Longer School Days/Year: Is This AN Answer?

Chicago Wants Longer School Days; Foes Want Details

Longer School Days That Work

Obama Calls For A Longer School Year

Iowa Considers Longer School year

Speak Your Piece: Longer School Year, and Better

 

 

I was just on an interview for a job I would love to have. One of the questions I was asked was about the working hours: would I mind working the longer hours this new school would schedule. What struck me is that it needed to be asked at all: there are many, many reasons why extended school time is needed today.

Before I continue, these are MY opinions from what I’ve observed in the field (I have taught as a Teacher, Teaching Artist and as a Substitute Teacher); I’ve left you five links above for others on the subject. Object if you must, but do so with justifications and always keep it civil.

I have heard from too many educators that there is just not enough time in the school day to accomplish all that must be done. I’ve experienced it myself: you just get things going, and they have to rush to another class instead of investing the time needed t o really explore. I’m not talking about busy work, which I have seen in an abundance. Actual student engaging moments get cut short many times.

We have a  shrinking teacher base, due to budget cuts in places there should not be budget cuts. Classrooms are overcrowded. Tests and evaluations and  rote “learning”  practices shove aside a real chance for connections and actual learning.

Yes, we should have more teachers, more classrooms, and less students per class.

With the changing economic realities, parents are not always home until later in the day. The idea of Mom always being home after school is antiquated in many parts of the US; that has changed, but the schools have not changed with the times. There are after school clubs and such already in place; but again, the idea for a longer day is not just social activities (which they do need to foster as well, since much of home life gets truncated that way).

Double blocks of teaching (80 to 90 mins) during the day gives the teacher and the class to work on projects. The time constraints we have now means that there are only three classes per day that way. A longer day would allow more constructive work.

Advisory meetings, portfolio work, special projects that have a true impact and are not busy work (again, seen too much of that), planning sessions; individualized work (NOT study halls: I saw, in one location, 12 students on computers playing Halo in study hall; not making that up, and it was not my place to stop them)…there is so much that can be accomplished with proper time use.

The long summer breaks were originally set up by agricultural needs: farmer kids needed to work on the farm. School came second.

Education should not come second in anything we do.

 

Bartering Creative Arts (The Creativity Series)

Lincoln Art Exchange

Bartering For Skills with Ourgoods

Barter Theater

Bartering:

To trade goods or services without the exchange of money.

A tagline to a newspaper article caught my eye: “Uninsured Can Exchange Talents for Care.” Lincoln Hospital, in The Bronx, is offering artists in that borough of NYC a chance to get health care; they get credits for each hour worked that can be used towards a variety of medical treatments & prescriptions. Their program, Lincoln Arts Exchange, is modeled after the Artist Access program at Brooklyn’s Woodhull Medical Center.

Bartering is nothing new. It is used in markets across the world, trading goods. Services may have taken a back seat, but the idea works for me.  I have no “goods” to barter, but I do have a “service,” and that is my art, whether it’s a performance (Storytelling or Interactive Theater), workshop, or Editing/Copy writing service. With money tight, if I can exchange some of my time and energy to get something I need…bartering is a great idea.

When I ran my theater company (The Brothers Grinn: 1994-2006), I rarely paid for rehearsal space (until the need for an abundance of NYC members of the company).  I bartered with a few places (Two churches and a couple of other locations), offering them either free group performances or solo workshops for weekly rehearsal space. This was a huge savings for a company that was young and toured an average of 120 performances a year. We had no “home” space to perform/work out of but the spaces I found worked for us on many levels; the money I saved that way was put into many things the company needed (costumes; sound equipment; insurance; etc).

What Creative Service Do You Have To Barter?

Health Care, rehearsal space, food…what can you add to the list? I’ve only just started a very small section of what could be possible if more would open their minds to the idea: Artists have something to offer.

Seven Minutes in Heaven (#My7Links)

I had no idea until this morning that I was nominated/asked to join in on a blog thingy: the #My7Links meme/project/linky blog hop. A wonderful woman from Australia, Janine Ripper, who writes Reflections from a Red Head, gave me one of the first honors…and I missed it completely. So, my deepest apologies Janine. Sometimes you have to hit me in the head. I was so busy with directing “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” this summer that a number of things scurried by me.

BTW, this blog thingy was sent to her by another Australian red head, Vicki Potts, of   RedHeaded Travels.  If you like, you can twit her at @redheadedtravel.

