1.6 A Conversation with Ruthie Tutterow
This week Jimmy talks to North Carolina theatre teacher Ruthie Tutterow. She discusses her work in K12 and university teaching, working with community organizations, musical theatre, and a unique experience she and her students participate in with Lincoln Center.
Ruthie’s Recommended Resources:
Theatrefolk: https://www.theatrefolk.com/
Education Theatre Association: https://www.schooltheatre.org/home
JIMMY CHRISMON:
You're listening to episode six of THED talks with Jimmy Chrismon. THED Talks is a podcast for theatre teachers and theatre education students. Hi, I'm Dr. Jimmy Chrismon, theatre education professor at Illinois State University. And each week I want to bring you stories and interviews from experienced K12 theatre teachers, current theatre education majors and professors of theatre education that will warm your heart, renew your faith to teaching and provide resources to better your practice in your theatre classroom. Thank you so much for listening. I am excited to bring this interview to you this week. Ruthis Tutterow is a theatre teacher at Greensboro Day School, which is a private school in Greensboro, North Carolina. She brings some really interesting perspective on working with students and collaboration among many grade levels, uh, her experience in musical theatre as well as her work with community organizations to mutually support and benefit one another. Uh, she also talks about a really fun program that she and her students have been a part of for years through Lincoln Center, uh, where they present concerts in New York at Lincoln Center with many Broadway artists. So I'm looking forward to you to hearing about her experience with that. Again, I want to thank you so much for listening. If you don't know by now, you can always reach out to me and contact me via email at thedtalkspodcast@gmail.com. You can find me on Twitter @theatreedtalks on Tumblr at thedtalks.tumblr.com on Facebook at THED Talks, Instagram thedtalkspodcast and of course our website, www.thedtalks.com where we have all of our show archives and our transcripts of every episode as well as the breakdown of the different resources and advice that different teachers have provided on the show so far. If you want to be a guest on the show, please do reach out to me. I would love to talk with you and uh, as you can hear from Ruthie's interview, I can interview anywhere. She was sitting in the lobby of a hotel in New York City waiting on her husband to get out of a meeting. So I am happy to arrange times to get with you. We don't have to do it in person. And, uh, I would love to hear from you. So this last week I had a really interesting and fun, uh, experience of spending a couple of days with some great teachers and other theatre education professors across the state of Illinois as we worked on revising our state content test together. That along with some other experiences in the past week of, of, of dealing with some students and, and, and talking through some, some personal things that these students were going through have really, really, really solidified the importance of and the privilege of the, the role that I have now as a teacher. Um, it's not at the same as it was a for 17 years when I was in a classroom and I had high school students. But daily I'm reminded of the greater impact that I'm having and still still still shaping things, still changing lives, still, um, providing great theatre experiences for my students. So I, uh, shout out to my Pearson a crew this week. It was fantastic meeting you all and I do hope we do stay in touch. Um, and then also to my students. Uh, thank you for reminding me why I go to work. I really enjoy what I do. I love what I do. I love my students and uh, I love seeing them grow and becoming great future educators. So thank you for the opportunity to do that. So now we will uh, just shift gears and we're going to talk to Ruthie about her experiences in the classroom. I hope you enjoy my, my chat with her. Well I welcome this week, uh, to THED Talks, Mrs. Ruthie Tutterow and I know she, she is on a trip right now and she is in New York talking with me. So I'm a little bit jealous but Ruthie, if you would just introduce yourself to, it's kind of tell us where you teach, how long you've been doing it, a little bit about your program size and kind of how many productions you do a year just to kind of give us the basis of where you are right now.
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
Okay. Well, I teach at Greensboro Day school, which is a, actually we go from Bitty Bengals, three year olds all the way through high school private school. It's a nondenominational private school in Greensboro, North Carolina. And I have been there 20 years. This is my 20th year and I am the director of fine and performing arts now. I'm also the drama department chair and I teach mainly the high school classes. So I would say we're uh, around 800 students right now. It's been as high as 900. It's been lower than that as well. So I've kind of seen the program through its biggest growth. Um, and so we do usually three shows a year in the high school. We do a one act, a fall musical, and a spring drama. And I've often done some one act musicals as well. And I alternate that with taking my students to New York every other year we've been singing at Lincoln Center. So this year we did the Scarlet Pimpernel with Tony Yazbek and Laura Osnes, Norm Lewis. It was really, really exciting. And we've done several of those big concerts. And the middle have a lower school program so that usually we've done, so, um, it's an afterschool program in the lower school. And so something that we've started doing, we also have some curriculum in the upper school. And so the upper school does, um, I teach beginning acting, advanced acting. We also have what we call play production, which is like a stage stagecraft class. But we've gotten the kids more involved in the past couple of years in actually doing design and, and uh, mounting a lot of the stuff for the programs as well as being crew for the shows. So they just did a second and third grade musical and they designed all the sets and did the costumes and they were the crew as well. So that's a lot of fun. I also teach public speaking.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
So what are you, I know you're away from school right now, but what are you all currently working on or did you just finish up?
