Our YPT work has begun and true to our destination, our final artifact is drama in motion. That's right, we're writing our own min play. The topic? Beyond the Classroom of Course. Stay tuned for information on our performance date where we hope to debut our work.
Our time at YPT is going to include lots of expert advice on script writing, play creation and a look at how YPT runs its day to day operations.
Day 1 was a discussion with Nancy Webster on the mandate of YPT and lots of stats on the budget. We're becoming budget experts!
YPT Padlet for Day 1
https://padlet.com/StSylvester/beyondtheclassypt
Padlet on responding to others
https://padlet.com/StSylvester/yptbeyondtheclassresponding
Our script Draft 4 is here. Still a work in progress.
Beyond the Classroom Script draft 4.docx
Draft 5 below
draft 5 beyond the class.docx
Draft 6
draft 6 beyond the class.docx
Austin's Butterfly in Action. Draft 7(!) is below.
draft 7 beyond the class.docx
Beyond the Classroom Play Final.docx
We’re into day three at YPT and like every beyond the classroom experience, WOW has there been diversity in the learning journey.
Day one started with my one of the themes that has woven into every experience we’ve had. It makes the world go round whether we like it or not - money, money, money! It was fascinating to hear about how ypt has a budget of $5 million (compare that to the $790 million at Sick Kids.)
Equally fascinating was learning about how they balance their budget. To my novice mind, the biggest chunk of that money would come from ticket sales. Nope. Government funding? Wrong again. In fact, the biggest single contributor to the YPT budget? Charitable donations. Two million of their five million actually comes from individual donations and large companies. 1 million comes from ticket sales. 1 million from government and the remaining 1 million from a combination of drama school revenue, rental of space, etc. Goes to show yet again that every organization finds different ways to make their bottom line and also interesting to note that every group we’ve been to either aims for balanced budget (SickKids, YPT) , or profit (Cieslok, Toronto Zoo, Boston Pizza) . Only the provincial government and federal government consciously have deficits in their budget, and that’s because everyone wants more from the government all the time!
This particular Beyond the Classroom experience has been different in that we do not have individual final artifacts that students are working towards like their government presentations on an issue of importance, OR group collaborations like the nutritious snacks we fed the school at the end of our nutrition unit. This time the final artifact is a play that we are aiming to present on education night. The topic? You guessed it - Beyond the Classroom! So far we’ve cobbled together a script from student and educator input (on to Draft 6 as we speak). Set design is in motion as are sound effects and music. If only we had someone to give us expert advice on all parts. Oh yeah…..YOUNG PEOPLE’S THEATRE!
To this point, we’ve had instruction on what makes a great story, how to warm up and prepare to be on stage, and keys to delivering your lines with impact – authentically feeling your character in role is one key that was shared with us by the professional actors we were able to speak to at YPT.
Our experiences have also included the chance to sit in on a rehearsal for Munsch time which is in the beginning stages of practice. That was a fantastic and intimate experience that was followed by the chance to see how voice overs are done for a play – but true to the theme of the Beyond the Classroom program, we didn’t just get to hear about voice overs – we actually did them – crying, pig snorting, sea creatures calling out – we did it all and will be able to hear the fruits of our labour when Munsch time debuts on stage. We’re ALMOST famous and if anyone needs to rent a make believe pig, Graham is your guy!
Day four promises to be equally exhilarating and informative – set design will be a key component of what we learn but again it will directly relate to the play we’re putting together.
One positive of working in a theatre space is that we’ve been able to devote significant whole group time on initial read throughs and practice for our play.
It occurred to me as it has so often that we could not do this in the classroom. Our lunch happens when it happens. Recess? What recess? But focused, productive, engaged work – you better believe it!
I’m psyched for what’s coming next and there’s nothing better than to be engaged and excited about your learning.