So, Janine was tasked to leave links to SEVEN of the her blog posts that stood out for her in seven different categories. Having done this, she was also instructed to pass this on to FOUR others (why not seven, Vicki?) to follow along. And so forth, to wit, and all that jazz. ONE thing Janine forgot is: I write two blogs, this one and Tale Spinning. She bestowed this upon me by @stustoryteller, but not by which blog. Sigh…guess I have to make it difficult for myself and make this a double whammy: I’m gonna give you 14 links, 7 per blog, and let you discover them on your own. Afterwards, my four to give a headache to award.

My Most Beautiful Post

Born Storyteller: Urban Shakespeare: Final Reflections

Tale Spinning:  Sonnet: Unto Forever

My Most Popular Post of all Time

Born Storyteller: Fear and Loathing in Education

Tale Spinning:  Birdsongs: The Walkabout Man

My Most Controversial Post

Born Storyteller: Mediocrity and Public Education

Tale Spinning:  Inside That…Boy

My Most Helpful Post

Born Storyteller: Schools Going Green

Tale Spinning:  How I Write: A Writers Tale

A Post Whose Success Surprises Me

Born Storyteller:  The Parent Syndrome: Support in Education

Tale Spinning:  Let Me Cradle The Earth (well, in all honesty, ANY of my poetry posting: the reactions surprise me)

A Post I Feel Didn’t Get the Attention It Deserves

Born Storyteller:  Your Ideal School: Conceptualize It

Tale Spinning: Night Abduction

The Post I Am MOST Proud Of

Born Storyteller:  It’s Official: I AM a Published Author

Tale Spinning: The Kitsune-Mochi and Tora Baku

OK..this one I’ll tell you why: I LOVE this world that I’m playing with, and I’m really happy with the six parts I’ve written so far. THIS is what I feel is going to be my first fantasy novel, and I could not be prouder of the work I’ve done on it. Look on my side-bar for the other stories. Links are in the later ones. I won’t name them here simply ’cause that’s outside of the #’s.

Now, to the four who might hate me forever for doing this to them. I’ve linked their blogs to their twit names. Hope you like them. Support The Arts!!

In no particular order:

@SweetSheil

@ficflash

@0CmC0_to_Write

@lukysherman

Urban Shakespeare: Final Reflections

Prospero:
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d tow’rs, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

My photos did not come out well at all: for some reason, the inner workings didn’t work too well, so…unless I get more photos from the production, I will have to make do with what is above. My apologies, but what you see up top: on the left, my Pucks (six in all, ranging in age from 7 to 13); on the right, my Helena & Hermia (back to back), with Demetrius to the right. Theseus is in the far background.

Helena:
“Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind.”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (I, i, 234)

One of the first things said after the curtain call (NOT by me) was: “Look at what we accomplished!”

NO…look at what the kids accomplished!

It’s all about them, not the adults, who bickered, got in each others ways, made scapegoats, argued, ignored, interrupted, did not work as a team with the production staff, the production staff who did not work with others in the production staff…it’s not about the adults. The kids either get it or they don’t, and in this case…

They got it. The 44 kids, ranging in age from 7 to 13, DID get it, and they did present SHAKESPEARE!! Whether they knew it or not, they enhanced their literary knowledge, were not dumbed down to, and they rose to the challenge. They spoke in iambic pentameter as LANGUAGE, learned comic and dramatic timing, presentation, stage and life skills, and so much more in a relatively short period of time.

Just so you know, their first performance? After it, I couldn’t talk. I teared up and cried from the pride I had at what they had accomplished. I was SO touched by what they put out on stage for their first paying audience. They earned their applause and laughter all the way. It wasn’t the Parent’s audience…you know, where no matter what happens the parents will applaud and love it. This was an audience of other camps, whose campers showed them the work before them was worthy of laughter and applause.

Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
William Shakespeare

There were moments and aspects of this production that I will never forget:

1. The young man who played Bottom WAS Bottom, from the audition to the final performance. If anything, he honed his comic timing and acting presence to a fine art, and I truly to hope to see him continue in the craft. Yes, I did tell him so. I don’t think I’ve ever been so impressed with a young actor as I was with him, except for…
2. The young woman who played Oberon: yes, YOUNG WOMAN. 9 years old, and just blew me away! Barely 4 feet tall, what she put into the performance was simply mesmerizing. She deserved this part, earned it, grew into it fully and expertly. I also expect great things out of her.
3. The two female leads (Hermia & Helena) are truly gifted young actresses. Both blessed with amazing voices (the musical director and they created character development songs that ADDED so wonderfully to the show), they also grew over the six weeks into their roles.
4. The final rehearsal for the mechanicals “Show Within A Show” had all of us laughing so hard. Our Demetrius was crying with laughter from their antics. None of us could keep it together: they were just so over the top funny. I wish we could have recorded THAT for a blooper type reel. Truly: six young people being SO amazingly nutty AND ON TARGET!  I wish you could have experienced it with us. Writing about it just can not give it justice.
5. With a great Stage Combat artist, we were able to have our Lysander and Demetrius fight not only with words over Helena but with staves as well. We talked it over, and then when I first saw it in actuality…it was a Wow moment, and it was for the audience. Excellent timing and a great addition to the show.
6. The Fairy Lullaby
7. The Pucks, when they actually began to really work as ONE PUCK, when it finally clicked for them.
8. The Finale: after Puck’s final speech, I wanted something hot and on fire, with an entire cast blow out (before the curtain call). While I did not really get what I wanted (a friend who came to TWO of the performances said “it was nice” but…nice was not what I wanted), it still was a great button to the show, and the audience dug it (little did they know that it was Peter Gabriel’s “The Rhythm of the Heat” that got them going).

So…I am very glad to have had the opportunity to finally direct most of my artistic version of one of my favorite of Mr. Shakespeare’s plays. I truly did care and love most of my cast (even if they gave me the heebie-jeebies with their non-stop talking and antics). There are many things I could vent about here, but I won’t. In the end, the play is the thing, all the world’s a stage, and I’m done with this and moving onto my next project, as it should be.

Puck. If we shadows have offended, Think but this and all is mended,
That you have but slumber’d here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
If you pardon, we will mend.
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call:
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends. [Exit.

–William Shakespeare

(*Special Thanks to Mr. Derek Galloway for the three pics inserted into the essay)

Urban Shakespeare: Week Five-Hell Week

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.

Week Five is now over and done, and I needed the day to separate myself from Hell Week (part one). For those not in the know, Technical Rehearsal week is unofficially called Hell Week.  It is full of stops and starts, is long LONG hours, tempers are high and patience is at a minimum towards stupidity, lighting, sound and final blocking cues are locked in, costuming should already be happening, makeup, the stage manager should have the action running ON stage while the Directors (actual production director, musical director, technical director and Choreographer) work on the minute details and honing, the actors SHOULD know  all their lines, entrances and exits, and…did I mention the long, long hours?

Theater Hell Week

Tips for Surviving HS Theater Hell Week

Caliban’s Revenge: Hell Week

Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness.  ~Richard Carlson

As is the normal case with running around like mad men (NOT the TV show!), a good many of us are sick. Head colds are running rampant, and I have sneezed, coughed, hacked and fallen asleep at the computer more times this week than I can actually count, let alone shake a stick at. Not sure why I would want to shake a stick, but if I had one, I tell you…you would see some real stick shaking!!!

I am glad for this weekend to, first, spend time with family and friends (yesterday) and, second, to have a day of just me, music, writing and napping (today). As of tomorrow, I enter into the final week of the six week production process that culminates in what it’s all been about: a production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”
“What’s for breakfast? said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”
“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
“It’s the same thing,” he said.

“I have had a most rare vision.” ~Bottom

At this moment, I know that the main part of my job is complete: I have shard my artistic vision with cast and crew. My needs have altered, finding a need to delete and add as the needs occurred, made discoveries of the great and not so great kind, and in the end: it is all about the kids.

Normal camp/school productions, they make a big thing about bringing the Director out after the kids get their curtain call. Me? I’d be happy if they just let me be. I don’t  want to come out on stage.  Let the kids get the applause they will deserve. Let the show be about them. My applause comes from what the audience will give them.

Like Bottom, I have had a most rare vision: seeing my ideas put together on stage for a show I’ve performed in a number of times, SEEN performed far more, and have loved ever since my mother sat with me and we watched the 1935 movie version (with Mickey Rooney, James Cagney, Dick Powell, Joe E. Brown and Olivia De Havilland) on our black and white TV when I was a kid.

