German: German Theater Project (IU)

From Indiana University:

Dear Indiana K-12 German Teachers, 

"My name is Michael Bryant, and I'm your point of contact for all questions regarding the upcoming German Theater Project for High Schools.  I'm a Ph.D. candidate in the IU Department of Germanic Studies, and this is my fourth year of involvement with the Theater Project.  I cordially invite you to join in the festivities, and whether it's your first year or your fourth, I think you'll find that participation in this event can make a real difference in how your students approach learning German.

Our fourth annual German Theater Project for High Schools festival will take place on the IU campus in Bloomington on Saturday, 8 April.  We are now accepting your students’ submissions for the competition.  All digitally recorded submissions received by 8 March will be eligible.  Schools are allowed to submit multiple entries, and you are not required to be present at the festival in order to be eligible for prizes.  So, please don't hesitate to send your students' performances, even if their spring break is during the festival date.  Visit our website for more complete information: http://www.indiana.edu/~german/theaterproject.

We will invite groups of up to ten students from at least ten different Indiana high school German programs to present video recorded versions of their brief (no more than 10 minutes and 2GB) theatrical productions in German.  Students can be in any level of German, but performances need to be in German with memorized roles.  Individual students may also submit performed monologues. There's a new, streamlined submission process this year, making it easier than ever before to help your students to showcase their talents.

•           Awards will be given to the best performances in two categories, original and adaptive scripts.  Remember, the quality of video production is not the winning criterion; rather it is the theatrical performance of the students that merits the awards. The committee will also select "Best Acting" and "Best Use of German" from all of the submissions.  

•           At the festival students will also participate in interactive workshops to hone their acting skills, German pronunciation, and dialect appreciation.

•           Additionally, German teachers accompanying the students will participate in a new professional development workshop on theater and foreign language teaching.

•           All participants at the festival will receive a free t-shirt, lunch, and refreshments.

•           Travel reimbursement for up to $150 per attending school will be available.

Our updated website contains previous years’ winners, and feel free to share the site with your students, administrators, and German instructor colleagues.  We are currently having new t-shirts made, and the graduate students are enthusiastically designing several different interactive student workshops for the festival. 

Please contact me, (mibryant@indiana.edu), with all of your questions.  When you're ready to submit your students' performance(s), let me know - I'll send you instructions for uploading the video(s).

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

Michael"

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