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
We just did our second and third grade musical. This particular semester has been really tumultuous. I directed the art of dining, which it's Tina Howe piece where we actually had a working restaurant on stage. The actors had to eat and serve as well as do all their lines and then I took them to New York and we did the Scarlet Pimpernel right after that. And then my play production students were helping with our middle school, did the Spamalot Young at Heart Edition. And then with that, and then now we've just finished the second and third grade musical so.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
Good deal, can you tell me more about your partnership with, with the performances? Is it Lincoln Center?
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
Yes, it is through a group called Manhattan Concert Productions. And we got in on the ground floor with them. We did, I don't know how I've gotten, sometimes I get calls from New York and I'm always really excited when it says New York on the other end of the line because it's probably something really exciting. So I got this call from Manhattan Concert Productions and they do a lot of concerts like at Carnegie hall, you know, classical concerts where choral groups come, but they were starting a new program. Um, this must be it about eight years ago now, uh, where they were doing Ragtime at, at, uh, it was Alice Tully Hall at the time. Now it's David Geffen Hall. And I'm like, I don't care what it takes, I'm in. And so we got to do that one. And, um, the, they liked us, we loved it, and we've been able to go every other year. So we've done, we did Parade and, uh, Jason Robert Brown was our conductor, it was so exciting. Um, and uh, that was Laura Benanti and Jeremy Jordan were in that. And then we also did Crazy for You. Susan Stroman was the director and she was in every rehearsal with us. It was so exciting and they did all the original choreography and it was phenomenal.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
How cool. For your students and for you.
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
Well, it's exciting because they let the teachers sing along so we get to be doing what the students are doing too. So that's exciting for us.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
That's really cool. That's really cool. You, uh, I know you have a background in teaching musical theatre, tell me a little bit about that. And, and I know your experience, was it Greensboro College if I'm not mistaken.
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
No, it's a UNCG.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
Thank you. Um, but were, were you, uh, were you taught that at the collegiate level? And then, um, how do you, how do you infuse that with what you do with your students now?
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
Well, I love musical theatre and I grew up doing it. So I started acting when I was 15, and I just did it for fun. And then I realized somewhere along the line, wait a minute, you can actually do this. So I went to Chapel Hill for Undergrad. Um, and so while I was there, I performed with North Carolina Theatre and, uh, a lot with different, different theatres in Raleigh. And then I moved to Greensboro, uh, did a lot of musicals there as well. So when I went to UNCG for my master's degree, I ended up doing a lot of choreography for them. And at the time they had their music department and their theatre department, and they did one show a year together. Now they're starting a new musical theatre program. So I'm really excited about that.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
That's good for them.
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
Yes. Yes.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
And, and how do you, how do you bring that into what you do now with your students?
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
Well, honestly our school concentrates on musical theatre, so all of the shows that the lower school kids and the middle school kids are doing this are all musicals. And of course I say that it's the biggest event that our school does because we might involve up to, you know, 90 kids in the high school musical. So it's huge and it's, it's good to have that musical theatre sensibility with them because I think, I don't know, they're so popular that everybody does them. But it's nice to have that background that you bring to it as well to help them see that musical theatre is the acting. You got to bring all the acting into the dancing and the singing as well as the technical aspects of it.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
Right. Talk to me a little bit more about getting your students involved in the design process, uh, for your, for the lower school and what that's been like.
