About Student Productions
When you watch the play Schoolhouse, you are not just watching a play, you are watching people do their homework.
The University of Regina Theatre Department's 2011 production of Schoolhouse is a student production. That means students from the University of Regina, in this case both from the Theatre Department, and from other departments around the campus, are the actors. They receive university credit for being a part of the production, and are graded on their work.
See: DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT and SCHOOLHOUSE CAST
Each year the Department presents at least four plays, so students can learn to act by working regularly in front of an audience, like professional actors. Students also learn how to design and make sets and costumes, plan and work stage lights and sound effects, direct and write plays, sell tickets, design posters, and manage the backstage workings of a real theatre season. While there are professors, who oversee all of this, every effort is made to let students learn by doing every part of putting on a play.
The student actors spend months preparing for their roles. They memorize their lines. They do homework assignments where they get to know their characters better, like this one below, created by Laura Abrahms , where the actors were asked to create collages that represented the characters they play in Schoolhouse.
See: COLLAGES
Student collages.
ACTIVITY: Choose a part that you would like to play, if you were an actor. It can be from a play, a movie or television. Or you can choose a character from a book that you think ought to be made into a film or play. Make a collage like the ones above. Select pictures to combine into an image that you think is a good visual representation of what that character is like, what matters to them, what things worry or delight them. These can be really specific images, like in some of the collages, or just colours, textures and shapes you feel the character would like. Share it with the class, or friends, and talk about why you chose those images.
BONUS: Pick a piece of music to play while you share the collage that you think further helps to illustrate how you see the character.
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