October, 2016
Dear Parent and Student:
This year we will be working on the Halloween show during the month of the October. The show selected for this year’s production is the student adaptation of Rod Serling’s teleplay “To Serve Man” from “The Twilight Zone”. The adaptation is about aliens who come to Earth who want to help humans - or do they? Rehearsals will be during fifth period, 1:12 to 2:04 Monday through Friday. The show will be performed on Wednesday and Thursday, October 26th and October 27th at 7 p.m.
On the day of the performances, the students will have to stay from 3:15 to about 8 p.m. From 3:15 to 7:00, the students will be setting up for the show, rehearsing, doing final run-throughs of tech and dress rehearsals, and getting into costume and make-up. The show will begin at 7 p.m. and there will be a small three dollar charge (this is a fund raiser to help the magnet). “To Serve Man” is about thirty minutes in length and is paired with another short play entitled “The Monkey’s Paw”, which is about twenty minutes in length. “The Monkey’s Paw” will perform first at 7 p.m. There will be a short intermission of about ten minutes, and then “To Serve Man” will be performed, starting at around 7:30. The entire show should be finished around 8 p.m.
This is part of your child’s grade. Everyone in the class is involved in the show, either as a performer, and/or as a crew member. The many duties of the crew members include stage managing; assistant directing; finding and running props during the show; finding, creating, and maintaining costumes during the show; building sets and changing sets during the show; creating the sound effects, finding the music, and running the sound during the show; running concessions during the show; and creating posters, flyers, writing announcements, and running social media - facebook, snapchat, and instagram - for publicity. Many students are both performing in the show and working on crews.
Every day the students are expected to work during class time, either on the crews or in the show as a performer, or as a stage manager, or as a student director. The students are required to keep a notebook for the class with the script, notes, drawings, pictures, cues, etc. (depending on which crew they are working on ) which mark their work and progress on the show. After the show closes, their notebooks will be graded according to thoroughness and effort. Every day in class during the month of October, the students will be graded on their effort and success in accomplishing daily and weekly goals set for the show.
Failure to participate or cooperate, or contribute to the show, which is the focus of the class this month will result in a lowered grade or even a fail in the class.
I hope this is a fun and exciting experience for your child and I hope that you and your family can attend “To Serve Man” and enjoy your child’s show.
Thank you,
Kate Bridges
Teacher/Director
Student Name:______________________________________________________________
Parent Name:_______________________________________________________________
Parent Email:_______________________________________________________________
