Questions & Answers
AUDITION WORKSHOP
What will happen at the optional audition workshop?
We will offer an optional audition workshop on Thursday, 9/28/23, 4:05-5:30pm. The location of the optional audition workshop is Bates Annex, Dance Studio, Room 402 or 403 (look for signs).
We will discuss the audition process and go over what to expect. We will answer questions about the show. And depending on how many people show up, you should have a chance to learn a short dance sequence to help reduce anxiety during the real audition. This may be particularly useful for students who have never auditioned before or students who know they typically get anxious during auditions. Knowing what to expect and meeting people who are on the casting committee take away some of the unknowns and help reduce anxiety.
Most all people get anxious at auditions. The more experienced just know how to manage their anxiety better. It's not that they're not anxious. It's just that they figured out what works for them to help calm nervousness. Maybe it's a routine. Maybe it's humming quietly before entering the audition room. Maybe it's deep breathing or meditating. Everyone is different. Find what works for you.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
Can tech crew applicants attend the optional audition workshop if they’re interested to see it?
Yes, they can. But Ms. Peregrina, our technical director, will be conducting an optional tech crew interest meeting at the same time. If students know they only are interested in working crew, attending the tech crew interest meeting would be a better choice.
If students are not sure whether they are interested in performing or working crew, perhaps attending one of the two optional sessions will give them an idea of which choice is a good fit for them. If you start at one and realize that one is not a good fit for you, you are welcome to leave that one early and join the other meeting nearby. But please let the adult in the room know that you're going to check out the other meeting.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
CASTING
Does Bates Drama Club cast understudies?
Bates Drama Club does not cast understudies for several reasons.
Additional time needed
Casting understudies requires an increase of, at minimum, 20-30% of rehearsal time for all. With our rehearsal schedule of about 72 hours, that adds up to 16-24 more rehearsal hours. That additional rehearsal time would require 11-16 more after-school rehearsals or 6-8 additional Saturday rehearsals.
Ill-Prepared
In the director’s experience, instead of having one well-prepared actor, an understudy results in two underprepared actors.
Unfair
An understudy’s job is hard and they usually do not get rewarded. Even if we designate one performance as an understudy performance, the understudy does not get the same reward for the same amount of work as or more work than the lead.
Skill
Typically, any student who could handle the tough job of an understudy already has another significant part in the play. That means shifting more than one student around if a lead gets ill or injured.
Complicated Feelings
Being an understudy brings with it a complicated set of emotions and thoughts. An understudy gets to shine if tragedy befalls a cast mate, a friend, a member of what has become a temporary family. A middle schooler can feel quite conflicted. Even an adult in that position must navigate troubling feelings of guilt due to fleeting thoughts of a friend getting ill and coming to the rescue of the play. The director does not want to place middle school students in that position.
So what happens if a cast member gets ill or injured and cannot go on?
The director will pick a student who knows the part well enough and would not cause too much role-reassignment disruption to go on in the ill student’s stead with script in hand.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
Are cast members from last year guaranteed to be cast this year?
Everyone must audition and no one is guaranteed to be cast. Just because you were in a previous Bates Drama Club production does not mean you will definitely be cast in this year's show.
The casting committee considers many variables when making casting decisions and we take our responsibility very seriously. Likewise, students should take their responsibilities seriously as well. Follow instructions when applying to audition and meet deadlines. Review the rehearsal schedule and the participation contract before auditions. Be prepared--make sure you can play your audition music without access to the internet, anticipate mistakes and have a backup plan. Show us you are a responsible student excited for an opportunity to be part of the show. In short, make it easy for us to cast you.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
Will every student who auditions be cast?
Not all who audition will be cast. Among the factors affecting a limit to cast size are rehearsal space, performance space, fire code, learning environment, and behavior management. The production staff strives to have a rewarding, enriching, and fun experience for all students cast. We do not want to risk providing students a mediocre or poor experience if the cast size is unlimited.
In 2023-24, the cast offers will be limited to a maximum of 30 students though it could be less.
We know our decision to limit cast size will add anxiety to the audition process and a greater chance of disappointed students after the casting announcement. However, on balance, we believe this decision is best for the students, Bates, and the show.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
Are 6th graders less likely to be cast than 8th graders?
No, we do not take age or grade into account when making casting decisions. The only time we look at grade level is after casting to see the relative breakdown of the cast and to plan for school related conflicts.