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
We started about two years ago, we started a play production class and we did have a stage craft class where we were doing projects that were independent of all of the work we had to do. And so the kids would come in on the weekends and do all the work and at nights and do all the work. And we'd find ourselves staying up til the wee hours in the morning the week before a show opens, trying to get things done. And I thought there's gotta be a way to involve the kids in this more and for them to take more ownership process. So we started a class where we actually start the semester doing theory. So, um, we talk about how a director comes up with a design concept and how you, how do you communicate with designers and how do you get to a design? And I would make the students read the play and then give them a test on that. And then they'd have to take a scene and design elements for that scene. So we did that with Legally Blonde this past year. And that worked really, really well because every single scene in that show has a different set. So they were able to design different elements. Um, this year it's been a little bit more interesting because it was so popular. We started doing it in the spring semester as well and we have a lot of smaller shows that we're doing. And so the students have been doing the same design process, but now they did the entire set for the second and third grade show all of the costumes for the second and third grade shows. So it's been really fun, we're going to do it again, go through that whole design process again for summer camp. So our camp people don't have to reinvent the wheel.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
Yeah. When I was in the, when I was still teaching in the classroom, um, I do, it would be a couple of shows a year in our season that I would, I would let just be completely student designed. And then they also produce the work that they design. And it was really, really cool to see how much pride they took in their work and, and honestly, how much, how much more serious they took doing the work because they knew it wasn't just something on paper, it's going to actually happen. So I think that's really, really special for them.
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
Well to me it's the best business experience you get.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
Absolutely.
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
It's a process too. You have to make some mistakes along the way before you get to what really is going to work.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
Exactly. You also, you also mentioned to me that you have some experience working with community organizations and partnering with those. Can you talk to me a little bit more about that?
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
We have a number of different community organizations that we really depend on and vice versa. So the, our first one is Triad Stage, which is a local equity theatre that's in Greensboro. Um, my husband and I are both very active in the community as well. And so he was on the board over at Triad Stage when they were kind of up and running. And our, uh, the lady that was, had my job prior to me is Linda Sloan, who's a big community organizer in Greensboro. And so she was trying to get our new theatre built at the same time, Triad Stage was getting their new theatre built. So our theatres are very similar because a lot of the same people were involved with creating them. And so we made sure we had similar equipment. We go to them all the time when we're looking for props and furniture and costumes. They store a lot of the things that we build and rent them out to other groups and that sort of thing. Um, and we partnered with a number of different community theatres in the area. My husband works at Wellspring Retirement Community and they just opened a brand new theatre. So our students went over there as a part of a winter term class and helped them set up all of their equipment and install it. And it's really cool. So, so I want them to see other theatres and how do they work? A lot of our students sometimes intern, uh, we have some students interning at Wellspring. And also at Triad Stage as a part of their senior projects. So we trade labor
JIMMY CHRISMON:
Well. It's just, it's a great experience and resume builders for those who are definitely wanting to continue on with this as a profession and into colleges too. Yeah, that's really, that's really fantastic. I know you've taught at the elementary, middle, high school now and at the collegiate level. Can you talk to me a little bit about what are the differences and similarities among the different groups that you've taught?
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
Well, I actually started, I started the magnet school at Morehead Elementary, which is an arts elementary school, and so that was really interesting. I was there two years. The first year I kind of got to create whatever I wanted to. In the second year was more integration with the, with the teachers and building on units that they were doing. And then I also had an afterschool programs. So that's really transferred to a lot of the work that I'm doing at Greensboro Day because I can speak to what, how you can include things in the classroom, but also it really helps with building the kind of afterschool program that we have. But I find it very difficult, very different, not difficult, but sometimes difficult, different working with the younger kids, you have to have plan a, plan B, plan c because you have to be so flexible. You don't want there to be a lot of downtime. And so I've also, I student taught in a middle school. Um, it's interesting though. We don't have a curricular program in middle school and I would really love to see that happen because I really think that the, the creative arts right now, they just do music and, and visual art. But I'd love to see drama in the curriculum too because it kind of puts the two together. Um, and, and at the middle school age, I find that they're still really open and really, really creative the morning to be, uh, you know, that they aren't too inhibited yet. In high school you know, that there's something that happens in late middle school, early high school where they start getting shy and you have to bring it, bring it out. But once you've built that program where they feel free to create and that it's expected, they're just wildly creative. I absolutely love it. So I love teaching high school because I see such growth from the students from freshman year to senior year. They change so much. They really grow into who they are and I think you can have such a huge impact with students that age. So that's where I've gravitated to eventually.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
That's where my heart eventually settled, was in high school. I also loved working with the little ones. Um, and I, I've grown to love to enjoy working with the middle school as well. Uh, but that high school group was, was where my, uh, my, my favorite spot was and I felt that I had the most impact. I also have, and I tell my, my undergrads now as we prepare for them to go into classrooms, that there is a place in, in high school and when you get them that you kind of have to unlearn what they've learned about, um, being inhibited and, and you kind of have to teach them to play again and, and to trust one another. Um, and I'm kind of picking up, that's what you've experienced as well.
