Course Syllabus

Course Goal: Student will Direct two one act plays for the Fall NCTC Competition, taking place on October 30th and 31st at Mount Tabor High School.

Detailed Description: Student has decided on two one act plays, Sherlock Holmes, A Scandal in Bohemia and An Afterthought. These two plays were chosen because of the difference of their content and the exciting possibilities in their performance. 

Sherlock Holmes: This play, adapted from Arthur Conan Doyle's original writing, is an 11 person cast. The dialogue has been modernized and is set in 2015 London. The conflict of the play centers around Irene Adler, a female foil of Holmes who holds and incriminating picture of a famous personage in Europe. The play contains all of the classic elements of a good Holmes story; disguise, great dialogue, and an interesting several in the end. 

An Afterthought: This play was created by J.M Barrie as an extra snippet of the original Peter Pan Script. It takes place after Wendy has grown up, been married, and had a daughter. The conflict centers around Wendy's continued love of Peter and whether she is truly ready to give him up. This play contains a classical setting of the famous nursery, flying, and a rather old appearance of Nana the dog. It is a more physical piece that will require training of the students in circus adagio. 

Directing Approaches:

Sherlock Holmes will be approached in a fairly traditional way, using concepts of talking and listening as presented by John Gulley. Students will be tasked to bring in artifacts for characters, do extensive subtext work, and perform rigorous vocal warmups to ensure clarity of speech.

Peter Pan: Pan will be directed from a Viewpoints model that will include warmups and activities as presented in the Viewpoints text by Ann Bogart. 

Timeline: The Competition takes place on October 30th and 31st. The student has a goal of October 23rd for all preparations to be completed for the show including lines memorized, set finished, costumes done, makeup practiced, and hand props built or purchased. The student will coordinate a preview of the show at a local church on Friday, October 23rd.