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Educational Stages

More Theatre, Less Drama

Live, online and published help to save you time
and sanity while creating theatre in a school setting.

Resources for Theatre Educators

LIVE, ONLINE and PULBISHED HELP

TO SAVE YOU TIME AND SANITY

WHILE CREATING THEATRE IN A SCHOOL SETTING

Make More Theatre with Less Drama

EDUCATIONAL STAGES

Wanna be
less stressed?

Are you...

Overwhelmed by all you have to do? Feel like you're all alone? Facing curriculum gaps in your training? Under-prepared for the vast scope of your responsibilities? Loving the theatre and kids but not the drama of the parents, administrators, paperwork?

We can help!

Educational Stages can take some of that weight off your shoulders by:

Anticipating the problems and issues you're likely to encounter throughout the year, in your classes and productions.
Offering direct feedback and a group forum for discussing your trials and triumphs.
Providing guest artist services as teacher, adjudicator, evaluator

Sharing incidents that educate, inspire and amuse "from the trenches"

Creating the framework for a website or blog for your department

Making available dozens of customizable templates for class and production use
Demonstrating how to organize your field trips, expenses, supplies, events, etc.

Getting to Know Me

★ 35 years as a theatre educator, small school in London & large school in Wash DC area, gr. 7-12

★ 200 shows...3000 students

★ Never lost money on a show

★ Co-author of textbook, state standards, Program of Studies, auditorium safety manual

★ Successful parent Booster groups

★ Toured to competitions, NYC and Scotland Fringe

★ Serves on Governing Board of Cappies, Int'l

★ Colleague Assistance Program partner

★ Now retired, ready and available to give back

With experience that varies from tiny private school to ginormous public school, there are few situations that haven't been encountered. I've got over 150 productions under my belt including straight plays, musicals, short plays, Shakespeare, improv and devised theatre. I figure I've taught around 3000 students and worked under a wide variety of administrators and different performance spaces. I introduced the Technical Theatre curriculum into our school system, and remain on the Governing Board of The Cappies, directing their awards gala at the John F Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. annually.

Working with teenagers is tricky business, and very rewarding, but filled with coping with their teen angst, dealing with their parents, satisfying administrators, and handling all the other stakeholders can be downright exhausting. But on good days, we get applause for our work. Lucky us!

I've been told I'm equally left and right brained, so I'm good at seeing both the details and the big picture. I get great pleasure from seeing others succeed through my guidance or efforts, and wanting to keep my years of experience relevant, I co-authored Real-World Theatre Education with Zoe Dillard, and am proud that it's currently used in Theatre Education programs at universities across the country. Said one theatre supervisor, "Invaluable! Every theatre teacher, whether new or seasoned, should be furnished with this jam-packed compendium of the very best suggestions, solutions and warnings for navigating life in the theatre classroom."

And now, since retiring from full time teaching and directing, I look forward to opportunties to assist my theatre colleagues however I can. I now have time you don't, that can be put toward planning and helping, instead of just putting out brush fires as you do. On the other hand, I understand your tight schedule, and that flexibility is an important ingredient for us to work together successfully.

As to cost, our work together is professional development that may be funded by your Boosters, school or drama department funds instead of your own pocket. In any case, we'll keep it reasonable.

The Plan

Act 1. Confer about your situation - where and who you teach; type of school; issues that need attention.

Act 2. Decide how we can best help you and a figure out a timeline that works for you.

Act 3. Activate our plan and follow up to see that it bears fruit.

Services we can provide:

Theatre Blog
Program evaluation

Drama Website creation
Competition adjudication

Student-teacher observation

Mentoring of new theatre teachers

Workshops in acting, directing, tech, etc

Guest speaker for Theatre Education classes
Mentor's manual Real-World Theatre Education

Basic info, lessons,Teaching Tech You Never Learned

Curator of Facebook group "Theatre Teachers Conspiracy"

Organizer, trainer, referee and judge for improv competitions

Molly R. talks about
Real-World Theatre Education

From theatre to drama to teaching to theatre educator...My Story

My love of theatre started early, watching Mom do community theatre shows, finally getting involved in 8th grade at summer camp, and continuing on through high school and college. During the year I taught drama in religious school and summers worked as drama specialist at an ovenight camp where I was a counselor. As I was getting certified to teach, I got hired for an English and Theatre job at a small American private school, TASIS England, outside London. What a great opportunity...and what a crisis! My acting and directing experience didn't prepare me for being "the expert" at all the technical theatre, both hard and soft, nor the administravie parts of being a one-person department. I managed - and learned a lot the hard way - and then headed off to graduate school to fill in those gaps.