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
To a certain extent. I think, once again, If you have a program where that's just part and parcel and you expect them to break through their, their inhibitions, they do, they'll want to be the first group that doesn't challenge themselves and the way the last group did, you know? And so, uh, once, once you get everybody rowing in that way, they all jumped in the water, but you have to kind of get the first group in the water.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
That's right. That's right. I would love to hear some of your, couple of your favorite stories from your, your 20 years of teaching. Correct?
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
Whew... 20 years of teaching yes...Well, actually, I only had 20 years at this particular school. I did teach in other schools before I came to Greensboro Day and I spent some time at Salem College and GTCC as well.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
Um, so tell me some of, like a couple of your favorite stories that, whether they're funny or horror stories or most meaningful moments to you as a teacher. Oh my goodness. You're putting me on the spot. It's hard to, hard to come up with them on the spot, but I don't know. I, we've had, um, our technical director, he got the entire cast of Return to the Forbidden Planet to propose to his wife on the stage and they did that. Gosh, I'm just trying to think. There's just so many exciting things that have happened over the years. We had, I had to pretty much draft the basketball team when we did Hairspray several years ago and um, you know, we had one student that her father had never seen her perform and really didn't want her to be performing because he wanted her to do basketball. And uh, she was our Motormouth Mabel. And when she did her big number, he was standing up just giving her a, a standing ovation in the middle of the show. And know that was so exciting. Isn't that the coolest thing?
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
Oh it's so exciting when you see, you know the family back them wholeheartedly because they can see how much they love it and how talented they are. I had one student that he wasn't the greatest student in the world and teachers would always come to me saying, oh my goodness, you know, can you do something about this guy? Can you get him to turn in his homework? He finally went out in front of the student body and just killed this one number. And they all went, we've never seen him in that light before. It just changed how everybody felt about him. So that's, that's, that's thrilling too. So you know, you just love to see how they gain the self confidence out in front of an audience. Sometimes you can see them get bit by the bug as it happens. Those are, those are my favorite moments.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
Thinking back over your career as you entered the teaching profession for that first year, what is something that you wished you had known going into teaching that you didn't learn as part of your training?
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
Well, I think that's really tough. This, learning how to work with the rest of your colleagues and to sometimes what people's expectations of what a theatre program is are not, uh, always what the rest of the colleagues and working with different administrators. I've had so many different administrators I've worked with over the years and some of them have been more supportive than others. And how do you gain the support of administration for your program? That that's something I wish I had learned a little bit more finesse about. But I've, I'm, I'm very blessed at the Day School. They've always been extremely supportive of the work that we've done there.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
That's fantastic. A good administration makes all the difference in the world.
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
Absolutely.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
So you've, you've had a very good long career so far. I would love to know how you have maintained your passion and how you take care of yourself to the one I still come to work every day.
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
Well, you know, if you're teaching in high school, you know, it's a lifestyle. It's not a job that you leave at 3:30.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
That's the best way. I've heard that put. That's fantastic. It's true.
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
So you have to...you can't leave it at 3:30. I might go home and have dinner but then I'm back and in my program I'm there usually, uh, are, are rehearsals are in the evening from 6:30 to 9:30 and I'm waiting for kids to be picked up until 10 sometimes. So it's a really, really long day. I've had to learn the hard way sadly that uh, you know, you can't be all things to all people. Um, and that you have to balance what you need and taking care of you with, you know, doing what, what the show requires and what the kids expect of you. And I think once again, the more that we've involved the students in the work that helps you in the, in the long run, getting them to take ownership of different parts cause they'll let you do it if you step up and do it for them all the time. Getting a lot of volunteers. I started a parent volunteer group and they've been really, really instrumental in helping us with costumes especially, but also doing receptions and doing those little things that make the kids feel special through the process. So I've learned that I need to advocate for what I can do because I hit, I hit the wall at a certain point where I was doing way too much and um having to learn that you, you do have to say I need help here. Um, maybe I can get a guest artist to come in and do this part of the job or to take this class for a little while while I try to get some balance back. So I feel like I've, I've gotten it to a point now where I can manage all the work I'm doing, which is really, really healthy. But I had to unfortunately hit that point where, where I was trying to do too much.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
Can you tell me a little bit about working with a parent group? Cause I also, I had a booster club when I was in, in the, when I was still in the classroom. And I freely admit, and I freely admitted to them that I'm a control freak and it's very difficult for me to give up control to some things. But again, like you, I had to hit that wall and say I can't do it all so talk to me a little bit about working with a parent group.
