Chat-n-Read Dramatic Read-Aloud of "Fly Guy and the Frankenfly" by Tedd Arnold

October 22, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in chat-n-read, children, Community, Education, family, Literary

If Creepy Carrots are not creepy enough for you, what about a FRANKENFLY?? Or, just, how about a fly who can talk at all?

Enjoy my latest Chat-n-Read where I pose the most thought-provoking question yet…

Would you share your chemistry set…with a FLY???

In Fly Guy and the Frankenfly by Tedd Arnold, Buzz makes all sorts of fun creations for him and his best bud, Fly Guy. Fly Guy wants to make something special for Buzz too. But what happens when Fly Guy’s creation gets a little out of hand?

Find out in this fun Halloween-appropriate read-aloud!

Dramatic Halloween Read-Aloud from Chat-n-Read: Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Peter Brown

October 05, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in children, comedic, Community, dark comedy, Drama in real life, dramatic, Education, family, holiday, Literary, social, Suspense

Of all the holidays, Halloween just might be the most dramatic! Anything can become spooky melodrama when you put on an eerie voice, add a bit of black-and-white illustration, and make inanimate objects start FOLLOWING YOU! Kids - enjoy this spooky and fun read-aloud from Chat-n-Read (one of my other adventures!) of Creepy Carrots written by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Peter Brown.

We’ll chat about what makes things creepy and then share the story of Jasper Rabbit and what happens to him when his favorite garden snack starts creeping him out! Make sure you stick around to the end, because it’s quite clever!

Now, say this in a spooky voice and wave your hands around all creepy-like: “Enjoooooooy!”

Chat-n-Read: New dramatic read-alouds of children's books

April 30, 2020 by Tara Meddaugh in chat-n-read, children, Community, dramatic, family, Education, Literary, youtube persona-life

While we were all hunkered down during this global pandemic, I started a project I’ve been interested in for years: a youtube channel called Chat-n-Read, dedicated to connecting with kids, including a little chatting and a little dramatic reading of children’s books.

The question all founding artistic directors must ask: Theatre? Or Theater?

July 11, 2017 by Tara Meddaugh in historical, Literary, theatre companies

Yes, it's the age-old, not-really-that-important, but fascinating nonetheless, question of how to spell Theatre. Or Theater. And what does your spelling choice say about who you are? Hm...

Calvin and Hobbes: Perfect Summer Reading

August 10, 2016 by Tara Meddaugh in children, Community, Drama in real life, family, Literary, Teen, Reader's Theater

I was visiting my parents' house this summer which is always bound to stir up childhood memories, but I got a special burst of elated nostalgia when my 7-year-old son came to me with a comic book of mine he found at their house entitled, Revenge of the Babysat. Now, anyone who really knows the comic I'm going to talk about will immediately know who I'm talking about, and hopefully, it will bring about a huge smile for them too. I'm talking about the namesakes of that famous theologian who gave us Reformed Protestantism (touting Predestination), and the political philosopher who gave us social contract theory--yes, I'm talking about none other than Calvin and Hobbes.

3 Year Old Reads "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type" by Doreen Cronin

May 26, 2016 by Tara Meddaugh in Children's theatre, Community, Education, family, Literary, children, Drama in real life, Reader's Theater

Okay, so he's not actually reading here, but at three years old, this is as close as this little guy gets to it. One thing I love about this is how you can hear his dramatic interpretation of the events (and even a slight southern accent for the farmer)...

Lee Harper will never see Aaron Sorkin's stage adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbir

February 19, 2016 by Tara Meddaugh in Community, Literary, Movies, Plays

How many of us were blown away by Lee Harper's To Kill A Mockingbird in our very young school lives? Oh my gosh--I loved that book. I even just loved saying the words "Boo Radley." It has probably been a few decades since I read it, and after recently hearing Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, The West Wing) is writing a stage adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird, I put a good re-read of this classic on my "to do" list...

Netflix guesses I will give The Double 4.9 stars. It's pretty darn close...

September 20, 2015 by Tara Meddaugh in Community, Literary, Film

There are certain movies that just stand out to you. Certain ones that speak to you, excite you, energize you. Maybe they feel relevant to something you're going through at the time, maybe they remind you of something you love, maybe they keep you on your toes and your adrenaline goes through the roof, maybe they just make you laugh really hard. But we all have those 5-star-netflix worthy movies...

Reading with your child: The drama of books

September 03, 2015 by Tara Meddaugh in Children's theatre, family, Community, Education, Literary

So I have always loved to read out loud. Even as a very young child, alone in my bedroom, I'd read anything from chapters in children's novels to sections of American history out loud for my own entertainment...

An instructor's analysis of my monologue, The Beanstalk

August 11, 2015 by Tara Meddaugh in Monologues, Playwriting, Community, Literary, Education

The Beanstalk monologue, featuring Jack of fairytale fame, has been used all over the world, by theatres, at universities, in high schools and middle schools, contests, festivals, and of course for actors' auditions. Below, an instructor in Australia, analyzes this monologue in terms of structure, tense usage, punctuation, and sentence construction:

The Submission Guidelines that are stirring up the theatrical community...

August 06, 2015 by Tara Meddaugh in Contests, Playwriting, Community, Literary

So as most of you probably know, playwrights do not make a lot of money living off of their creative words. And as most of you probably know, artists don't enter the artistic field in pursuit of money. There are various reasons, but most people enter their artistic field because it is what they do. What they can't stop doing. You paint because you must paint. You write because you must write. You create because you must create. It's what we do....Still.

Female performer: Actor or Actress?

May 01, 2015 by Tara Meddaugh in Literary, Community

I love language. And not just speaking it, or using it (although I love both of those), but also in dissecting it, analyzing it, trending on it. I remember very clearly learning how to use double and single quotation marks, along with indenting for dialogue when I was 7 years old. When I was 11, I soaked up the unit on Grammar when everyone else was wishing it would end.

To modernize an old translation--or not...

April 22, 2015 by Tara Meddaugh in Literary

It's a challenge enough to get the mass public to come out to see a show at the theatre, but when you perform an old translation of a piece written in the 1800s, are you further intimidating your audience by the sometimes-archaic style of speech?