I was in a small directing program, but took every technical theatre course offered at The Catholic University of Amereica, and my goodness that paid off when I took a position at a very large public school in northern Virginia, where I was the 4th drama teacher they'd had that year (!!)...but I stayed for several decades. During that time, we went through multiple principals and administrators; changed from a 6 to 7 perioed day; changed to Block Scheduling; survived a 3-year building renovation; became an IB (International Baccalaureate) school; and three revisions of our curriculum, the Program of Studies. I also lobbied our school system to include Technical Theatre classes, and eventually they did!

Never very good at saying No...(can you relate?)...I added many program pieces to my classes and basic show schedule over the years: a summer drama camp; Booster group; ITS troupe; TheatreSports improv tournaments; student-diected short plays; State theatre conference; Folger Student Shakespeare Festival; four tours to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; and participation in The CAPPIES (like the Tonys for HS) , including directing their big Awards Gala annually at the Kennedy Center (except, of course, in 2020....).

As retirement loomed, I didn't want my skill set and hard-won experience, my challenges and my successes, to just drift away, so I co-authored a book of all those things we come up against that no one prepares you for - things like casting blowback; getting kicked out of your rehearsal space; combining levels of theatre students; competing with other electives teachers for enrollment, etc. And now that I have the time, I want to keep my hand in by offering my services to whichever colleagues will find them of value.

We work crazy hard, but we don't have to do it alone. Let me help you

Decrease the pressure you feel
Watch your program grow and get recognition
Raise the bar for production standards
Work smarter instead of harder

A Free eBook for you - Teaching Leadership

Whether you're training or in the thick of it, you know that strong student leadership will make for a stronger theatre program. But how to build crew chiefs and staff that "get it"? This free eBook will begin to show you the way! Enjoy!

And finally...

What Others Have to Say...

"Chip Rome is an asset to the FCPS Theatre Arts community. He is knowledgeable, innovative, dependable and a pleasure to work with. He has a wealth of expertise and experience in...See More

"Working with Chip Rome at Educational Stages was such a helpful experience. As a first-year teacher, I was quickly understanding all of the small but important facets that the job of theatre director entailed. Chip worked me through a lot of those details with a...See More

"Chip hosted a one-night "TheatreSports 101" for my friends and me...two hours of hilarious and inpiring theatre games. It was scary in the very best way, and...See More

Praise for Rome and Dillard's mentoring manual
Real-World Theatre Education

"This is a nuts and bolts handbook that will walk an educator through the academic year, preparing them for both curricular and extra-curricular demands. It's more...See More

"I enjoyed how the book is broken up into seasons (autumn, winter, spring, summer) so that the content is more manageable and you get to experience the journey of what a year in the life of an educator entails...See More

"This book gives you plenty when it comes to the little things, such as how to handle administration, field trip procedures, and angry parents. What I used the most really is...See More

Organizations we've worked with include:

Robinson Secondary School

More Theatre, Less Drama

Make More Theatre with Less Drama

Educational Stages can take some of that weight off your shoulders by:

Anticipating the problems and issues you're likely to encounter throughout the year, in your classes and productions.

Offering direct feedback and a group forum for discussing your trials and triumphs.

Providing guest artist services as teacher, adjudicator, evaluator

Sharing incidents that educate, inspire and amuse "from the trenches"

Creating the framework for a website or blog for your department

Making available dozens of customizable templates for class and production use

Demonstrating how to organize your field trips, expenses, supplies, events, etc.

Getting to Know Me

The Plan

From theatre to drama to teaching to theatre educator...My Story

A Free eBook for you - Teaching Leadership

And finally...