Welcome to Dullsville
About a month ago I get a phone call from a woman named Liz Bochain from Colchester, CT. It seems that she is directing a production of Dullsville at Jack Jackter Intermediate School in Colchester. But this is no ordinary production.
Jack Jackter Elementary and Intermediate schools use the Arts in their teaching. Their production of Dullsville is to be a faculty-led production to raise money. They're expecting over a thousand people. It's only 3 hours away, so how could I pass it up?
The theme of Dullsville fits their situation perfectly. It was written to show the importance of the arts in education. Okay, it's a bit preachy, but as the old expressing goes: if your audience is deaf, sometimes you have to shout.
According to Liz, the entire community has rallied around this production and this script and really taken it to heart. The result was a true collaboration combining music, song and lots of resources.
It's rare for me to see something I've created truly impact an entire community. Of all the plays I've written and all the productions I've seen, this has got to have been the most rewarding. I left Colchester with a feeling that in some small way I've made a difference. And, after all, isn't that why I'm doing this in the first place?
Now, I'm not quite done with Dullsville. Right now I'm adapting it as a storybook. Eventually I'd even like to adapt it as a full-scale musical. But first, the storybook. Like most of my other works, it may sit on the shelf and collect dust. But the schools who have produced it have really enjoyed it.
These school plays are harder to write than most would expect, but the rewards are huge. (Now if I could only convince a publisher of their popularity!)
Jack Jackter Elementary and Intermediate schools use the Arts in their teaching. Their production of Dullsville is to be a faculty-led production to raise money. They're expecting over a thousand people. It's only 3 hours away, so how could I pass it up?
The theme of Dullsville fits their situation perfectly. It was written to show the importance of the arts in education. Okay, it's a bit preachy, but as the old expressing goes: if your audience is deaf, sometimes you have to shout.
According to Liz, the entire community has rallied around this production and this script and really taken it to heart. The result was a true collaboration combining music, song and lots of resources.
It's rare for me to see something I've created truly impact an entire community. Of all the plays I've written and all the productions I've seen, this has got to have been the most rewarding. I left Colchester with a feeling that in some small way I've made a difference. And, after all, isn't that why I'm doing this in the first place?
Now, I'm not quite done with Dullsville. Right now I'm adapting it as a storybook. Eventually I'd even like to adapt it as a full-scale musical. But first, the storybook. Like most of my other works, it may sit on the shelf and collect dust. But the schools who have produced it have really enjoyed it.
These school plays are harder to write than most would expect, but the rewards are huge. (Now if I could only convince a publisher of their popularity!)
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