Staged reading tributes teachers

Mark Sheppard and Marilyn Bennett bring nearly 70 years of combined teaching experience to stage with Teacher! Teacher! a one act, 70-minute staged reading with scenes from memorable movies, plays, memoirs and poems. Sheppard who teaches drama at Lakeside School in Seattle, along with Marilyn Bennett who heads the theater arts program at Annie Wright, have worked together on stage since their student days at University of Washington.

“I directed her in plays at UW as undergrads. Then 25 years ago she hired me to teach at Northwest School with her. This will be our first collaboration since then,” says Sheppard. “I’ve been wanting to work with Marilyn again for a long time. We’re having fun with this project.”

In addition to her teaching background, Bennett has performed on both stage and television. Sheppard who has garnered a reputation for his directing skills wanted to be on the lit side of the stage this time. “We both came up with lists, read them and realized we had more than twice as much material than we could use in one show,” says Sheppard.

Some teachers in the reading are based on real people, such as the legendary Theodore Roethke, in a scene from First Class, and Maria Callas, the opera diva, in a scene from Master Class. Others are famous fictional teachers, Henry Higgins from Pygmalion and Mr. Chips in Goodbye Mr. Chips to Jack Black’s hilarious character in School of Rock.

“This staged reading is for anyone (ages 12 and up) who’s been a teacher or who has had a memorable teacher, both great and awful. There’s everything from moving drama to very funny scenes. We even included a Mary Oliver poem.”

This is the third time he and producer, Susan Sullivan (VAA Board member) put together a staged reading as a VAA auction item to benefit the arts. The package (a private dinner theater evening) was auctioned off last September and lucky recipients will enjoy their evening the night before the public performance. Organizers also will host a free evening for Island teachers, Thursday, Feb. 28, 7 pm.