Amelia Figg-Franzoi here, Ms. Figg-Franzoi to most of you reading this, but I know you refer to me by my first name behind my back. Yes, I’m on to you all. Anyway, I shall be posting as myself tonight, not as some theatrical entity or on behalf of Katie Bandurski when I force her to write something about the theatre department.
Monday night we had a Freshmen Orientation for the current 8th graders. At this one we talked about clubs, sports and activities and the whole time I was smiling, glowing. I love this. As much as I grumble and complain that you (my students) are the worst, I love each of you dearly. As many of you know, I’m embarking on an adventure of my own starting this summer: my Masters of Fines Arts in Dance/Choreography. When I tell people this they always ask what I want to do with that terminal degree. I could become a full-time professor at a University or open a dance studio or and dance and theatre company! The possibilities are endless with this degree. At least that is what everyone tells me.
And yet, Monday night while I had students setting up the Drama Club booth and I ran the sound board in the auditorium I had to smile. I could not imagine a more fulfilling job for me. Currently I’m planning our 3rd Annual PATs Banquet, producing three one acts and seriously considering writing both the One Act Play and Fall Play for the 2014-2015 season. This is a time when I should be stepping back and not thinking about writing anything! I’m getting my MFA! I will be too busy to create works of theatre for my students, I just need to find a play already written. But I want to give you all the best, maybe that’s not my writing, but I will find it. Maybe my putting my students before me is a bad thing, but the joy I find in teaching is the same joy I find when we tackle a juicy piece of theatre, run around wild and scream for a minute or cut down a movie to 40 minutes and perform that in Acting 2 instead of just doing a 40 minute play.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that when every once in a while that random person asks what I’ll do with my MFA and I say “Maybe I’ll become a professor,” it’s just to appease that person. When I really think about it, I love teaching teenagers, I love putting on great theatrical works with high school students and pushing them to be better then they even imagined. I have wanted to be a teacher since I was a little girl and forced my sister to be my student when we “helped” my mother clean her classroom in the summer. I have wanted to be a high school teacher ever since my time as a high school student wasn’t the most fulfilling for I wasn’t an athlete. I have wanted to be a theatre teacher ever since I stepped onto the campus of Marquette University and realized I had had a dream all my life. My love and passion is dancing, as most of you know. But I want to use this masters by bringing amazing new things to you! In creating and developing better plays, musicals, classes and games for you.
Dan Scott worked out the amount of seconds we spend together, I don’t remember the exact number, but there is a reason we spend that much time together, I love you all dearly. Monday night yet again proved to me how much I love you and this job. So thank you all for making my job not just a job, but something I crave to do every day, something I’m more then willing to give up my personal life for. Thank you for being you.
Love,
Mom (Figg-Franzoi)
Act Out 