Parent Information Emails

Welcome to McCarthy Drama Club Crew!!

Thank you for your continued patience with us as we get into the groove of the show. We have posted the Crew acceptance list on the Google Classroom. We will be completing team assignments based on your student's Crew Interest Forms and our discussions with the students at our Crew Kick-off meeting.

CREW KICK-OFF MEETING TUESDAY Oct. 13th 2:30-3:30PM

We will have our kick-off meeting to introduce our High School volunteers and start giving all the crew students an overview of the plans for the show on Tuesday Oct. 13th, after school from 2:30-3:30PM. This will allow students to take the late bus home.

PARENT MEETING, WEDNESDAY Oct. 14th, 6PM-7PM

We plan to have our McCarthy Drama Club Parent Meeting, on Wednesday, Oct. 14th, at 6PM. We will introduce our Directors & Production team, and have a short discussion about expectations & plans for the production. Cast & Crew are expected to have AT LEAST 1 ADULT FAMILY MEMBER attend the Parent Meeting. To make this meeting more convenient for families, here is our plan for that day: 

• 2:30-4:30PM Rehearsal with Mrs. R for students as scheduled on the Calendar. No Crew activities are scheduled.

• 5:00-6:00PM Cast & Crew Social - ALL STUDENTS INVITED. We will provide a pizza dinner for any cast & crew who would like to attend in the Chorus Room at 5PM.  Any parents are welcome to come meet up before we start the Parent meeting while the kids hang out.

• 6:00-7:00PM Parent Meeting - Cast&Crew will join their Family members in the auditorium at 6PM for our information session with the Directors.

Cast&Crew Commitment Form

Crew & Parents should plan to review and sign the McDrama Cast & Crew Commitment Contract** (http://tinyurl.com/McDramaCommit) to be sure that students understood our recent discussion about expectations & responsibilities. The form reiterates what is expected of all our participating students & caregivers. Please complete the form prior to Parent Information Night. A copy of the expectations will be sent to you for your reference and records, after submitting your agreement.

**  Students and Parents should review the form TOGETHER BEFORE SUBMITTING and be sure they understand all items. Without a complete & signed form by Nov. 1st, students will not be permitted to participate in any part of the production.**

RSVP/Questions/Concerns

If you are NOT ABLE to have a caregiver from your family attend the Parent Information Meeting, and/or you have questions or concerns about the expectations for The McCarthy Drama Club, please email Ms. Richardson (richardsonj@chelmsford.k12.ma.us ) ASAP, so she can arrange to get you any pertinent details. 

Thanks and we look forward to working with your students and you this year!

Hey McDrama Students & Parents!!

Thank you for your continued patience with us as we get into the groove of the show.

Rehearsal Schedule Posted for October & November

Mrs. R's has posted the rehearsal schedule in the McDrama Google Classroom. Unless otherwise noted, rehearsals will go until 4:30PM in October & November. We have also updated the view of the schedule on the McDrama Parent Hub and as a Google calendar that parents can subscribe to.

We try to stick to the weekly published schedule, but occasionally adjustments will be needed. If changes that will affect the schedule for the current week are made after Sunday at 7PM, we will post an announcement on Google Classroom, the McDrama Facebook group, and send a Remind App text message. (See below for info. about Remind & Parent Hub.)

PARENT MEETING, WEDNESDAY Oct. 14th, 6PM-7PM

We plan to have our McCarthy Drama Club Parent Meeting, on Wednesday, Oct. 14th, at 6PM. We will introduce our Directors & Production team, and have a short discussion about expectations & plans for the production. Cast & Crew are expected to have AT LEAST 1 ADULT FAMILY MEMBER attend the Parent Meeting. To make this meeting more convenient for families, here is our plan for the day: 

• 2:30-4:30PM Rehearsal for students as scheduled on the calendar. Any cast not called are welcome to attend and work quietly on homework or review blocking/music/choreo in the Arts wing.

• 5:00-6:00PM Cast & Crew Social - ALL STUDENTS INVITED. We will provide a pizza dinner for any cast & crew who would like to attend, and any parents are welcome to come meet up before we start the Parent meeting.

