With the onslaught of Follies comes…set design in the art room! This is my sixth year at the school, and in that time I have slowly figured out a few things about how to integrate the entire school into making scenery that is fun, cooperative and usually ends up supporting the production. Although I am supposed to keep the specifics a little vague (for secrecy’s sake), I would love to share a bit about what we are doing.

The process really begins with the brainstorming and scriptwriting by the Follies director, Sheila Lopez, and the 8th grade. The script is a springboard, and the sets can go in a number of exciting directions. Sheila and I usually plan the basic concepts for the scenes, and then it’s time for the kid’s creativity to take off!

Students collaborate school wide, with the older ones usually designing the sets. The younger children are typically involved in set production as scenery painters, although we occasionally make other items needed for Follies as well. Students work in small groups to make decisions and paint particular flats together. Classes may do more or less detail work and design decisions based on their age, the needs of the play, and the amount of work left to do when they have class. I’ll never forget the year the entire play was in black and white, and K, 1 & 2 made hundreds of grey paper maché potatoes for a food fight in a potato chip factory! That was a lot of grey lumps.

Depending on what is needed, older students may sketch ideas, or draw outlines of ideas on 4’ x 8’ sheets of cardboard, or scale up designs onto 30’ tall rolls of fabric. When they come to art class I tell them what needs to be done next, and assist them in thinking big enough for the Palace of Fine Arts Theater! This stage of production requires a great deal of cooperation and collaboration within each class, as students typically work in small groups that shift focus and change as tasks are accomplished. This is a time when all of the skill building and group work we have practiced comes into use for a very real job, which is a classic goal in progressive education. Frequently students will begin a job that is finished by another class, which adds to the feeling of Follies really being a school wide effort. There are usually kids from a wide variety of grades who can point to the same piece of scenery and say, “I did that!”

Follies also gives students the opportunity to take risks and challenge themselves personally. Occasionally I will ask a student or two to translate their own ideas into the main set design for a scene, which is a huge and exciting challenge. There is nothing like the anxiety and joy of seeing your own design made larger than life for all to see!

And of course, parents and teachers are always involved in the collaboration as well. Many of the supports, frames, and larger set pieces are constructed by parents, brought to the theater by parents and carefully taken apart and hauled back to school by parents. Many thanks go to Jim Anderson (Lillian, 4th) for our rolling set frames, Lewis Patton (Nicole, 8th) for a (secret!) rolling item, and Jono Schrode (MS math & science) for the steps. If you are interested, I am still looking for a couple more people to help with set transportation and some odd jobs Wednesday morning, as well as after Follies. Please let me know if you have the time and/or a big vehicle to help out!

By the way, you may have noticed a few versions of self portraits hanging around the halls. Every year students spend a little time creating a new self portrait to go with their new grade. Take a look next time you are in the building. Here are quick descriptions of the ones on display.

First graders created playful Fauve self-portraits using bright colors. These are around the kitchen on the first floor. On the lobby level are second grade prints of faces expressing a variety of emotions. Eric Carle is the inspiration for the third grade, who spend time painting and then slowly building their faces in paper. These are on the first floor. On the second floor, the fourth grade used oil pastels to create fun and wild self portraits with an emphasis on shading and blending colors. While the fifth grade was researching their family histories they made line drawings of their faces on clear acetate, and then created paintings representing their family histories as backgrounds. These are in the conference room. The sixth grade created self portraits after looking at artists who reveal more than the surface of people. These shared a bond with surreal art in not being tied to conventional self portraits, but were closer to internal self portraits. These are on display on the second floor.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. The next few weeks before winter break will be busy ones for afterschool. Fall enrichment classes are coming to a close with final performances and presentations to showcase the kids’ hard work and accomplishments. I would like to invite everyone to come and see the great things that were created this session in the following enrichment classes.

• Monday, December 8 at 3:45 p.m. – Moviemaking and Cartoon/Claymation premiere. Join David Cutler’s classes in the 5th grade room to see the finished product of the Moviemaking and Cartooning classes and participate in a Q&A session with the students.
• Monday, December 15 at 6:00 p.m. – Music recital. Students of Joe, Kevin, and Dan will perform selections on piano, drums, and guitar. There will be an exciting PHS ensemble performance and the teachers will perform together as well. Please contact Deborah if you can bring a food item for an informal reception after the recital.
• Tuesday, December 16 at 5:30 p.m. – Downstairs drama performance. Come to the theater to enjoy the enrichment class production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, directed by our own Janna Sobel. Please note that the start time is a half hour earlier than stated on the December calendar.
• Thursday, December 18 at 5:30 p.m. –Upstairs drama performance. Come and see the upstairs drama group perform a play they wrote as a team. Please note that the start time is a half hour earlier than stated in the December calendar.

Other dates to mark on your calendar:

• Friday, December 12 – After school ends early at 5:00 p.m. to give everyone time to prepare for Follies.
• Friday, December 19 at 4:00 p.m. (tentative)- Join after school staff Sarah Weidman and Anne Mannes for a fun candle-making project and take the product home with you!
• Friday, December 19 is a regular day and after school ends at 6:00 p.m.

The enrichment catalog for Winter Session is in this Friday letter as well. Look over dates and prices carefully, and return registrations to me by Wednesday, December 17. There are some new classes being offered, like stand-up comedy, as well as the popular classics like chess and drama. If a class doesn’t reach its minimum enrollment, it will be cancelled. To avoid this, it would be great if kids and parents talked to friends and classmates to see who is signing up for what classes. Remember to hold onto the catalog to reference start and end dates for classes. If you have scheduling conflicts and can’t take a class, you may be luckier in the shorter spring session, which will include many different options.

Everyone at Presidio Hill and the afterschool program especially would like to welcome Siamak back to San Francisco and to school. We certainly missed him these past few months and are ecstatic to have him back. This winter he will be coaching basketball and teaching in afterschool.

Finally, I will not be at school the first week back after winter break. Afterschool will be running as usual. Siamak will be taking over in my absence. In order to make the process easier for everyone, I would really appreciate it if you could pre-purchase hours and register and pay for enrichment before break begins Friday, December 19.