This Week:

1. Will I have costumes? I have not seen a blessed thing yet: any costuming I’ve done, by raiding my own prop/costume trunk from The Brothers Grinn. Supposedly, I will see it all tomorrow…two days before our first show in front of a paying audience!
2. Will I have an assistant/stage manager? Did no one but me see that asking someone who interviewed for the director’s job (which I got) to volunteer their time NOT be a disaster in the making?
3. Will the choreographers (yes, plural) do the fine tuning needed in time for Wednesday?
4. Will the actors remember their lines, their blocking, project their voices, stay in character and not fight with each other?
5. Will all the tech cues happen when they’re supposed to happen? (this one is the one I have the most faith in, at the moment).
6. Will the counselors/stage crew get their heads out of their you-know-whats and do what they are supposed to do?
7. Will I have a voice and sanity (which is always questionable!) when Friday night has come and gone?

Next Saturday/Sunday: the wrap up of Urban Shakespeare.

Tech Plans: Urban Shakespeare, Week 3 (part 1)

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date . . . .”

Well, for me, Summer could trip away and make no stay…especially not the heat we’ve had this past week (and are still experiencing). The heat has definitely affected everyone’s mood and output this week, even with all the progress the kids have made.

Tech Things Reporting:

Costuming and Props:

I had a great visit to Materials For The Arts this week. For those not in the know:

“Since 1978, Materials for the Arts has provided thousands of New York City’s arts and cultural organizations, public schools and community arts programs with the supplies they need to run and expand their programs. Materials are gathered from companies and individuals that no longer need them and redistributed to the artists and educators that do. In the process, hundreds of tons are removed from the waste stream every year and kept out of landfills, helping to sustain our environment and promote reuse and waste reduction. MFTA helps artists realize their visions, provides students with a richer educational experience and furnishes businesses and individuals with a simple and efficient way to enhance the cultural life of their city. The success of MFTA and its programming would not be possible without the participation of material donors throughout the metropolitan area. If you are interested in donating your unwanted reusable items to MFTA please visit our Donor page or call 718-729-3001 and press 1 for “Materials Donation”.

At this moment, my costuming costs are  as close to zero as possible. There will be some fill ins, I’m sure, and I am not taking into account the salary of the costumer and her assistant.

 

I picked up some wonderfully vibrant fabric, colorful and light, to go along with the previous fabrics I had “shopped” on a previous visit. Set in Mali, I am excited about the patterns and use of Earth colors that the costumer now has to work with. My cast will be barefoot, which fits both the traditional feel plus the ease of the dances. I have a lot of running, twirling, swirling, foot stomping things planned.

To the right is a picture I found online when I did my Google Images search. When I came across this, I immediately had my Oberon costume, in style if not in actuality. A little more “magical,” this outfit is already close to perfection to me for Oberon. I love the pattern and the flow of the garment. I would only add a bit of green to it, to cement it to the Magic forest, and I need it to capture the idea of Air.

That is how I am seeing  this, as I am sure so many others have before: the Royal Court (Humans) are grounded/Earth; Fairy Court are Air; Mechanicals are of the Earth, but deeper and more firmly planted, even in their clowning/Everyman status.

Face Painting & Masks

For the Fairy Court, mainly, I am looking at traditional and tribal face painting to accent the “difference” of the two realms. Yes, again, nothing new, but I’m letting you into my process of total environment.

I’ve been enjoying the research, the “hunting and gathering” of what the production staff will need to help the overall artistic vision come alive. Colors play an important part of all this.

I’ll be using some masks: planned are three and I feel that is all I will do, even though I originally wanted to have more. Less is more, in all things. It should not take away or hide (mask) the work the kids are doing. Their performance should shine through first and foremost. So, Oberon will have a Dragon Mask (I’ve had for years) that stirred my actress (yes, actress) in her physicalization; the Donkey do for Bottom; and a half mask for Thisbe (Flute). All three masks are planned for removal during the show.

More info to come, and that will make up (get it? pun intended) part two of my Tech Titterings.

THREE WEEKS GONE!!! THREE TO GO!!

I’ve said it before, re: me: What fool this mortal be!

 

How did you trick out your show? What would you like to do?

The Process’s The Thing: Urban Shakespeare (part two)

If we shadows have offended,

Think but this, and all is mended;

That you have but slumbered here

While these visions did appear.

