Episode 105: The Drama Teacher Academy
Announcing the Drama Teacher Academy! We are so excited to introduce our new membership site which offers workshops on demand. Lindsay talks about the site, the courses being offered and also talks to the three course instructors.
Show Notes
Join the Drama Teacher Academy
Allison Williams
Steven Stack
Matt Webster
Episode Transcript
Welcome to TFP – The Theatrefolk Podcast – the place to be for Drama teachers, Drama students, theatre educators everywhere.
I’m Lindsay Price, resident playwright for Theatrefolk.
Hello, I hope you’re well. Thanks for listening.
This is Episode 105 and you can find all the links – and there’s going to be some links today – at theatrefolk.com/episode105.
So, I have to say, I am thrilled beyond belief today in our topic. We’re going to be talking about the Drama Teacher Academy today.
So, what is DTA? Well, let me tell you. The Drama Teacher Academy is the premier spot for workshops on demand, specifically designed for Drama teachers – that would be you.
So, if you want to move forward, improve your skills, take charge of your professional development, consider becoming a member.
Lindsay: I have right here my Theatrefolk partner in crime. Hello, Craig!
Craig: Hello, Lindsay!
Lindsay: So, we’re just going to talk for a couple of seconds because, Craig, you and I have been living with this and not really talking about it with anyone, have we?
Craig: No, just been talking about it with ourselves, I suppose, which is, you know, how we talk about most things.
Lindsay: I guess that’s true.
So, why did we decide to do this? Why did we decide to create the Drama Teacher Academy?
Craig: Well, there were a few reasons. One, about a year ago, you and I really started focusing on some aspects of Theatrefolk and how we could make it better for people and we started following some people online and eventually joined some communities and some membership websites that have really given us a lot of tools and ideas for getting great stuff into our customers hands.
Lindsay: I think, too, in the fall of last year, we started doing some things like webinars and Google Hangouts, and the thing that was just starting to really pop for us was how much Drama teachers crave information.
Craig: Yeah, there was kind of a revelation. Just back in January, I think it was, we decided we were going to try doing a few Google Hangouts to see what the reaction would be and it was quite amazing to me – and, I think, to you – how many people were out there, Drama teachers were out there, craving, you know, some PD, some community with other teachers.
We normally see teachers at conferences, you know, where they are in groups where they can discuss what it is that they’re doing and share tips and tricks, but there are so many teachers out there that we learned don’t get an opportunity – or don’t get much of an opportunity – to go to conferences, to get PD – if there is PD offered by their district; often it’s just PD for the four core subject matters, you know, stem subjects, and they’re just supposed to sit there and figure out how to apply it to their classes.
So, I think, really, the Drama Teacher Academy was born out of that massive need that we’ve seen to get PD to share knowledge and to learn how to teach things in the classroom.
Lindsay: And, also, that for a lot of the Drama teachers that we know, they are sort of out there in the wilderness. They are the one Drama teacher in their school and maybe they might be the one Drama teacher in their district. And it’s not like going into the English office and you can talk with other English teachers. If you’re the only one, you end up talking to yourself a lot.
And, also, I’ve been amazed this year about how many middle school teachers I’ve come across who got the job because that was the job that was open – not because they had any background in theatre, not because they had any training in theatre; they were getting middle school Drama teacher jobs and they were sort of floundering a little bit.
Craig: That, and also things like people who are History teachers or English teachers and the school Drama teacher left and the principal said, “All right! You’re the Drama teacher now! I mean, you know English, you teach Shakespeare, so you must know how to teach Drama.”
We found there’s a lot of people out there really struggling to find techniques and things that really apply to the Drama classroom because it’s a classroom that’s completely unlike any other.
Lindsay: Absolutely. So, that’s kind of our genesis. That’s where we’re working from and we’ve been working really, really hard, I think. We sort of started putting this into place six months ago. In the past three months, it’s been all hands on deck.
Okay, Craig. So, what’s been the most challenging part of putting together the Drama Teacher Academy for you?
Craig: Well, this was a bit of a mistake, but it’s also been, I think, a triumph in creating this site. One of the things that we were told was to not create your own website from scratch and there’s a lot of off-the-shelf solutions for doing this sort of thing. I have some programming experience – I’ve done all the programming on the Theatrefolk website – and so I figured, “Well, all I have to do is this, this, this and this and this,” and then I can make the website myself.
