Special Projects

What Do You Do When the World Shuts Down?

There is nothing like live theatre. The rush. The thrill. The chaos. The roar of the crowd.  So what happens when that is taken away? Well, as they say, the show must go on, so I had to be creative. During Covid-19 shutdown, it was more important than ever to keep the kids engaged with school and their passion; enter Masterclass.

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The popular online education platform Masterclass has some of the world’s best and brightest minds giving tutorials in various fields. Users have the opportunity of learning cooking techniques from Gordon Ramsey to creative writing from Margaret Atwood. Photography from Annie Leibovitz to musicianship from Carlos Santana.

Using the same concept, my theatre partner and I got back to our roots and gave students the opportunity to learn and explore theatre topics that are normally pushed aside because of time constraints involved with mounting a full-scale production.

We took the Covid-presented opportunity to pause and get back to our roots. To explore what it means to be an artist in the theatrical world.  Our goal was to help West theatre students learn the working mechanics of all aspects of theatre. We wanted them to learn and practice makeup techniques, delve into elements of design, and explore the world of directing.

We offered 9 weeks of educational topics where students had the opportunity to learn and practice new skills. This was undoubtedly a different learning experience, but here at Appleton West, the show went on!