And this weak and idle theme,

No more yielding but a dream,

Gentles, do not reprehend.

If you pardon, we will mend.

And, as I am an honest Puck,

if we have unearned luck

Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue,

We will make amends ere long,

Else the puck a liar call.

So good night unto you all.

Give me your hands if we be friends,

And Robin shall restore amends.

 

Lights fade to black, PUCKS (yes, PUCKS) exit; Full house lights POP UP: Play the end of Peter Gabriel’s “The Rhythm of the Heat (last 1:19 of the piece, from “The Rhythm has my soul……”) and as his last note is vanishes away, just as the drums kick in, cast in the wings toss out the colored Serpentines (colored streamers) up and over the stage, and the FULL CAST OF45 Dreamers (yes, my Dreamers) hit the stage, the ramps, the lower stage, and the aisle-ways, and dance their hearts out to the African drumming. On the last hot note, the cast hits the floor, grounding them to the world as their arms and hands reach for the heavens.

Curtain Call.

I have been planning to write out some of my plans, my process and my style ideas each week. I got a comment from yesterday’s post Urban Shakespeare, (y)O! asking for just that, plus some comments on the social media sites I’ve been posting to. Far be it for me to ignore requests that are easily answered.

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

I have 45 campers, ranging in age from 6 (only one) to 13 years of age. As the Senior Theater Instructor, I run the play production, oversee the staff (to a point: I’m NOT the Camp Director), run daily warm-ups, rehearse them, observe them, go on trips with them, bamboozle them and like the heck out of them. These are inner NYC youths that some have already had introductions to William Shakespeare and  some of the body of his work.

We will have three performances: two for other camps/home schooled/etc, and one evening performance for family. As of this writing, there are three and a half weeks left before the first performance.

Some of the Behind The Scenes tidbits are;

• Setting: This version is placed in Mali, in Africa. The culture of the music and dance are being woven into the show; highlights to move the play along, showcase the talents of the campers, and to bring a kinetic energy that will, in my opinion, draw the audience in, no matter the age.
• Editing: for timing and content, the play is heavily edited down to one hour and fifteen minutes. Bawdiness and overly verbose passages, beautiful as the language may be, had to whittled down.
• Characters: Any school or camp theater director knows that you almost inevitably have more cast members than you have parts. In this case, instead of relegating so many to just be Fairies with no lines, I doubled up a lot and have a lot of Greek Chorus style speech going on. I have SIX Pucks, ranging from three 7 years olds to three older campers.  They have One-Word-At-A-Time, Group Choral Speak and Individual lines. The Fairies the same. I also added a little here and there to flesh out the storyline so all got a chance to have a voice.
• Musical Numbers: one of the things that I borrowed is how Mark Rylance crafted “Measure for Measure” at The Globe in London. In between scenes, there were songs, dances, masques, etc, that (in the notes provided) brought the play back to how it might have been seen during Shakespearean times. I LOVED what he and his cast did, and I felt that this was the way to go: make this as much a Comedy as a Comedy with Singing and Dancing: a full production, one that will have it’s flow pushed along by high energy throughout.
• Environmental: This is being performed inside, and my one true mandate for the rest of the artistic staff: this must be an environmental production. Not all the action will happen on stage. I have two 7′ramps that lead from the main stage to a lower stage. There is performance planned up and down the aisles, in front of the stage, in a balcony space, and amidst the audience. With six Pucks, you’ll never know where one will pop up (fae as well). There will be a bit of call and response happening with the audience members, beyond the clapping and tomfoolery that I have planned.
• Tomfoolery: Juggling Scarves; Dancing Scarves; Acrobatics; Fencing and Stage Combat; Really bad auditions for the Mechanicals; Songs written for some of the characters; a really elaborate Wedding Dance; Tosses and Flips and Rolling and Jumping; and assorted other thises and thats. I can’t give it all away…you have enough here.

I will write more about the production when Week Three is in the can. Tomorrow: blocking the entire end of the play, from the Wedding Dance to Pucks’ final speech. Will I have any hair left at the end of all this?

 

PS: The book cover at the top of the blog: for ANY naysayer who feels Shakespeare with the young is folly: Lois Burdett, a SECOND GRADE TEACHER in Canada, wrote and produced EIGHT (that I know of) Shakespeare’s plays with her students. The books introduce the story, the characters, include actual text alongside modern day prose and verse, and…SECOND GRADE!! I can not have more admiration for this.

