Los Angeles, CA—In the City
of Angeles they have the Hollywood Fringe Festival going on right now. Live theater here is non-stop in this
entertainment district.
Standing out is a show
called, They Call Me Mr. Fry. Jack Fry is
a real Los Angeles, inner-city, substitute, fifth grade school teacher. This is about his first year in what would
best be described as somewhat of a combat zone.
In fact the teachers get paid extra for the challenges there.
What Jack Fry does in his
production is relive the culture shock, fears, hopes, and dreams along with the
lives involved in his teaching experience for the audience.
Fry delivers a commanding
performance as he takes you through school district’s bureaucratic political
correctness gone bonkers. Fry enters a
world of gangs, violence, neglect, heartbreak and poverty to capture the
attention of his students, long enough to teach them.
Fry’s show has a similar
theme to that touching 60’s film with Sidney Poitier, To Sir With Love. The difference it’s Fry that becomes all of
the characters in his story. The
laughter, anger, tears and joy are amazingly similar between these two
theatrical works.
Fry is the natural target of
everyone’s wrath, punishment and surprises.
Fry teaches these difficult children, but it’s Fry who learns the most
important lessons.
Fry realizes a shocking
discovery that he spends more time with some of the children and knows them
better than their own parents.
If I have a gripe about
teachers is that so many of them duck, run and simply mark time until they
retire. They are not inspired and have
no ability to inspire anyone else.
Teachers must be first class
showmen and women. How else can you keep
the attention of students long enough to transfer that all-important
educational information?
I challenge anyone to name
more than a handful of teachers that were ever inspiring to him or her. I personally view the American teaching profession
as mired in a world of seniority, tenure, unions and abject mediocrity.
Fry’s students are indeed
lucky because he’s a born showman. He
has a charismatic gift to hold his student’s attention to pass on the
information they desperately need to break the chains of poverty.
This show is a, must see for
parents, teachers, and politicians everywhere.
This summer Fry is again
taking the show on the road to a city near you and has the details on his web site. http://theycallmemisterfry.com/Site/Home.html
Here is a trailer to enjoy:
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