Has anyone ever used Digital Theater Plus? Has anyone seen this?

[OneStepAtATime]

https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/digital-theatre-plus/?c=1

 

I think it looks interesting but I wondered if anyone else had ever used it and if so was it worthwhile?

[Just Another Jen]

We are using it this year as part of an elective we are calling technical theatre. My daughter loves it. Do you have By specific questions?

[OneStepAtATime]

We are using it this year as part of an elective we are calling technical theatre. My daughter loves it. Do you have By specific questions?

Thanks for the response.  Since I haven't been able to get a really good feel for how to implement it, I'm not certain I can form an intelligent, detailed question.  But I am looking at adding it to our homeschool situation next year.  Both kids are dyslexic and still a bit behind in reading at grade level but improving.  Both are working on writing skills but are still behind.  This next year we will be upping the effort to remediate writing now that reading and spelling have significantly improved.  I wanted to add in something regarding theater that would be fun, have some depth and give them exposure to plays and musicals without being overwhelming.  I also need something easy to implement and not very time consuming for the kids or for me since so much of what we do is teacher intensive.  They do better with visual material.  Would you think this would work, given the parameters I mentioned above?

 

Bought it, but had terrible trouble with the technical side of things.

 

Ended up not using it.

Thanks for the response, Sadie.  So you paid for it but it wouldn't work with your computer?  Or they weren't willing to help you set it up?  Or...?  This concerns me.  Were you able to get a refund?

[GailV]

I got it through HSC last year.

 

Many of the plays are geared more towards older students.  We already owned the version of Much Ado that they have -- my kids love it.  On the other hand, my 14yo loathes the version of As You Like it they include -- she couldn't even make it through the entire thing.  Into the Woods is really fun and has some wonderful performances (oddly enough, 7 or 8 various schools around here have put or will put that -- or the "Junior" version -- on during 2014 -- I'm not sure what's up with that, but we're sort of on Into the Woods overload here).

 

We've enjoyed some of the interviews. We read through some of the study guides, particularly of Shakespeare.

 

We've had trouble getting things to load sometimes.  I wonder if that's what Sadie was referring to.  The entire thing isn't as user friendly as, say, flipping on Netflix or Amazon Prime free videos.  Part of the problem I have with it is that we don't use it often enough for me to remember the password and the steps to getting in.

[OneStepAtATime]

I got it through HSC last year.

 

Many of the plays are geared more towards older students.  We already owned the version of Much Ado that they have -- my kids love it.  On the other hand, my 14yo loathes the version of As You Like it they include -- she couldn't even make it through the entire thing.  Into the Woods is really fun and has some wonderful performances (oddly enough, 7 or 8 various schools around here have put or will put that -- or the "Junior" version -- on during 2014 -- I'm not sure what's up with that, but we're sort of on Into the Woods overload here).

 

We've enjoyed some of the interviews. We read through some of the study guides, particularly of Shakespeare.

 

We've had trouble getting things to load sometimes.  I wonder if that's what Sadie was referring to.  The entire thing isn't as user friendly as, say, flipping on Netflix or Amazon Prime free videos.  Part of the problem I have with it is that we don't use it often enough for me to remember the password and the steps to getting in.

Thanks, Gail.  So I wonder if getting logged on is a common issue?  Hmmmm

[PeterPan]

OneStep, can you pursue local performances or just do the Ambrose shakespeare products or some Gilbert & Sullivan?  Might be a more accessible way for them to start.

[OneStepAtATime]

OneStep, can you pursue local performances or just do the Ambrose shakespeare products or some Gilbert & Sullivan?  Might be a more accessible way for them to start.

Not much in the way of theater here...what are the Ambrose Shakespeare products?  

 

I would like something that shows the behind the scenes stuff since DD likes costume design and set design more than the actual performances and DS is the opposite, he prefers the performances to the other.  Any suggestions along those lines that won't take a lot of time on my end?

[PeterPan]

You could do performances together (with both of them) and then get her behind the scenes books.  My dd had books on the making of Willy Wonka, LotR, that kind of thing...

[GailV]

Okay, this thread prompted me to get on my account there to see why I thought it was a little weird to log onto and use.

 

Way back before I signed up via Homeschool Buyer's Co-op I had tried a free sample.  I had used my main email for that account.  When I signed up via HSBC the Digital Theatre website would NOT let me use that email address, which struck me as really bizarre at the time;  I ended up using a rarely used email of older dd's that she had used to purchase Much Ado.  Every single time I sign on I forget about this -- I try logging in with my main email, it doesn't work because the 2 week trial has expired, I log out, I re-log in with dd's email, Digital Theatre sends an email to my main email address expressing regret that I'm no longer with them, blah blah blah.  

 

I could probably get in touch with them and straighten this out, but I haven't.  

 

This is what gave me the impression that their sign up and sign in process wasn't as smooth as other places.  It's just one of those goofy things about how they programmed it.

 

When we had the sample preview account we often had problems with buffering.  We haven't had so many problems with the "real" account.  It might've been a problem with our ISP or something else on our end of things.

 

Now that I'm on, I want to watch Merrily We Roll Along, plus all the Making Theatre extras about it.  They send emails about what shows they're adding, but somehow I hadn't noticed when this one became part of their offerings.  Yep, we're those shallow types who like musicals and Shakespeare -- I had hoped the subscription to Digital Theatre would awaken our love for straight theatre, but so far it hasn't worked.  

 

Also, I tend to waft around looking for the bits I want to use.  I haven't figured out how to navigate the site gracefully.  I clicked on Merrily, and I'm looking at the Making Theatre clips below it ... how do I tell what these are about?  Are they some of the actors? Technicians?  Should I recognize these people?  As far as I can tell, I need to click onto each thumbnail to see what the heck it's going to be about -- the thumbnail tells me how long the clip is, but not the subject matter.  This isn't a huge deal -- it's just a matter of clicking it, then clicking back to the main list -- but it leaves me feeling like I'm somehow missing something about how this is organized, and therefor missing OTHER swanky stuff that's here.

 

Overall, I feel like I've learned more about costuming from reading books and actually doing the work than I have on here.  But I learn best from reading books.  Plus we have lots of opportunities to do tech theatre locally.   Younger dd and I often discuss what we've seen on the Making Theater clips vs. our experiences with local community theater.  Digital Theater would be great if your dd is thinking about a career in one of these fields and doesn't have access to a lot of experience -- it has "day in the life" type information, "how I got started" type information.