a second performance for the student body.
The crowd was much bigger for the second performance, which might make some people nervous, but the laughter was louder too. It feels really good to make the audience laugh!
——Year 7 Felix Shen,
played the role of The Emperor
The best part was that when we had a problem, everyone worked together to solve it. Even if we made a mistake on stage, we found a way to fix it so that nobody noticed.
——Year 6 Chloe Wang,
played the role of the Narrator
Set in ancient China,
"The Purple Fan" tells the story of
a prince kidnapped from his home,
never to be seen again.
The legend of the purple fan holds that
when the purple fan is put on the prince's head,
bells will ring.
The story begins when the protagonist
Zheng Hou finds the purple fan.
He then goes on a long journey to find the prince.
He meets many people along the way
and overcomes many difficulties,
only to find that he, himself,
is actually the prince.
Ms. Weinstein,Pao School's drama teacher,chose the play because it is accessible to a wide audience. The story is captivating, while also introducing viewers to traditional Chinese culture, and is performed in both Chinese and English. Ms. Weinstein had seen the play many years ago before she came to China and thought that it would be nice to see again, live, at YK Pao. She was right!
Students and teachers at Pao Middle Schoolexhibited outstanding teamwork skills in preparing for the play. Costumes were chosen by the Chinese Clothing CCA. Ms. Peony, Middle School Math teacher,handled hair and makeup, while the Chinese Jewelry CCA was responsible for hair decorations. All other set pieces and props were made in the Technical Theatre CCA. Year 7 student Isabella Liu painted the main part of the set, a large pan.
I have been interested in drama ever since I arrived at Pao School. I especially like Ms. Weinstein's class. She constantly encourages us with humor. What impresses me most about her is her enthusiasm for teaching. She once said: "You will only fail in this class if you don't act." She makes learning fun; there are a lot of fun games we play in class. But there's a purpose to these games: they teach us essential skills for theatrical performance, such as how to focus while onstage, how to be responsive and how to speak accurately.Teamwork is essential to ensuring a play is successful. We must all work together onstage, especially learning our lines so that we can express ourselves naturally and the performance appears as such to the audience. In addition, I think that the people responsible for props may have the most important job of all in a play. You might be able to get away with forgetting a line (you can improvise) but if someone forgets to move the props it will cause a big problem. The props people have to pay attention to every sentence in the play, so that they know what must be done for each scene. They cannot make any mistakes. In drama, the hardest thing to get right is "doing things that you don't even consider to be things."
——Y7 Tiffany Zhang,
played the role of Liu Jie, the GhostBefore coming to Pao School, I liked watching drama but never had a chance to act in plays myself. As a student here, I have become involved in drama because the atmosphere is welcoming and erudite - I don't feel intimidated, and we are encouraged to ask questions. There are many extracurricular activities in which we can participate too. In this play, I played the kidnappers and joined the props group (an important job). While I didn't have many lines, I still found the experience valuable. It was a great chance to improve my acting skills. Previously, I thought I performed poorly on stage I'd be laughed at. Through this play, I have learned that when you perform in a serious way, the audience will be respectful. I will keep working hard to improve my acting skills so I have more chances to perform in plays in the future.
——Year 7 Eva Xu,
played the role of kidnapper, water and property manI have been involved with drama since childhood. Before coming to Pao School, I studied drama at elsewhere.But Pao School's drama classes are the best I've taken. This time, the teachers told me to put my "craziness" to good use by playing a ruthless character in the play, my favorite role to date. Throughout the creative process, I began from my own understanding of the role, and used some of my own ideas as I acted, which Ms. Weistein recognized and encouraged. In the future, I will continue to hone my acting skills in all respects.
——Year 7 Robert Wei,
played the role of Wu QingAt Pao School I have become a self-motivated learner. In this play, I was challenged to play the role of an old minister.As I have previously had leading roles in some big plays, I didn't find the lines themselves challenging. But it was not easy to take on the role of an old man. The way the elderly think, speak and move is different from that of we young people. To get into character, I repeatedly watched the Dumbledore scene from Harry Potter. Acting as the old minister, I learned that we are not limited to playing certain roles just because they correspond with our own age and gender. As long as we can accurately portray the character, we can play any role. Learning this from Ms. Weinstein (as well as how to make eye contact with the audience) I have become more confident as an actor. Learning drama is not only beneficial for the acting skills we develop, but it also is helpful for our education in other disciplines, for instance, drama can teach us the type of colloquial English one may not find in a textbook. Meanwhile, to better understand the historical context of a play, I give myself a history lesson.
——Year 7 Angel Tang,
played the role of Lao Chen
Drama provides students with opportunities tobuild their confidence, improve their English skills,and learn important job skills. In drama classes,they build negotiation and public speakingskills, while exploring stories, character, and storydevelopment. Through CCAs, students can performin plays and musicals, learn choreography of classicand modern musicals, or explore the world oftechnical theatre.
In Year 6 drama, students build vocaland physical skills, concentrating oncommunicating emotions, conflict, andcharacter to the audience. For the rest ofthe semester, students will explorerelationships of friends and family. They willread, analyze and perform scenes fromthe play"Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing,"based on the book of the same name byJudyBlume.
In Year 7 drama, students continue tobuild their vocal and physicalcommunication skills, while exploring theart form in more detail. Summativeassignments in grade seven include adapting a story into a new genre,exploring the story and productions ofShakespeare’s"The Tempest" and adapting ashort story for production.
Pao students will continue to work on boosting their acting skills. As Year 7 student Grace Yu, who played the role of the Lord High Executioner succinctly put it: “Practice makes progress. Progress leads to perfection.”
