Spread the Love: School Daze – a Vignette Play

Marisa Burrows from Barber Middle School (Dickinson, TX) helps Lindsay spread the love for School Daze, a Vignette Play written especially for middle schools.

Transcript

Welcome to “Spread the Love.” I am here at TETA-The Texas Educational Theatre Association. And one of the most awesome things about coming to conferences is that I get to meet teachers and students who have done my plays. I talked to a guy who’s going to do “Bright Blue Mailbox Suicide Note,” and another one who did “Pressure” last year, and here I have Marisa. And you are from Barber Middle School.

Yes.

And you did “School Daze” last year?

We did “School Daze”, yes. I came to teach here with some other teachers in the district, and I stopped by and saw it and was like, “Oh middle school plays, I got fifth graders, they’re young, we don’t really do that much.” So. Found “School Daze”, and bought “School Daze” and this Phone 2.0 and this Phone, and the next generation. So, grabbed all those and read them and thought, “School Daze” is so much fun because the kids relate to a lot of stuff, because they’re getting ready to go to sixth grade where there’s lockers and all that kind of stuff, and they’re like “I don’t know what I’m going to do!” So, I read it, and was like, “Oh, this is going to be so much fun!” So I teach the play in my class, we do auditions in class, we do all that kind of fun stuff because there’s no after-school program, and we rehearsed in class and like set the play on. And, with that, my principal came in to observe, and she was like, “Oh, this is so cute!” And we just had a new campus built for us, so we’re moving into the new campus, there was a dedication, and they said, “You know what, could your kids-could you pick a few of your kids to do this at the opening ceremony?” And I was like, “Uh, what? Are you kidding?” She’s like, “No, it’s great, they’ll love it!” So I picked a few scenes, and we got to perform for the public, just a couple little scenes for the opening ceremony, like five minutes. It was so much fun.

That must have been very exciting for the students.

The kids were so excited. They were like, “Oh, really? This is so much fun!” So it turned out really well, and they loved it, so.

Do you remember which scenes you did for this place?

I know we did the locker scene. Um. We did, uh. Oh now you’ve pulled that on me. What did we do? Um.

Scenes that they would love and that were perfect for going into grade six!

Yes! Exactly right!

Awesome! That is so great, and I’m really glad. And “School Daze”-you know, that was the whole point of it, is that, that first day of middle school, and all changes. And it was amazing to me, when you start looking at it, all the things that are different, from going into that, into lockers, and going from class to class. And just Middle school is such a difficult time.

It’s a hard transition for them.

It’s a transition of from: Some kid stuff is too young and fairy tale and kiddy, and some stuff is just, it’s just meant for older teenagers. So to put a place square in the middle like that, it just makes my day, including that work for everybody.

Oh they loved it, it was so much fun. The parents loved it, the principal, the administration, the woman they named the school after came to watch it as well, Shamarion Barber, she came in, and she was like, “That was so much fun!” So, yes, it worked out well.

That’s great! That’s it for “Spread the Love!”

Thanks!