When I was in 4th grade, my teacher had us write letters to well-known professionals in fields that were interesting to us. I don’t remember who I wrote to, but I remember one of my classmates wrote to Jim Henson. And he got a reply, complete with an autographed picture of JH with Kermit the Frog. It was awesome. At that time, this was one of the only ways to connect with professionals, and it was a long-shot. I never received a reply. Today, technology allows us to connect with professionals without ever having to buy a stamp, or even leave our campus.
In the world of professional theatre, it’s all about who you know. Connections, connections, connections. Through use of tools like Skype we can have meaningful conversations with people all around the world and start allowing our students to build those connections and also gain valuable knowledge from those working in the thick of things. Now, is it likely that you are going to somehow convince Kevin Spacey to Skype with your class? Probably not. But, as I said, theatre is all about connections. And you’ve got them.
I went to college with a woman who is now working on an Off-Broadway musical in New York. Last spring we Skyped with her about her playwrighting process and she gave us feedback on a writing project that we were working on. The kids (and I) learned a ton from her and it was a connection. Many of my students now follow her on Facebook and she has agreed to answer questions for them on topics from playwrighting to acting to living in New York.
Now let’s start playing Six Degrees of Separation. She is married to a man who has been featured in several motion pictures. And he has said he is willing to talk with us about his experience as well. That’s another connection. And he probably knows some people as well and on and on and on. Thanks to one person I know, we have the opportunity to connect with a bunch of other professionals. And that’s just from one contact person. You probably know several people, and each of them knows several other people.
So if you have a webcam and have downloaded and set up a Skype account, your students can have access to a multitude of useful connections. And if it takes 6 or fewer connections to link you with anyone in the world, who knows…you may be able to Skype with Kevin Spacey.
