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Clock ticks down on 24 Hour Plays
By Zhang Qian |
September 28, 2011, Wednesday
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KELLY M. Webber, the 34-year-old head of Fine Arts at Shanghai Community International School's Hongqiao campus, has just finished a busy 24 hours early this month.
The 24 Hour Plays, a project initiated by writer Tina Fallon in 1995 and kept popular in New York, London, Los Angeles and Chicago over the years, was launched for the first time in China, organized by Webber and SCIS, where she teaches high school drama and IB Theater.
More than 100 students, professionals and educators from five international schools in Shanghai participated in the program from 8pm on September 2 to 8pm the next day. The students were divided up into five groups and were required to finish writing a 10-minute play and perform it within the 24-hour time limit, just like the original project in the United States.
Webber says she was impressed by the plays staged on September 3. There were all quite different from one another and had interesting angles to tell the story, which amazed both teachers and spectators.
"The Ballad of Norman the Clown" was a successful dark comedy that, at its core, was rather sad. It sucked in the audience and had the crowd in stitches mixed in with a bit of guilt.
"The Lion Tamer who Tamed the Lion" was more of a politically propelled piece that seemed to deal with the power struggle between married couples in China. "The Red Scarf" dealt with the idea of femininity and how it is perceived by both men and women. "The Ladies Man" was a light-hearted standard commentary about a man who dates many women. And "The Joker" tried to draw on the nature of how humans fail to communicate effectively because language always fails us.
"They challenged the audience to listen, to think, to laugh in recognition, and to squirm with familiarity," Webber says.
And the students from SCIS Hongqiao, SCIS Pudong, SCIS Hangzhou, YCIS Gubei and SAS Puxi all had great fun cooperating with peers from other schools and cheered on their success.
"Everybody was curious, diligent, meticulous and exhilarated," Webber says. It was an inspiring experience, even after the show, when their enthusiasm for the work they had just accomplished reached a height of whooping and hollering in excitement."
Webber says she always enjoys providing theater experiences to students of all ages.
After getting a master's degree in music from the University of New Mexico, she has taught both music and theater across the world and performed opera roles in both the US and Europe.
And 24 Hour Plays, which Webber has participated as a director for three years at her prior school in the US, is always a fun program where she continues to be impressed by the talent and cooperation of students.
"It impressed me to see how well the students worked together," Webber says.
Each group of kids was divided equally amongst schools, meaning they were all working with different people than they were accustomed to. But they always quickly become friends and start working together really well, she says.
This makes Webber determined to bring the play project to every school she teaches at, including Shanghai.
"I brought this opportunity to the community to bring together what was a teeming pot of theatrical curiosity and superb talent in Shanghai's international school system," says Webber.
"It is not just about acting, but rather, the scope of the entire theatrical experience."
Webber started preparing for the project in January and was happy to get five international schools to participate. She also brought in some professionals to help students.
The students were offered two days of play-writing workshops under the guidance of Alice Tuan, head of Writing for Performance at CalArts. Tuan also offered help throughout the writing process for the 10-minute plays.
Experienced directors Jonathan Geenen of 3rd Culture Theater and Virginie Knight of Le Troupe de Theater Francophone de Shanghai also helped make the plays possible.
Webber plans to keep the project going.
"I hope to continue the 24 Hour Plays as an annual event with schools participating from around Shanghai. It is a great launch to everybody's theater seasons and a great way to get exposed to extreme theater and new faces," Webber says.
Webber is currently working on "Metamorphoses," a play by Mary Zimmerman. It will be staged at SCIS Hongqiao from November 3 to 5. It is based on Ovid's epic poem "Metamorphoses," though Zimmerman has added other mythological stories to create vignettes that connect literary themes.
"These stories still resonate today with themes that shake us to our core," says Webber.
The 24 Hour Plays, a project initiated by writer Tina Fallon in 1995 and kept popular in New York, London, Los Angeles and Chicago over the years, was launched for the first time in China, organized by Webber and SCIS, where she teaches high school drama and IB Theater.
More than 100 students, professionals and educators from five international schools in Shanghai participated in the program from 8pm on September 2 to 8pm the next day. The students were divided up into five groups and were required to finish writing a 10-minute play and perform it within the 24-hour time limit, just like the original project in the United States.
Webber says she was impressed by the plays staged on September 3. There were all quite different from one another and had interesting angles to tell the story, which amazed both teachers and spectators.
"The Ballad of Norman the Clown" was a successful dark comedy that, at its core, was rather sad. It sucked in the audience and had the crowd in stitches mixed in with a bit of guilt.
"The Lion Tamer who Tamed the Lion" was more of a politically propelled piece that seemed to deal with the power struggle between married couples in China. "The Red Scarf" dealt with the idea of femininity and how it is perceived by both men and women. "The Ladies Man" was a light-hearted standard commentary about a man who dates many women. And "The Joker" tried to draw on the nature of how humans fail to communicate effectively because language always fails us.
"They challenged the audience to listen, to think, to laugh in recognition, and to squirm with familiarity," Webber says.
And the students from SCIS Hongqiao, SCIS Pudong, SCIS Hangzhou, YCIS Gubei and SAS Puxi all had great fun cooperating with peers from other schools and cheered on their success.
"Everybody was curious, diligent, meticulous and exhilarated," Webber says. It was an inspiring experience, even after the show, when their enthusiasm for the work they had just accomplished reached a height of whooping and hollering in excitement."
Webber says she always enjoys providing theater experiences to students of all ages.
After getting a master's degree in music from the University of New Mexico, she has taught both music and theater across the world and performed opera roles in both the US and Europe.
And 24 Hour Plays, which Webber has participated as a director for three years at her prior school in the US, is always a fun program where she continues to be impressed by the talent and cooperation of students.
"It impressed me to see how well the students worked together," Webber says.
Each group of kids was divided equally amongst schools, meaning they were all working with different people than they were accustomed to. But they always quickly become friends and start working together really well, she says.
This makes Webber determined to bring the play project to every school she teaches at, including Shanghai.
"I brought this opportunity to the community to bring together what was a teeming pot of theatrical curiosity and superb talent in Shanghai's international school system," says Webber.
"It is not just about acting, but rather, the scope of the entire theatrical experience."
Webber started preparing for the project in January and was happy to get five international schools to participate. She also brought in some professionals to help students.
The students were offered two days of play-writing workshops under the guidance of Alice Tuan, head of Writing for Performance at CalArts. Tuan also offered help throughout the writing process for the 10-minute plays.
Experienced directors Jonathan Geenen of 3rd Culture Theater and Virginie Knight of Le Troupe de Theater Francophone de Shanghai also helped make the plays possible.
Webber plans to keep the project going.
"I hope to continue the 24 Hour Plays as an annual event with schools participating from around Shanghai. It is a great launch to everybody's theater seasons and a great way to get exposed to extreme theater and new faces," Webber says.
Webber is currently working on "Metamorphoses," a play by Mary Zimmerman. It will be staged at SCIS Hongqiao from November 3 to 5. It is based on Ovid's epic poem "Metamorphoses," though Zimmerman has added other mythological stories to create vignettes that connect literary themes.
"These stories still resonate today with themes that shake us to our core," says Webber.
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