When we look at the numbers after casting each year, we've found that the cast is usually evenly represented by students from each grade give or take one or two. Sometimes the eighth graders have a few more than the sixth graders because the eighth graders as a group tend to have a higher concentration of students with more experience auditioning. So they tend to be a little less nervous overall and do a little better managing anxiety, which allows them to perform better in auditions. But in 2021-22, more sixth graders were cast than eighth graders. So, likely, that year more sixth graders were more comfortable or experienced auditioning than eighth graders.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
AUDITIONS
What if a student is sick, has COVID-like symptoms, or is injured on their audition day?
If you are sick or have COVID-like symptoms on your audition day, please do not risk your health or the health of others--stay home and email the director at megna@aacps.org.
We will fit you in on the second audition day, the overflow audition day, or on the callback day (see the audition info for dates).
This accommodation only applies to students who have met the audition application deadline.
What if a student's quarantine extends past the callback date?
We will handle these situations on a case-by-case basis. We cannot promise a makeup audition date much past the callback date.
What if a student is not contagious but can't sing due to, for example, congestion?
Notify the the director at megna@aacps.org. If you can dance and speak, you will complete those portions of your audition on your selected audition day. We will reschedule your singing audition as described above.
What if a student is injured but can sing and speak?
Notify the the director at megna@aacps.org. If you can sing and speak, you will complete those portions of your audition on your selected audition day. We will reschedule your dance audition as described above.
If you are injured and think you can move enough to participate in a modified or limited dance audition safely without further injury or pain AND you have parent/guardian AND doctor permission, you may participate in your dance audition as scheduled. A parent/guardian must email the director before audition day to request the modified dance audition due to injury.
Remember, we are not looking for perfection in dance. We are looking at your stage presence, your facial expressions, and whether you can pretend as if you are doing the right movements even when you make mistakes.
We had a student participate in the dance audition in 2021 while wearing an orthopedic "boot" as he recovered from a sprain. He did only those portions of the dance routine that he could safely perform and had a big smile on his face, was expressive, and never let on when he made mistakes. He also did well on the singing and acting portion of his audition and received a cast offer.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
Can a student apply to audition after the deadline?
("But it's only one or two days after deadline.")
Unfortunately, no. The application period was open for more than 30 days and all information about auditions and this year's production has been available on the club's website and in hardcopy outside the cafeteria since Labor Day weekend. We placed announcements in the Cougar Chronicle and on Cougar Channel and on signs and flyers throughout the school. So students and families had an extensive amount of time to access the information before the deadline.
We need the week between the application deadline and auditions to prepare student information for the audition committee and to prepare for auditions. We process student information in bulk to be most efficient. It takes just a few minutes per student to prepare evaluation sheets for the committee for on-time applications. Applications that arrive after deadline require at least 45 minutes (and often more time) of work per application to catch up to the status of the other students. We need the remainder of our time to prepare materials we will need during auditions.We just don't have enough time to manage late applications.
Cast members in a production have to manage a lot of information, directions, and deadlines. And they need a lot of family support to be successful. The first test of those skills is successfully applying to audition, which includes meeting deadlines.
If you missed the deadline in early October because you didn't see the posters or announcements, we suggest you make a note in your calendar for next year. During the first week of September, this website will contain everything you need to apply to audition next year.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
Why can't students select their own singing/acting audition time slots like several years ago?
Students used to be able to select a specific time slot for the singing & acting portion of auditions using SignUpGenius. Now, students select a date, and drama club staff assign the time slot.
The reason for this change is because in 2022-23, we shifted our online presence and activities from external websites (Weebly, SignUpGenius) to websites and services under the safety and security of the AACPS tech umbrella to better protect private information of students and families. Nothing bad had happened; we just wanted to improve security and privacy once AACPS provided tech resources to sufficiently meet our needs.
Google forms has third-party add-on services to allow people to select time slots but they are often buggy and don't work well. Many times these add-ons corrupt the info collected and break the Google form. The AACPS technology office has also determined that, in their current state, the time selection add-ons are a security and privacy risk for students. So they are not allowed to be used under the AACPS umbrella of tech services. One of the downsides to improved security and privacy is that we cannot automate the time slot selection process to allow students to pick for themselves. We will reevaluate every year to see if we can once again allow students to select their own time slots.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
Can a student show up on an audition day, fill out the form, and audition?
No, the deadline for applying to audition is 7pm, Monday October 2, 2023. We have a limited amount of time and audition slots during auditions. We do not have staff or time to handle a student just showing up. We also need the week between the deadline and auditions to prepare audition materials for the casting committee, resolve any problems with audition applications, and answer questions. Trying to process a late application at an audition with no staff to support the activity takes valuable time away from those students who met the application requirements.
