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The Anchor Players Proudly Present

In this comedy, you will squeal with delight as the thirty-three pigs in the meadow continuously outsmart the hungry wolf.  Chef Pig, Ninja Pig, Robot Pig and 30 others each have their chance to misdirect the bumbling Big Bad Wolf,
who only finds himself further and further from getting his fill of little piggies! 

The Anchor Players is a drama group for Anchor’s 2nd Graders. Auditions will be September TBA. Individual students will have one or two rehearsals each week right after school from 3:10: to 4:30, possibly more the week before the show, and performances will be December TBA at 6:30pm. Below is a smattering of information to help you get to know what the group is all about.

WHO I AM:
  • I'm Bj Wallingford and I've been producing and directing plays for over 30 years.
  • I have produced and directed about a hundred plays, mostly in educational settings: Young People’s Theater, Bryant Community Center, Anchor Elementary School, Emerson School, Clague Middle School, Tappan Middle School, Pioneer High School, Community High School, and Huron High School.
  • My two sons will be my assistant directors, as they have been for the last three shows. :)
  • I had been looking for a way to make a more personal contribution to Anchor and I finally realized that I could share my passion for theatre with the students so I started the Anchor Players and this is now my fourth show.
 
AUDITION FORM:
  • Audition forms will come home in your child's backpack in September.
  • Please fill out the audition form with outrageously neat handwriting. The email addresses and phone numbers will allow me to keep you up to date on anything concerning the show.
  • There are only two reasons why I might not cast a student. 1) They have too many conflicts during the rehearsal process to work around. 2) They have conflicts with the performances. Please minimize the number of rehearsal conflicts for now to maximize my ability to cast your child. Once I have cast the show I will create a complete rehearsal schedule for the entire process, which will not change, so that you can then schedule other things, like dentist appointments, around it.
  • Pick either of the auditions for your child to attend, not both.
  • Don’t forget to have your child bring the form to their audition!
  • Let the school know your child is coming to auditions and not getting picked up or taking the bus right after school.
  • Auditions will be in the cafeteria.
 
AUDITIONS:
  • You are welcome to stay in the back during auditions or to drop them off until 4:30. Please don't be late picking your child up.
  • Send the audition form along with your 2nd grader on the day they audition. Do not give it to the office or a teacher.
  • Students will be in groups of two or three to practice and perform a short scene from the play with no memorization.
  • The three things I am most looking for in an audition are being loud enough for an audience, speaking clearly, and showing me some ideas of who the character is physically and verbally. I’d like to see the students get past simply reading the script out loud like you might a book, and show me what the character is feeling.
  • I will also take a picture of your child holding a dry-erase board that has their name on it. This is strictly to help me remember who was whom afterwards. The pictures will be used for nothing else and will never be posted anywhere.
 
REHEARSALS:
  • You are welcome to stay in the back during rehearsals or to drop them off until 4:30. Please don't be late picking your child up.
  • We will mostly have rehearsals in the cafeteria. When it is not available, we will try to use the gym or in the worse case scenario the front lobby.
  • While I will have 4 - 5 rehearsals per week, each student will only rehearse 1 - 2 a week during the normal rehearsal process. There might be more rehearsals in the two weeks before the performances.

 HINTS FOR RUNNING LINES WITH YOUR CHILD:
  • It is important to have your child run their lines for about 15 minutes every day that they do not rehearse.
  • They should always run lines in character, acting instead of just saying the lines.
  • It helps a lot if you also act the other characters in your child's scenes, not just read the lines.
  • They should stand up when running lines, not sit down.
  • Once your child has blocking for the scene (movement such as walking and doing things), they should do them while running lines.
  • Correct their mistakes as they happen, not after running a scene, until the mistakes are really minor. This helps lock the correct way in their mind.
  • Once the mistakes are pretty minor, you can wait until after the scene to tell them.
  • The more exact their lines get, the more it will help other actors with their lines.
 
TECH WEEK:
  • You are welcome to stay in the back during tech week or to drop them off until 5:00. Please don't be late picking your child up.
  • Students will definitely rehearse twice during the week before the performances.
  • This is called ”tech week” and we will be running the entire play using all the props, costumes, set pieces, etc. They are basically performances without the audience and are vital to the process.
  • Please bring any costume pieces or props that you have offered to every rehearsal this week.

PERFORMANCES:
  • We will have two performances in December in the cafeteria.
  • If the number of students auditioning is on the lower end, they will act in both performances.
  • If there are many more students auditioning, then I will have two casts, each performing once.
  • Even if students have just one performance, they must still be available for the other performance, ready to fill in for their counterpart in case that other student is sick.
  • You will need to provide a costume before we get to tech week and I will store it at the school. Details about the costumes will be provided far in advance.
  • Your child will need to arrive at 5:00 to get into costume and makeup.
  • Tickets will be sold only at the performance for just $2. There is no seat reserving.
 
PARENTAL HELP:
There are several ways you can help with the production.
  • Parents will supply the costume for their child. I will let you know what to look for early in the process so you have time to put it together.
  • I will need a few parents to help organize costumes as they are turned in as well as for tech week and performances.
  • I will share a prop list with parents once I know them, so perhaps you'll have some items to share with us.
  • I’ll need a couple people at the “box office” for each performance to sell tickets and hand out programs.
  • I'll need people to do animal face painting for the actors for both performances.
  • If you are interested in any of these, I will have a SignUpGenius for you to mark off how you would like to help.
  • Please make sure to pick up your child from rehearsal on time! I will wait with your child until you arrive, but my own children often have activities that I need to get them to after rehearsals.
 
Please feel free to email me at fizberry@charter.net if you have any questions.
 
                                                                                                                        Thanks!
                                                                                                                        Producer/Director/Anchor Dad,
                                                                                                                        Bj Wallingford