My favorite question (no sarcasm detected here) after a show closes is: “Now that your show is done, what are you going to do with all your free time?” I always smile and reply, “Free time, what is this free time you speak of?” That is followed by a mutual chuckle and I go on my way to complete the next set of tasks on my ever growing to-do list.

It is common knowledge that a teacher’s job extends well beyond normal school hours and is not confined to weekdays or even the 9 months considered the typical school year. And, no one would argue that a theatre teacher’s job reaches even further past the normal teacher’s already extended boundaries. The typical theatre teacher doesn’t have only one job. Theatre teachers notoriously are responsible for multiple, if not all, facets of the day-to-day activities of their department. In fact, I often say that I would gladly take any three of my twelve jobs if that’s all I had to do.

To add to the already hectic theatre teacher schedule, there comes the added “responsibility” of attending other theatre performances, being involved in professional theatre organizations, volunteering with local theatres, and mentoring and/or coaching budding actors for upcoming auditions, and, for the truly ambitious teacher, becoming a graduate student.

For me, graduate school has been in my sights for at least eight years. I knew what I wanted, an affordable, low residency MFA program, but struggled to find it. About 7 or 8 years ago, the then Chair of Mississippi University for Women (accepting men since 1982), Peppy Biddy, began working on building a Master Degree in Theatre Education. However, through a series of closed doors, the degree was tabled for several years. Then, about 3 years ago, all of the stars aligned and this magical program was back in discussion, for real this time. In July 2019, the degree was live and my application was submitted! I received my letter of admission and I was officially one of the five in the first cohort of this history making degree program!

It is now Thanksgiving week and we are approaching the end of the first semester. Graduate school has been a challenge on many levels, the biggest of which is the fact that I’ve added two more major “to-dos” to my already impossible list. I made the decision to only take two classes this first semester so that I could figure out the lay of the land and not bite off more than I could chew. This was a good decision. A third class would have been overly ambitious. The program is designed for three classes a semester, but as of right now, two classes works best for my schedule. I figure it’s better to take a little longer to finish the degree than it is to lose all semblance of my sanity right out of the gate.

Acting & Directing I is designed to expose the students to multiple acting and directing styles. Each style/method is accompanied by a book that focuses on the practitioner and his/her style. As a Theatre Major in college I studied Stanislavsky but have only had exposure to Sanford Meisner, Michael Chekhov, and Anne Bogart through professional development workshops and adult acting classes. This class has been an excellent opportunity to delve deeper into the styles of each of those practitioners. This class has pushed me to exercise time management and to determine the most important elements to include in a one-day lesson. I have been accustomed to creating unit plans that span several days, so creating a lesson plan for a single day has been a challenge for me, but has also taught me the art of culling.

One of my future goals, post retirement from secondary school teaching, is to teach theatre education on the college level. Creative Dramatics has been a perfect class to prepare for that goal. This class focuses on creating a theatre curriculum and running a theatre department. There is also a lot of importance placed on cross-curricular education. this course provided opportunities to evaluate my current practices within my department and reflect on how to improve those practices.

And that brings us back to all of my free time. As I wrap up this collection of thoughts, I am mentally making my to do list for tomorrow that will include many tasks to prepare for the super full DramaFest week. This holiday week has been a wonderful chance to catch up on neglected housework and much needed rest. As necessary as both of those things are, at the end of every break I am left reeling from the immense to-do list that looms before me. So, I guess the answer to “What will you do with all your free time?” is “Stress about all of the things I need to be doing and make new to-do lists.”

So, tune in next time for updates on all my free time!