Plays at Belleville East.

I began my twenty-eight year teaching career at Belleville East High School in 1966. It was a new school and several of the campus style buildings were still unfinished and the art room was not equipped  and ready for use. Art classes were held in a regular classroom without art tables or supplies. We were told that everything should be ready in a few months; t was about three months before we move to the new art building. Those three months help form my teaching philosophy at Belleville East. My mantra became manipulation of materials at hand and creative problems solving. We made projects out of building scraps and and found objects. We used copy paper and number two pencils to created our art work on typical school desks. Those early exploration into creativity continued even after all the equipment and supplies arrived. 

In addition to teaching art I began to work on school plays. I was the faculty technical director for over fifty productions. My skills manipulating materials was really challenged. The beautiful new school did not have an auditorium or theater. There was a building  used as a lecture hall that could be divided into three separate areas and it was used primarily for study halls and meetings. It had a few theater type seats and a raised lecture are made of concrete. The space was about  twenty by thirty feet with no wing space, curtain or back stage areas. It also had to wall on each side that narrowed the space even more. This remained as the only performance are until after I retired when a new theater was built. A few plays were put on in the gym until the principle asked me if I could use the lecture space for productions. That first play was a challenge. No lights, no curtains, no dressing rooms, no tools just a bare concrete area. I purchase a portable light dimmer and had it wires to a small utility room. The dimmer had to sit in isle and was operated without a booth. We bought a few lights and the custodian attached a pipe to the ceiling and we had minimal lighting. We also bought a follow spot and positioned in the back of the room.  I built flats in the hallway and made a few sandbags to support them. It was lucky that the first play was  “A midsummer nights dream” and we got by with a few flats and some platforms. The student bathrooms in the hallway served as dressing rooms. I owe a lot to that first play and it taught me the value of creative problem solving. For the next thirty years I technical directed over fifty plays. Each play added more creative additions to that lecture center. The wall were removed a wood floor was added a light booth was build. I watch a small unusable space become an intimate proformance area. My only regret is that I did not get the opportunity to use a real theater.

Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.