And lastly, part of the audition process is learning how well students can follow instructions. Rehearsing a play requires a lot of instructions, many of which evolve over the course of the rehearsal process. Students need time to sit with a parent or guardian to review audition and production related documents to fully understand the commitment. Students can certainly have help from family members in understanding application instructions. This is particularly true for our sixth grade students transitioning from elementary school.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
No. All students auditioning on their particular audition day MUST be checked in and ready to begin their choreography audition by 4:05pm. Students have ten minutes from dismissal until the choreography portion of audition starts. Get your belongings, use the bathroom, grab a snack in the hall, drink some water--use your limited time wisely.
All auditioning students signed up for that audition day will work as one large group on the choreography portion of their audition for the first 30 minutes of the afternoon.
If you show up in time only for your singing and acting audition time slot, you will have missed the choreography portion of the audition and will not be considered for any role.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
What about students who can't dance?
We know some auditioning students have no dancing experience. They are only interested in singing and acting. We need those students in the cast as well.
Director Martin Egna, like many in musical theater, says he understands the concern first hand. He is a reluctant dancer because he lacks confidence in his dancing skills. Yet he too had to endure many choreography auditions as a performer. He got through it and focused his effort on the skills he was confident in—singing and acting.
Despite lack of skill or experience, all students wishing to be in the show must complete the choreography portion of the audition.
We know we will be seeing students who don’t feel coordinated, who can’t remember all the steps. But we need to see you move. We obviously won’t demand of these students strenuous and complicated dance sequences in the show. But we will need you to move on stage, move your hands expressively, and be animated during the show. The choreography audition gives us this information.
Our tips for non dancers during the choreography portion of auditions:
Don’t sweat it. It’s not like you are going to suddenly become a dancer with 6 years of dance experience.
Have fun.
Smile.
Make eye contact with casting committee members.
If you make a mistake, and you will, don’t let it show on your face. Keep going as best you can.
Just get this portion of audition out of the way so you can shine later.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
My student is not sure whether she wants to audition to perform in the play or apply for tech crew. What do you suggest?
If students are not sure which they want to do, it’s perfectly fine to apply to audition and apply for a tech crew position. Or students can wait until the full stage crew is formed closer to the performances. Though, ultimately, a student can only accept one position in the theater company.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
Do students have to be members of the drama club to audition?
Students do not join Bates Drama Club and then audition. If you audition or apply to be on tech crew and accept a role or a crew position, you are a member of Bates Drama Club for the school year.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
Can anyone audition or apply for tech crew or is this play just for Apex Arts (formerly called PVA) magnet students?
Any Bates student can audition or apply to tech crew. The Bates Drama Club is a school-wide club for all students.
"Then why do I see the Apex Arts logo and 'sponsored by the Apex Arts program' on the website homepage and some of the posters I’ve seen?"
The Apex Arts program is providing the funding to the Bates Drama Club to produce the play but the opportunity is open to all Bates students.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
REHEARSALS
Do students have to wear Bates uniforms during rehearsals?
Students do NOT have to wear Bates uniforms when we rehearse. Students may change quickly before after-school rehearsals if they would like if it helps them move more freely for dance. Students also do not have to arrive in or wear Bates uniforms during weekend rehearsals at Bates nor when we shift our last rehearsals to our performance space in Studio 39. AACPS rules on attire still apply (example: no bare midriff, etc.)
AACPS regulation JCD - RA Student Attire and Personal Appearance
AACPS policy JCD Student Attire and Personal Appearance
posted or revised: 9/1/23
How reliable are the dates and times in the schedule?
We do not suddenly or unexpectedly change student commitments. We know families need reliable schedules. As a parent with children involved in performance groups, the director knows what it is like to deal with changing schedules or rehearsals that unexpectedly run late. Mr. Egna is committed to never doing that to Bates Drama Club families and has a long track record that matches that commitment.
If a rehearsal or performance is not confirmed due to people or departments outside our control, they are marked as tentative on the schedule. Nevertheless, drama club families should treat these as obligations until informed otherwise.
On occasion, an ill cast member or unexpected conflicts may lead to casting changes. If cast members are asked to take on additional performance responsibilities that affect their rehearsal schedule, we always make sure they can meet the new rehearsal commitment. This scenario often is a last-minute change due to an unexpectedly ill or injured student. Students who are asked to fill in, may turn down the proposed change with no consequences to their existing roles or production number participation.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
Do weather cancellations affect the next rehearsal call?
