz students are see it under November 26th at:
http://www.canadianalodging.com/blog/
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