Analysis and Research

Books borrowed from the library to research for set design.

In theater class, the kids perform a dramatistic analysis of every piece they are to perform. I know that most see it as another thing for me to grade and have yet to understand the value of researching a part.

I'm working on designing the set for our spring musical, Fiddler on the Roof. So I've done research on the web and discovered lots of interesting things like shtetel, Marc Chagall, the Pale of Settlement and Sholem Aleichem. I even  created a pin board of images I like.

But the part that fascinates me the most is finding the original stories that the musical is based on. Our lending library system allows me to reserve the books from libraries all across Indiana. I simply pick them up at my local branch. That's what makes me quirky, I love the research, the discovery of something new.

I'm not sure how our kids lost that or if we never shared that love with them. Just tonight, my daughter commented that kids don't read because of electronics. I'm not convinced that's the reason. All I know is we need to help kids find the joy of discovery rather than focusing on the burden of performance.