If AACPS closes school due to weather or cancels after school activities, play rehearsal for that day will be canceled. The Bates Drama Club is an official school activity and follows all AACPS closings.
The rehearsal cancellation does not change the “call.” We do not shift calls that were cancelled to the next rehearsal day. Follow the call sheet as published. We will catch up missed work due to the rehearsal cancellation on the following call sheet.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
Why don't rehearsals on Thursdays end in time to catch activity buses?
We have made a compromise to dismiss students 30 minutes early at 5pm if they need to catch an activity bus on Thursdays. Despite that accommodation, most, if not all, families have been very supportive of their students and the production and have provided transportation, which we know can be difficult. We are very grateful to be able to work with students past 5pm.
It takes about 75 rehearsal hours to prepare a cast for a 75 minute musical play for the stage. After-school rehearsals run from 4-5:30pm because it is hard for students to learn enough and build the confidence needed to move forward if we end at 5pm. By the time everyone signs in and gets settled, we answer questions, and warm up, the substantive part of rehearsal doesn't start until 4:10pm at the earliest. Also, if we ended at 5pm, we would need to have more frequent rehearsals. That would mean adding additional weekly after-school rehearsals or more Saturday rehearsals to the schedule. Adding more weekday rehearsals that are shorter or more Saturday rehearsals leads to more conflicts for cast and crew. There is no perfect solution. We have to balance transportation difficulties against creating more conflicts.
We try to give cast members days off from rehearsal whenever possible. But that will get more difficult starting January.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
Why aren’t rehearsals scheduled only on days that AACPS provides activity buses?
The Bates administration and the AACPS transportation office did not solidify their after-school plans for 2023-24 until well after the start of the school year. Bates Drama Club cannot wait for those plans to be set before we determine and get approval for our schedule, which includes information events, deadlines, auditions, callbacks, casting, tech crew interviews, and performances. We must move forward with imperfect information in July and August relying on the past and anticipating changes as best we can. We try to keep the schedule patterns as close to previous years as possible so students and families can better plan. We also publish deadlines, our rehearsal schedule, and performance dates during the first week of September to help families make better decisions as well.
In general, the Bates administration wants to give Bates Drama Club students an opportunity to get involved with other after-school clubs as well. Also, up until 2022-23, Bates provided help time after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So we tried to avoid some of those conflicts. Help days are now during the school day. Nevertheless some students occasionally need to seek academic help from teachers after school. Our schedule allows for these needs.
Additionally the AACPS transportation office did not commit to providing activity buses nor what time they would service Bates until a good number of weeks into the school year.
We know not having buses available on Mondays and activity buses departing around 5:00pm on Thursdays can make it difficult to participate. We encourage families to consider carpooling to reduce the burden. During the application process for cast & crew, we offer the option for families to share contact information to facilitate family carpooling. We only share contact information with opt-in families and only after casting. We add crew families that opt-in to the carpool contact info spreadsheet as they are hired.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
Why are Bates and AACPS activity conflicts handled more liberally for cast members in terms of rehearsal attendance than non school related activities?
We cannot possibly put together a show in the limited time we have with excessive cast member rehearsal absences. Our theater company will suffer loss of rehearsal time due to illness and weather. All our students have many interests and are involved in many activities. We have to draw a line somewhere in how much lost rehearsal time the staff can manage and other students can tolerate.
Every student-hour of rehearsal time lost costs staff time to rework rehearsal plans and results in inadequate rehearsal for the absent student's scene partners. Bates Drama Club is part of the AACPS school system. So, we choose to draw the line at supporting academics and related school activities. Nevertheless, we do offer flexibility to cast members with non AACPS activity conflicts in November and December.
Tech crew leadership, design, and staff positions are much more flexible and most are much less time consuming than being in the cast.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
Why is a requested rehearsal absence such a problem?
Many parents don’t fully appreciate the difficulty that rehearsal absence causes. Most parents asking for rehearsal conflict accommodation say something like, “My child is a quick study. My child will catch up.” We have no doubt that your children can study quick and pick up many aspects of performance by observation. But those skills are irrelevant to the problem the creative team encounters due to absences.