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
I've had the best parents, we call them our Costume Moms. So when we're doing a show I'll, or I'll get them early in the process. And a lot of them have just volunteered and stepped up and say, I'm willing to do this. And what's so fun is that they bring their creativity to it. And for them, especially with high school, it's really great to have parents that have high school students involved in the show because it's their way of staying connected with their student as well. Because in high school, you know, parents, the kids have their hands up. So it's a way for them to stay involved and kind of see what's going on in their lives too. So I usually, I learned also the hard way that I couldn't choreograph and direct every show. So while the choreography is going on in, the music's going on, I'm working with the parents during the rehearsals. So we'll go and we'll gather costumes from different places before we get into rehearsal, try them on all the kids and then we start ordering and creating and it's just fun. I like having as many aspects of the show going on at the same time. If you have people working on the set the same time people are working on the costumes at the same time, rehearsals are going on it's just, it's just fun and, and it gets more work done, more efficient.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
I have two final questions for you. Um, the first one is what is a resource that you're currently using or have used in the past that is a must have for your practice that other teachers should know about?
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
Mmm. Good questions...You know, I really tune in to Theatrefolk. I find, and there's a, there's on Facebook group, there is a theatre educator group and so it's, they call it the Hivemind you can find out... Right now, everybody's trying to, you know, select their shows for next year and they're putting up what is, what is your experience been with this show? And then people start following and following. So that's been a really good place to get a lot of interesting ideas. I like to be on ITS with uh, Educational Theatre Association. They also have a community board where you can trade ideas with other theatre teachers and I find those online sites are really terrific.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
And then finally, what are your parting words of wisdom to new theatre teachers?
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
Take care of yourself. Okay, remember that you can't do it all. This is such an all encompassing thing that you're taking on. Try to get as many volunteers to help you try to get the students involved and they, they will surprise you with what they're able to come up with. But most of all be present with them and enjoy every minute because it is a process. If this is a, this is a career that the journey is more important than the final show, it really is.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
I agree with you. I could not agree with you more on that. We'll Ruthie, thank you so much for taking the time out to talk to us today. I look forward to following you on social media and everything and just seeing what you're up to with your students and the great things you're doing. So, I hope you have a wonderful trip in New York. I'm very jealous still. Um, but thank you again for, for talking with me today. I really appreciate it.
RUTHIE TUTTEROW:
Absolutely. Thank you.
JIMMY CHRISMON:
Well, I truly enjoyed my chat with Ruthie. I am still a little jealous about her time in New York. I know she was working while she was there, but I know she also got to see some great theatre and experience some great things. So Ruthie, I still am jealous. Um, thank you so much for listening this week. You can always find our show notes and our archives of all the episodes on our website, www.thedtalks.com. You can find us on any of your favorite podcasts providers, Apple Podcasts on iTunes, Google Podcast on Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Anypod, Tunein, and on Youtube as well. So please go on to any of those. Subscribe to the podcast, rate us, give us some stars and review us. Tell us what you're liking, tell us what you'd like to see improved. I'd love to hear that and most importantly, share this with those theatre educators in your life who could benefit from and who may want to appear on the podcast. You can always email me at thedtalkspodcast@gmail.com. You can find us on Twitter @theatreedtalks on tumblr at thedtalks.tumblr.com on facebook THED Talks Instagram thedtalkspodcast and of course visit our website at anytime at www.thedtalks.com. If you follow Theatrefolk on Facebook, you will have seen that Lindsay and Craig at Theatrefolk gave us a plug this week. So thank you so much to Theatrefolk for supporting us and then putting the word out about what we're doing here THED Talks. We do hope you continue to check out what they're doing because they're always doing good work and most of our guests have recommended them. So if you have not checked Theatrefolk out, you need to do so. Thank you again to Joel Hamlin and Joshua Shusterman for the use of your original song "Magnetize" and, I hope you enjoyed this week. And we look forward to talking next week. Have a great week.