Urban Shakespeare, (y)O!

“Six Weeks will quickly steep themselves in night;

Six weeks will quickly dream away the time,

And then the moon, like to a silver bow

Now bent in Heaven, shall behold the (days) and night

Of our solemnities.”

~with apologies to Willy S.

I cannot believe that two weeks are already gone. Poof, made fairy dust and blow away into all corners of time and the atmosphere. They have tripped away, but made their stay, for I have found myself truly blessed to be among artistic (and summer camp) chaos.

I met Katie, a choreographer/dancer last night, after a GREAT performance by The Whispering Tree in NYC. We were discussing dance and theater, and when I was talking about the production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (AMND) that I am directing and collaborating on, she beamed back to me how much my face lit up and how much she can see I love what I’m doing.

Katie is right. I’m having an overall blast working with 45 inner city kids on AMND. While it’s edited down for age appropriateness (Shakespeare, and his times, loved bawdiness) and time constraints, the  the story is preserved, and while the play is the thing, the story to be heard is intact. People used to go to Shakespearean & Elizabethan plays to HEAR the play.

Language can be beautiful.

In speaking to the producer (and heart) ofwhere the summer camp resides, I mentioned how well, during our first read through, the campers said the truly antiquated language. It both shocked and pleased me to no ends (the funny thing being that the simpler, everyday words were the ones that tripped some of them).

We’ve done our adaptation of adding some songs, dances, “gags” (stunts), and tomfoolery to help move the play along already. This week I start getting everything on it’s feet and the beginning salvo of blocking starts.

So many people, over the years, have often expressed their qualms in the accessibility of Shakespearean productions.   I aim to further quash all those fears and misgivings through this version of AMND. The campers, my dreamers, are excited about all the fun that is going into this. I have seen deep thought and rehearsal practice this past week that has truly made me more excited about making this choice.

Shakespeare wrote for the masses. He was, as I’ve said before, THE pop culture icon of his time. The great adapter.  He did not, as many will try to tell you, write for the elite and only for the elite. He was a populist and it should always be about the people, the masses, you Groundlings, you, who have come for an entertainment.

I aims to have the Dreamers (the camper, the actresses and actors) do that: entertain you. They are doing that with great gusto and vigor.

I honestly can’t wait.

 

Storyteller Interview: Jonathan Kruk

Jonathan Kruk, Storyteller

Welcome to the first in a series of interviews on Bornstoryteller. Besides being an advocate for the arts and AIE (Arts-In-Education), I am a Professional Storyteller. Over the years I have had the pleasure of being an audience member of some amazing tellers across the country. Many I’ve gotten to get to know and a number I can also count as friends.

I would like to introduce you to Storyteller Jonathan Kruk. I met Jonathan years ago when I was just getting The Brothers Grinn off the ground. Jonathan was one of those who was always approachable and friendly, and the mastery of his craft was evident in all he did.

Well loved throughout the Hudson Valley of New York State (and beyond), “…Jonathan was selected “Best Storyteller in the Hudson Valley” by Hudson Valley Magazine. The New York Times, noting his far ranging work described him as “Westchester’s intrepid storyteller”. Kids love his CD’s The Rainbow Dragon and Barkface & Rootnose. Plus, his Berger Platters/ Historic Hudson Valley produced recording of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (with musical effects by Matt Noble), earned a National Association of Parenting Publication Honors Award.”

1.    Jonathan, you are an award winning, well known Storyteller and Arts-in-Education Performer/Workshop leader in the Hudson Valley of New York State. For those meeting you for the first time, can you briefly tell us a bit more about yourself?
A born a day-dreamer, naturally reserved, I strayed from convention. Once upon a time, I took a break from a paper Gawain and the Green Knight, and cracked open a cheap bottle of beer. The cap showed a rebus of “East of the Sun West of the Moon.  Looking up the fairy tale, I found a fascinating quest, rather like Gawain’s. Our flaws, the stories showed get us into trouble, but my also bring blessings.  Wanting to share this quest with kids, I launched a career professional storyteller.  Simply said, I am an enchanter, especially for children. Moving children to listen, and imagine is my life.  It is really a blessing to get one hundred children to simultaneously joyously turn their hands into a Mouse, to go with naive bravery to face a thorny Lion. Now, rather than tell people I have 250 annual bookings at schools, libraries, historic sites and festivals, it’s more compelling to speak like the old Celtic bards and say.  I know how the Hudson River began to flows both ways.  I can tell what makes a princess kiss a frog, how a hairless bear May have hair, and why spider has crooked legs.  I am a storyteller.