The problems have nothing to do with a child’s individual ability or work ethic. The difficulty with absence is that it is destructive to group effort, growth, and evolution. Preparing a cast to perform a play is not like teaching math or engineering or how to construct a grammatically correct sentence, all of which our director has professional experience doing. It does not have discrete steps and a predefined methodology that each student learns individually and works when they come together as a group. It is a very fluid process that changes daily, sometimes several times in a matter of minutes, to meet the dynamic needs of the group and the play.
Quite often, we will make a decision one day that just doesn’t work because of performer chemistry or ability or space or time constraints. So we make adjustments or wholesale changes on the fly. The cast members who were present for the first way and who indeed participated in the development of the second way get the benefit of the process, the growth, the change. The absent performers return not fully realizing the changes that have occurred and end up arguing with their scene partners about how the scene is supposed to run. There is just no way around it except attendance at rehearsals. The absent members may “catch up” learning what appears to be the final product. But they will never, ever match the growth and development of their scene partners.
So any discussion of individual student ability is irrelevant to a request for an excused absence.
It’s not just your child who wishes an excused absence. Many do. But it’s simply not possible to mount a show in the limited time we have if the group is constantly waiting for someone to learn what the rest have learned the last rehearsal.
We can be flexible early on in the process, particularly for ensemble members. But we have no such luxury later in the process.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
SCHEDULE
Can you please use Google Calendar for the rehearsal schedule and call sheet?
Unfortunately, no. We tried that one year, but not all families use Google Calendar and it contains several problems that make working with it more difficult for our production workflow. Using one calendar app or another will benefit some and cause problems for others. You are welcome to use any calendar app you choose. But we will continue to distribute Bates Drama Club rehearsal schedules and call sheets in hardcopy and as PDF files on the club's website.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
FINANCES
Can I donate to the Bates Drama Club?
Although we have no fees to participate, some parents nevertheless have asked if they can donate to the club. Of course. We appreciate the extra vote of confidence and appreciation for the work that our students do. Like all departments in AACPS, we have had increasing pressure to do more with less resources. We appreciate any support you can provide, whether it's time or money.
Please visit our Support webpage for more info.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
Does it cost anything to participate?
No is our initial answer because the Apex Arts magnet program is covering the cost for this school-wide art activity. But that’s not fully accurate because when does any activity truly cost you nothing?
So let us first give you a rough idea of what costs the Apex Arts program is covering. And then we will give you an idea of what costs students and their families might encounter for participation in the play.
The Apex Arts magnet program is paying for:
The performance rights (also called a performance license): The creators of a play own and control the play. Any group wishing to perform the show has to pay a licensing fee and agree to perform it a certain way and follow a long list of rules. It doesn’t matter if the group is a school, a community theater, or a professional theater. It doesn’t matter whether or not the group is charging money for tickets or whether it is or isn’t making a profit. If a group wants to perform the play publicly, it has to pay the fee.
Materials: Scripts, musical scores, musical recordings for rehearsal and performance, logos.
Salaries for teachers and paid staff.
Cost of using rehearsal and performance spaces.
Photocopying
Materials for set building and prop making or acquisition.
Costs of borrowing or buying costume pieces.
Costs students may encounter:
Note: Please do not be turned away by these possible costs. If they are a hardship, please speak with or email one of the following people and we can work it out—whether it’s a reduced cost or a complete waiver of costs for your student. We do not want the cost of participation to be a barrier for any Bates student.
Ms. Miller, faculty adviser, ebmiller@aacps.org
not yet recruited, production coordinator, email address
Mr. Egna, director, megna@aacps.org
Mr. Kurtzberg, music director, tkurtzberg@aacps.org
Ms. Rykiel, school social worker, srykiel@aacps.org
Or any Bates faculty or support staff with whom you feel comfortable talking.
Script replacement: If a student loses his or her script before the end of our production, they must pay a replacement cost of $10. The Apex Arts program pays for the student’s first copy of the script. Students get to write their rehearsal notes in their scripts and get to keep them at the end.
Base clothing: Students will be responsible for base clothing beneath their costume such as a leotard or t-shirt and shorts, and socks and shoes. We do not ask that students buy shoes for this production. But students will wear shoes that they already own that would be appropriate for their characters, subject to the approval of the director or costume designer. If, in a rare instance, a particular character must have particular type of footwear that the student does not own, Bates Drama Club will borrow or purchase a used pair of suitable shoes for the student. Students may be asked to wear as part of their costumes clothing items they already own that may be appropriate for their characters.