• 6:00-7:00PM Cast&Crew will join Family Members in the auditorium at 6PM for our information session with the Directors.

RSVP/Questions/Concerns

If you are NOT ABLE to have a caregiver from your family attend the Parent Information Meeting, and/or you have questions or concerns about the expectations for The McCarthy Drama Club, please email Ms. Richardson (richardsonj@chelmsford.k12.ma.us ) ASAP, so she can arrange to get you any pertinent details.

Cast Commitment Form Reminder

Cast & Parents should plan to review and sign the McDrama Cast & Crew Commitment Contract** (http://tinyurl.com/McDramaCommit ) to be sure that students understood our recent discussion about expectations & responsibilities. The form reiterates what is expected of all our participating students & caregivers. Please complete the form prior to Parent Information Night. A copy of the expectations will be sent to you for your reference and records, after submitting your agreement.

**  Students and Parents should review the form TOGETHER BEFORE SUBMITTING and be sure they understand all items. Without a complete & signed form by Nov. 1st, students will not be permitted to participate in any part of the production.**

--

McCarthy Drama Club Production Team

mccarthydramaclub@gmail.com

SO MANY TALENTED KIDS!!
Thanks to the Cast for a great Read-through on Tuesday! We have just over 60 students in our cast for this year's musical, and we are so proud of all of them!! If your student missed the rehearsal for any reason, but they still want to participate in the show, make sure they stop in to see Mrs. Richardson on THURSDAY before the end of the day so she knows to keep them on our cast list. We are going to have a great time this year but it's going to take a lot of work to put on the best show possible the last weekend in January 2027.

WHERE TO FIND UPDATES
We try to post information on the Google Classroom for students, but we realize that this is not always a convenient place for parents to access. If you have not done so already, please consider joining our McCarthy Drama Club Members Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/865565650223272), and check out our McDrama Parent Hub (https://tinyurl.com/McDramaHub). We try to post most announcements there, in case one gets lost in the email shuffle.

REHEARSAL INFO & SCHEDULE COMING
Mrs. Richardson is working to finalize the exact rehearsal schedule, and we expect to post it by the end of the weekend.  In the meantime, here are some things to begin your planning for the next couple of weeks:

Rehearsal Thurs. Oct. 1: MUSIC - Snow Chorus. We're looking forward to getting to work on the songs for the Snow Chorus. 

• (Rehearsal group lists are available on Google Classroom in Classwork and also on the McDrama Parent Hub .)

• Rehearsals will go from 2:30PM-4:30PM in October (unless otherwise noted on schedule)

• Rehearsal schedule is displayed on the McDrama Parent Hub and is also available as a Google calendar that parents can subscribe to.
  (If you subscribed to the McDrama calendar last year, we are using the same Google calendar.)

Get In the Calendar Habit
Our goal is to stick as closely to the weekly published schedule, but occasionally adjustments will be needed. Please get in the habit of checking the rehearsal schedule on Sunday evening, in case there have been any adjustments for the coming week. If changes that will affect the schedule for the current week are made after Sunday at 7PM, we will post an announcement on Google Classroom, the McDrama Facebook group, and send a Remind App text message. (See below for info. about Remind.)

Cast Commitment & Expectations
To be sure everyone works together & supports each other during the next several months, we must all be on the same page about the MCCarthy Drama Club expectations.  At our first rehearsal, Mrs. R discussed expectations & responsibilities with the students. We want to be sure that students understood that discussion & the seriousness of this topic, so we require that parents and students review and sign the McDrama Cast & Crew Commitment Contract** . The form reiterates what is expected of all our participating students AND caregivers. (A copy of the expectations will be emailed to you for reference and records upon submitting the agreement.)
**  Students and Parents should review the form TOGETHER BEFORE SUBMITTING and be sure they understand all items. Without a complete & signed form by Nov 1, students will not be permitted to participate in any part of the production.**

Parent Volunteers Needed
If you indicated on your child's audition form that you are willing to help out with aspects of the production, we will be getting in contact with you shortly. However, if you are as excited to get going as we are, and especially if you have worked on parent teams for past productions (at either Middle School, or outside theater groups) please do not hesitate to reach out to let us know you are ready to step up!