2.    What inspires you in your storytelling?

There’s a hookey old handbook for librarians called “Children’s Faces Looking Up.”  That gets me out of bed, into knee britches or a bell vest and off for a two hour drive to perform for kids.  Also, when performing I’m the mad hatter with Alice saying what I mean and meaning what I say. Stories with surprises, like those of O’Henry, Poe, and Grimm always enthrall.  And I love turning little local factoids into historic fiction reflective of the times.

  3.    What draws you to telling about Hudson Valley History?
When a little old local history lady in a warbling voice told me when I was twelve, of the Chief “Cahtooonah” traveling over the road near our home, I was hooked.  Now, I love looking under the layers of time, people and events to discover the Hudson Valley shaped our nation.  The Hudson launched three revolutions.  The river played in holding together the new nation, launching of the industrial revolution with Robert Fulton’s steamboat, and opened the door for the modern environmental movement. It’s influenced thankfully by the city, and yet remains provincial. The river flows with many stories and the valley holds them.

4.    You were named “Best Storyteller in the Hudson Valley”by the Hudson Valley Magazine as well as receiving numerous awards. What have they meant to your career and to you personally?
Hudson Valley Magazine stunned me.  I thought it was a prank pulled by a classmate at the publication to get me to appear at the big party they hold for their”best of”  honorees. Now, I find the honor moves me I to live up to a higher standard.  Other awards for my recordings from Parent’s Choice and Parenting Publications, also really moved me.  We worked crazy to make the CD’s engaging.  As an Eagle Scout I’m proud of my certificates from scouting groups.   My most quirky cool award is a bronze medal for citizenship from the Sons of the American Revolution.  But the gold awards are the drawings children give me saying “I love your stories.”

5.    You have a Masters in Educational Theater from NYU. How do you integrate that with your work?
Skits in stories, advanced audience participation and better lesson planning all stem from my studies at NYU.  I spent a semester in England, and observed British teachers routinely using storytelling and creative dramatics in the classroom.  Educational Theater is problem solving and the best way to prepare children for life.

  6.    You have a book coming out soon. Can you tell us about it?
Legends and Lore of Sleepy Hollow and the Hudson Valley sprang out of my performances of the Washington Irving’s classic about the Headless Horseman.  The book reveals the origins of the galloping ghostly Hessian in local folklore, regional history, and some surprising places, like Germany, Scotland, and old Dutch courting customs.  I also found the “smoking cannon” that blew off the Hessian’s head in 1776.
There are several ghosts mentioned in the “Legend” but Irving leaves their stories untold.  Well, I tell why Major John Andre’s ghost haunts Sleepy Hollow.  I trace back the White Lady who wails before storms to Native and even European fairy lore. I reveal more about the hero witch Mother Hulda. And I share lore of river imps, and a myriad of other headless spirits in the Hudson Valley.  It was a blast to research and write.

7.    Do you have plans for another book? If so, what can you share? If not, why not?
I plan to propose to my publisher “Legends and Lore of the Hudson Highlands”  but I first I’ll turn some of my original stories, “Barkface and Rootnose” “The Dragon Who Stole Spring” and a Hudson River fairy tale, into children’s books.

  8.    With today’s economic climate, do you face any struggles that you didn’t have five or ten years ago?
I’ve been fortunate my long years of performing bring some deep connections to people and places always interested in hiring me.  Trouble is while the number of bookings has remained about the same, my fees have dropped about twenty percent.  Most places hiring me are not for profits hit hardest by the Great Recession. I find millionaires don’t create jobs for me. Contacting people, and just giving my tales all my heart and breath keeps me telling tales.

9.    What are the Hudson River Ramblers?
Rich Bala and I performing songs and stories of the Hudson. We collect authentic songs and primary source based stories to turn into family friendly fun shows.  We’ve performed for about twenty years for events like the 225th anniversary of the American Revolution, and the Quadricentennial.  We’ve been featured at the New-York Historical Society, Norwalk Oyster Festival and of course  River Day events up and down the Hudson. We offer  a tour of the river in Once Upon the Hudson like our CD, and now have a program called Revolutionary Character using examples from the American struggle for independence to stop bullying.

