Manitoba Provincial Normal School - Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

Page 44 text:

lf NGN' 47? J FCQDQ Tl Iii .XI IR.XlALI'I'E DR MATICS HE outstanding event in our dramatic work for the fall term of 1017 was the presentation of five one-act plays on the evening of Friday. December oth. Each of the classes was responsible for one play. looking after production, setting, and presentation. The plays presented were: The Late Delivery, ,My Lady Dreams, Neighbors! The Playgoers, The 'I-rysling Place. ln all some hfty people were requir- ed in the casts and many more assisted in other ways in the production of these plays. April 27th and 28th is scheduled for the production of Tlie 'Torch-Bearers at the Little Theatre. The cast for this play is made up of students who took no part in December plays. This is in keeping with the policy of the school as a training school. An attempt is made to reach as many students as possible with this kind of training, and, in particular, to give to all who are really interested in the work the stimulus of acting in a play before a good-sized audience-an audience not of fellow-sufferers in training but ofpeople who pay for and expect an even- ings entertainment. The audience that crowded our little hall in December seemed to enjoy the productions and we feel confident that the cast for Aprils play will draw and entertain a full house in the Little Theatre. Though we are pleased when we succeed in entertaining an audience and when congratulations come to the cast, we all know that the function of dramatic work in a school such as ours is not limited to entertaining or learning to entertain. We are not trying to develop actors, we are trying to train teachersg and all of our dramatic work must Gnd its iustification in the contribution it can make to the teachers efficiency. 'Speech training cannot be over-emphasized, as this is the actors as well as the teachers medium of expression and our chief aim is to develop a speech that is correct and pleasant to hear. lt would be interesting to follow out into their schools the sixty or seventy people who have taken the most active part in our dramatic work and try to trace the infiuence of such work. This would be hard to do, but we should expect to find certain results. We should expect to Gnd these people show- 'fliirly-eighl ing at least a little more poise and self-confidence, both within the school-room and in the community. One suspects that sometimes really capable work suffers in public esteem through lack of this quality in the worker. one suspects too that disciplinary problems sometimes arise because the teacher lacks in poise and in control of expression of emotion. lf dramatic work in The Normal School really helps in this matter then it is wcrth while. We trust, too. that the students of the Normal School have gained from their little bit of experience in dramatic work some ability to enjoy better certain kinds of literature. Perhaps they have gained in ability to interpret literature to others, to interest their classes in literature through expressive reading and simple dramatization. The results of their work may even carry over into history g some of the vividly dramatic scenes in our country's past may catch the interest and fire the imagina- tion of our future citizens because some teachers have learned to find points of dramatic interest and to translate them into language and action. ls this too much to hope? Well, it is a worthy hope at any rate. It is not inconceivable that a little more direct appeal to the imagination of children through dramatizing, and through reading that has some force and color, will help awaken a real love of their country in our young folk. There is drama about us everywhereg we can find it if we know how to look. What a difference it would make in a teachers life if he for shej could occasionally become a little detached from the cares and minor details of the schoolroom and look upon the activities cf the school and community as bits of drama! Some such viewpoint is necessary to good-humored, well-balanced, work. The teacher who is forever im- mersed in the days work must come in time to evaluate all the activities of children Cincluding mischiefj in too personal a way. The teacher who gets entangled in a web of personal reactions to pupils loses in in- fluence and loses in working efficiency. Take a detached view now and theng see the world about you as drama with yourself in the role of spectator, and you will gain in foresight, self-command, and influence. This may seem a long digression from the discussion of the plays we have put on in the past year, but it is reasonable to hope that they contributed to our year something more than a few hours of entertain- ment il-x r'Q9a

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llll XHRNI Xl Ill CLASS D, 1928---Continued . 5 Z Hn, 4.1 . I . M -, , , H . . . . M, , . - - . Mary R Greqor' Alma Bethel Donooihue Watson Jessse Forrest John Tanchak Violet Blaker W. Roygkr' 'Annjtffoupih Ko ElsiefRobinson MaryJ.Ja.clasonf , Shy-ah De nnison Marie Jean Sutherland Walter G,Crane ' o Lillian Crodk o A Margaret Johngvtorl

Page 45 text:

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