Costs of transportation: As of 8/27/23, we do not yet know when after-school activity buses will start servicing Bates nor what their departure time will be. In the past, activity buses serviced Bates on Tuesdays-Thursdays. Students will likely have to arrange their own transportation following the workshop and auditions and following Monday rehearsals. If activity buses begin servicing Bates on Thursdays, depending on departure time, we may be able to adjust to allow bus riders to catch Thursday activity buses.
Opportunity cost: This is not usually a financial cost but it could be. Opportunity cost is the “cost” a person incurs when he or she makes a choice. For example, if you choose to participate in the play, maybe you can’t participate on a sports team because rehearsals and practices conflict. The “cost” of doing one thing is the inability to do the other.
Financial cost: Actual financial cost may be involved if the student has a paying job and has to reduce hours to participate in the play.
Academic cost: Maybe you’re having difficulty in a class at school and need to attend a help day that conflicts with a rehearsal. The cost could be the student’s grades. However, we do not want the student’s grades to fall because of participation in the play. We can make some accommodation for a student to get academic help. However, the academic assistance cannot regularly conflict with responsibilities of participating in the play. Students should try to get assistance at other times if possible or may need to consider withdrawing from the play if participating in the play proves too costly to their grades.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
GENERAL QUESTIONS
Why do we perform in Studio 39 instead of at Bates?
There are some benefits we would realize if we performed at Bates. The 2016-17 and 2017-18 productions were performed at Bates. Two benefits are convenience of location and being able to conduct many rehearsals on the stage where we would perform. Another benefit is that the size of the audience is less restrictive than Studio 39. Though the terms of our performance license restricts the size of the audience per performance.
Those are very important considerations. However, the positives of performing in Studio 39 and the negatives of performing at Bates far outweigh the positives of performing at Bates.
The Studio 39 theater is the AACPS owned facility primarily used by the high school Apex Arts (formerly PVA) students.
Positives of performing at Studio 39
Studio 39 is a professional level theater facility. Our student tech crew get to learn and work with equipment used by professional theaters. Our performers are treated as professionals by Studio 39 staff and our students learn to behave professionally.
Studio 39 is a "black box theater" so, we control audience configuration, stage configuration, lighting instrument installation, audio setup, and scene and special effect projection equipment.
Studio 39's professional 16 channel wireless body mic system is far superior to what we can use at Bates.
Studio 39's professional tech crew communication system is better than what we have at Bates
Studio 39 acoustics are better tuned making performers using microphones and performers not mic'd easier to hear and understand.
Studio 39 theater is more intimate and audience members are closer to the performers.
Some negatives about performing at Bates
The biggest negative that the Bates stage in the gym presents is acoustics. All that wood absorbs the sound and the enormous untuned space is a very difficult environment to improve. It is very hard to understand performers on stage even when they are mic'd. The best quote from a parent that distills the experience is: "I can't really hear what the kids are saying or the words they sing. I come basically to see my kid walk across the stage." The students do extraordinary work. They deserve to move an audience with their art.
The lighting system at Bates presents a lot of limits as well.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
When will I be added to the Bates Drama Club Brightspace Classroom?
Cast members will be added to our Brightspace classroom soon after contracting is completed.
We add tech crew to our Brightspace classroom as they come aboard. Sometimes crew members join us at particularly busy times. If you've been a crew member for more than a week and still have no access to our Brightspace classroom, please email the director and cc the technical director. megna@aacps.org and mperegrina@aacps.org.
posted or revised: 9/1/23
Why is the sky blue?
The light from the sun is made up of different wavelengths, some of which humans can see. Each wavelength we can see corresponds to a different color--what we perceive as the colors of the rainbow after a rain shower or during the elementary school experiment of passing light through a prism.
As light from the sun passes through our atmosphere, air molecules cause it to scatter. Light with shorter wavelengths scatter the most. The shortest wavelengths of the light we can see are at the blue and violet end of the rainbow. So those colors are scattered more than the other colors. Therefore, since blue and violet are the colors that reach our eyes, the sky appears blue during the day.
At dawn and dusk, when the sun is low in the sky, light has to travel further through the Earth’s atmosphere and gets scattered even more by more air molecules before it reaches our eyes. We don’t see as much blue light because most gets scattered away. The longer wavelength, the red end of the rainbow, doesn't get scattered nearly as much--so the sky appears red at these times.
Graphic from Khan Academy
Why on earth did you post this question?
The director is procrastinating a lot of design work that hasn't quite formed yet in his mind. He's just trying to jump start the process by exercising his writing skills and his brain. (Happy Thanksgiving).
posted or revised: 11/24/22