--
McCarthy Drama Club Production Team
mccarthydramaclub@gmail.com

Hey, McDrama Families! 

This is an exciting week for all of us, and we can't wait to see all the brave & talented students who are coming to audition for the musical on Tuesday & Wednesday! But along with the excitement this week, we also want to be sure that we are all setting expectations for the Audition and Casting process. We encourage you to share and discuss this with your students as part of their process of preparing for auditions. 

• Auditioning is a Life Skill

  • Auditioning is like practice for interviewing for a job. You have to have the skills to do the job, but you also have to present yourself as the best candidate on the day of the interview. Students should prepare as best they can, but also know that the casting team understands that nerves are part of life. So don't worry if your audition is not perfect, just do your best and show us the energy and personality you bring that is uniquely yours.
    (Your lines and song will be presented on stage to Mrs. R and her casting team. NOT TO ANY OTHER STUDENTS.)

• Callbacks are NOT a Guarantee Either Way

  • We use callbacks for many reasons, including checking chemistry between actors, listening to voices for range, and seeing if an actor can give us another type of skill. If you get a callback, it is not a guarantee you are cast, and likewise, no callback doesn't mean you are not getting a part.   

• It's a Privilege to be Cast in ANY ROLE

  • Not getting the part you want can be a huge disappointment. You & your family should have an honest conversation about what you plan to do if they don't get cast in your "dream role". In recent years, we've seen more & more kids quit the show saying, "It'll be a waste of time if I'm not playing the role I wanted". While this may seem like a little thing, it is important to understand that if you are cast, it means that another student was not cast in the show at all. Our expectation is that if a you indicate on your audition form that you will accept other roles, then you will do just that ... and you will be a proud and supportive member of the production. (No Bad Mouthing Other Students or the production team!)   

• We May Not Be Able to Cast Everyone

  • The casting team works really hard to create the right Cast from the auditioners. They work to accommodate as many students as possible for each production, but there are only so many roles in each play and only so many ensemble spots we can support. This means that it is likely that some students will not be included in the Cast. We know that this can be absolutely crushing, and it's hard not to take it personally. However, we encourage students to remain involved with the drama club, because putting on a theater production takes more than just the actors. We try to host a robust and engaging production and backstage crew, where students learn about all aspects of technical theater and truly create the life of the show. We know it's not always what you went in expecting, but many former students have told us that not getting cast in a show actually gave them the start in an offstage area of theater they now love and are dedicated to.

So we wish all the students a hearty, "Break A Leg!", and look forward to seeing everyone’s work on Frozen Jr. in all the different ways we have available!!

--

McCarthy Drama Club Production Team

mccarthydramaclub@gmail.com

Hello, McDrama Families!

We want to update everyone on some changes we need to make to the originally posted schedule for this week.

We had incredibly successful auditions sessions last week, with over 70 students bringing their wonderful passion and exuberance to our stage for dancing, singing, and acting. With this many auditions to sort through, our production team is anticipating the need for quite a bit of discussion to land on our final cast. So, we need to update our Casting Timeline as follows:

• CANCELLED -- Wednesday Sep 23, Cast List posted CANCELLED

• CANCELLED -- Thursday Sep 24, Read-through CANCELLED

• Friday Sep. 25, Cast List Posted at End of School Day (on Google Classroom)

• Tuesday Sep.29, FULL CAST Read-through (2:30-5:00PM)

• Thursday Oct.1, Anticipated Music Rehearsal (2:30-4:30PM) - attendees to be determined and posted with Cast List

We hope that giving you a couple of days notice will minimize the inconvenience this change creates for anyone.

We'd also like to take another opportunity to speak to the "Elephant in the room" about theater casting. The production team takes great care in evaluating each student's audition, but in the end, we know our decisions will cause disappointment for some students. We hope families can understand that the production team works hard to make room and allowances for as many students as possible, but we must also take care to create a balanced group for the show requirements while working within our limited space and time constraints.

We look forward to working with your students in whatever capacity they participate in the show production.

Sincerely,

Jodi Richardson & Ginger Skoog

--

McCarthy Drama Club Production Team