-: My name is Joanna Edie,
and I'm the drama teacher at the Langley School.
I would divide my day into two parts.
The normal school hours from 7.45 to 3.10
are when I teach my drama curriculum.
A lot of it is acting but I really want students
to understand that there's so many other skills
besides acting that go into a production.
Because if they are shy or not excited about being on stage,
I want them to know that there's
a place for them somewhere else.
You don't have to be an actor to have a part on this team.
You could design the costumes, or work backstage,
or move the set pieces, or adjust the mic levels.
So I teach a little bit of all of that,
plus playwriting, a little bit of directing,
and at the core of it all I'm trying to teach them
the importance of collaboration and teamwork,
and stepping up to take the lead
when the group needs a leader.
But also, stepping back and letting someone else lead,
and compromising and reaching consensus,
which are all important life skills.
I also direct the after school Fall play and Spring musical,
which are big productions, it's like being in a sport.
It's like rehearsal everyday and they're really fun.
The very first thing is choosing
the scripts, which is really tricky.
There are a lot of criteria that I need to work with.
It needs to be appropriate for the age
of children that I teach, and even younger,
because we have kinder-gardener's in the audience
who love coming to see the shows.
Then auditions and rehearsals, and if it's a musical
singing rehearsal and choreography.
Then at our school we have students
onstage and students backstage.
So usually by the end I'm working
with 60 to about 70 students,
and they do everything from moving the set pieces
to designing the costumes, running the sound
and lights equipment in the booth, operating the spotlight.
Then there are individual crews,
so an 8th grader who learned how to do it in 6th grade
is now the leader for the tech crew or whatever.
So yeah, it's a lot of rehearsals,
and then as you get closer to the performance
the rehearsals go into the evenings,
and there's Saturday hours and stuff,
but that's the best part.
The most time consuming part is where all the magic happens.