10.    What does success mean to you?
Sometimes success is just paying my bills so I can tell more tales. Other times, it’s having a full calendar of bookings, recordings, books, an iphone app, and even a storytelling TV show!  In my heart success is the creating a spell with a story.

11.    Can you describe a moment, or more than one,  in your performing that has remained with you?
During the 1980’s, just out of grad school, I got hired to serve as storyteller in residence for Freeport Schools on Long Island.  A Westchester boy commuting from Manhattan, however, I didn’t feel like I was resident anything but alien.  One day walking to a school from the train, a school bus drove up.   The kids were pointing and shouting; ‘look it’s our storyteller!’ I turned and waved, and they cheered.  I teared up knowing I was their storyteller in residence.
Now, there are many moments usually right after a show when children come up to me and say. Jonathan, I love your stories. Some times they pay me with hugs!

12.    What makes Jonathan happy?

My dog’s smile, singing happy birthday to six year olds’, intoning “the Headless Horseman of Sleeeepy Holloow” in the Old Dutch Church,” when my gigs pay me on time, dancing the “cool jerk,” and swimming in Lake Valhalla with my wife.

13.    If you could tell the President of the US one thing, what would you like to say?

Single payer health care now!

14.    Anything else you’d like to share?

More stories from East of the Sun to West of the Moon!

Thank you, Jonathan, for some wonderful answers. You can contact Jonathan at jonathankruk@gmail.com.

Editing Shakespeare

The world’s greatest playwright!

The Bard of Avon!!

SHAKESPEARE!!

First, my warning: I do not hold the works of William Shakespeare on a pedestal, to be revered from far away, where only those with the malady of StickUpTheButtitis can be the only ones, the elite, to treasure the man’s work. I would not be the one on the stage balcony of the Globe, only wishing to be noticed, and in so doing, care only about that (take that, bourgeoisie!).

I’d want to be with the groundlings (not the famous, and well deserved to be, Improv company…although if they asked me to join, it couldn’t hurt). The groundlings, the common people, that made up the majority of the audience. The popular culturist of his time. I truly believe, and I say this to my students, that if Shakespeare were alive and writing today, he’d be writing for HBO or be a rapper.

So…considered the “English world’s greatest writer,”… but what chutzpah we have, in that editing Shakespeare’s plays is TAUGHT in schools/higher learning!! Meanwhile, a certain playwright who I won’t name (NS) would sue your pants off if you even changed an “A” in one of his plays and,  in my opinion, NS is no Shakespeare.  We edit Shakespeare for a number of reasons, time being one of them (well over two hours, in most cases, if the play is done in it’s entirety). Then we play around with setting, time periods, etc. as fits the whims of the director &/or the location it is being performed in.

So, I am in the process of EDITING SHAKESPEARE: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream“, one of my favorites. I have to take this way over two hour play and not only it edit it down for time, but also to make it an age appropriate program for a Drama Camp. If you don’t know, Shakespeare is full of bawdiness and innuendo, and his satire was aimed at the  elite, the folly of men and women, and overall the plays that he adapted (yes, I said it: Shakespeare was one of the worlds greatest adapters) were rife with the socio-political climate of his day.

I’m almost done with my first edit. Since I am adding singing and dancing to the production, I am adding time as well, and more edits will have to happen. BTW… Thank YOU to Mr. Mark Rylance. I had the extreme pleasure of seeing “Measure for Measure” at The Globe Theater in London when he was the Artistic Director. He directed and starred in the production, and his going to the roots of how a show might have unfolded in days of yore was eye opening. Easily one of the best productions I’ve seen, and heard. You go to hear Shakespeare. It’s language is musical, when done well.

So, I will most likely have to edit this down even more after the first read through. I had a tough time “selling” this as the play I wanted to direct this summer. Big and splashy musicals always seem to hold more sway over the minds of what should be done. Audience pleasers. I hope that with the enthusiasm I have I can show what can be just as pleasing.

Shakespeare: never for just the “elite,” even if they still think it is so.

More over the summer about these trials and tribulations.

Have you ever edited a Shakespeare play? Why and werefore and to whit and hencewhy?

What was the best edited WS show you’ve ever seen?

Above, Mickey Rooney as Puck!!