Morgan McLeod
If you haven’t ever seen him on stage, you wouldn’t guess that our own self-professed “quiet-guy,” Morgan McLeod, was the least bit dramatic! Students at Shawnigan know that other side though, as Morgan admits, “My junior math classes might get a bit more theatrical flair in their teaching than one expects in a math class.” He enjoys teaching math though and finds it a break from the turbulence of a drama class, “I can tell them to sit still and to do some work.”
Morgan attended Glenlyon-Norfolk and St. Michaels University School as a young man and went on to study at UVic where he took education with a theatre concentration. He then taught at Collingwood School in Vancouver and Cedar and John Barsby in Nanaimo before coming to Shawnigan. Morgan came to the School with his wife, Kelli, who teaches Dance. The pair brought with them a vibrancy that could be felt throughout the School, but especially in Renfrew House, where Kelli became Assistant House Director and where they lived happily for several years. Now off campus in their own home, they still feel very much a part of the campus community. “Shawnigan really is about community—being so close to the people you work with and the kids you teach. It is all encompassing and sometimes overwhelming, but that is what makes it a special and worthwhile place to be,” Morgan says. That Morgan knows us all well might be an understatement, because rumor has it that he has, in small gatherings, impersonated almost everyone on staff. He did a few such impersonations in public, one memorable evening, in the Assembly Hall to much applause and gut-busting delight.
When Morgan began teaching math and drama at Shawnigan, we had only one Drama 9 class that was part of a rotation. Morgan eventually brought into the curriculum Drama 10 and Acting 11/12 and students have flocked to his classes and flourished there. “They take their classes very seriously. They know it is their chance to do something different and to be recognized. They get tremendous positive feedback from their peers and from their teachers. We try to keep the impact on other programmes to a minimum, but leading up to performances people are willing to ease up a little on sport, fine art and, sometimes, even academics in order for the kids to focus and do their best while we ramp-up rehearsal schedules.”
Asked what have been his most memorable plays at Shawnigan thus far, Morgan says that Noises Off, his current play, is definitely a highlight. “It is one I have wanted to do for a long time. It’s the first play I say my own high school Drama teacher, Colin Skinner, perform in, so it means a great deal me. There is a lot of great physical comedy in it.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream was also memorable. We did it in the Kaye Gardens, so there were many variables to contend with, but it came off very well.” Another play he remembers fondly was One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. “It was such a boys’ play, and I had a lot of big, rugby players in drama that year. For most of them, acting was a new experience and yes, they were hard to coach at first. I used a rugby analogy on them though—‘What if you played rugby the way you are acting this play? What would your coach do? Would he allow you on the field if you didn’t give your full effort?’ They responded well to that. Drama class is about getting kids to focus from the first rehearsals. That allows things to develop along the way into becoming their character, rather than just learning some lines and expecting to ‘act it out’ when we get to production.
"As a teacher, you have to love what you are doing and believe in it, because that shows—the kids will see it. These kids may not go on to acting careers, but what they will carry with them forever is the memory of being on stage—if only for one play—and I believe in giving them that opportunity. I hope that it is for them a positive and powerful experience.”