So, that was a mistake to do that and I’ve spent – I don’t know – a couple of hundred hours programming this website. But it’s also a triumph because it’s 100 percent exactly what we need it to be. If we were to get an off-the-shelf solution, we’d have to wrestle some things here and there. At least, this way, we were able to build something that’s exactly what we want and what I think our members are going to want.
Lindsay: Awesome. You know what? You answered my next question because then I was going to say, “Well, what’s been the most rewarding?” and it’s like coming up with something from scratch – whether it’s the website, or inviting teachers and professionals to teach courses.
And then, again, wrestling and making sure that these courses are exactly the way that we want them and that they are always being helpful and we’ve just sort of been just going over and over and over with our instructors and also with ourselves to make sure we know exactly what it is we want to give to you guys and that it’s useful and that it’s practical.
Craig: I think the most rewarding for me was actually when we first finished our very first course which was the Introduction to Teaching Mask. You know, it was the first one, so everything was new to us – you know, from the slides to how to put the video in there.
What was so rewarding to me was just finally seeing the final product. You know, it’s like putting a play together. You know, you start with your script and then you add the performance and then you shape it with technology and then you present it for an audience. And so, I feel now we have these courses and we’ve been in dress rehearsal with them – some of them for a month now – and I just can’t wait to get them into the world because I think they’re so valuable and I have learned so much from editing and putting these things together.
Lindsay: Well, you make the most wonderful segues.
So, we’re launching the Drama Teacher Academy with three courses.
Introduction to Teaching Mask taught by Allison Williams; Organized Chaos: Discipline in the Theatre Classroom taught by Teacher Matt Webster; and From Audition to Curtain Call: Directing Youth Theatre with Steven Stack.
And then, we’re going to be adding a new course each month. I think, Craig, you just hit it right on the head, is that I want to teach mask after getting all the information from Allison’s course. Actually, I have gone into a couple of workshops since we recorded her course and I’ve used a couple of her techniques already when I’ve been working with a couple of acting groups so it’s been in my head and it really sticks.
What Matt’s course on Organized Chaos: Discipline in the Theatre Classroom, he really hits home about how, a lot of times, theatre teachers have the content down packed, they have the passion for teaching down packed, and then it’s the whole nuts and bolts of actually being a teacher that sometimes go by the wayside, and this course is just – ugh! – it’s so great from that perspective.
And then, I love what Steven does. Just basically, it’s an all-encompassing, all-purpose, what do you do before that audition? What kind of auditions should you hold? And all the way up to the curtain call.
I just think they’re wonderful and I think I’ve sort of summed it up. Is there anything you think that I haven’t said yet that you think is really great about these courses?
Craig: I think we’ve said what we have to say. And now, I think we’re about to shift into listening mode, you know? Get people on the site and tell us what it is that they like, what it is that they want more of, and develop more stuff for them.
Lindsay: Awesome. Okay.
So, what we also want is we want our current instructors to sort of speak for themselves and to tell you what they love about their courses and what they’re teaching and what you’re going to learn from them. So, let’s hear from the instructors themselves.
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Lindsay: I have here Allison Williams. Hello, Allison!
Allison: Hi, Lindsay!
Lindsay: Hi! Allison is teaching the course, Introduction to Teaching Mask.
Allison, you have a long history of teaching mask, yes?
Allison: I do. I have been teaching mask for about twenty years now, really enjoying it. I’ve taught mask all over the world and one of the coolest things about it is that I’ve taught mask in a couple of different countries to students whose language I did not speak and I think that’s part of the beautiful power of mask – it’s so physical that we can still work together as actors and as teachers and as workshop participants even when we don’t all speak English.
Lindsay: Ah, and that’s a great lead into my first question for you. We’re talking all about DTA, all about the Drama Teacher Academy, all about these wonderful courses that we want to offer – workshops on demand for Drama teachers to take anytime, anywhere.
Allison: Wow!
Lindsay: I know! It’s exciting! I’m all a-tinkle!
So, why should teachers take Introduction to Teaching Mask?
Allison: I think the most valuable thing for a teacher as far as mask goes is we have a lot of tools for teaching the words, we have a lot of tools for teaching the nice voice and the nice actions around the stage; we don’t have a lot of tools for teaching physical characterization.
And, when we get students of high school age who are dealing with these gangly new bodies that they have just been issued and they don’t quite know what to do with, you know, and they’re all up on-stage doing the shifty foot dance and doing something weird with their hands, by working through a mask workshop, we’re able to teach them specific ways to use their body and specific tools for them to go, “Okay. I’m going to make some choices here about how this character is going to walk. I’m going to make some choices here about how this character stands,” so that they can be more comfortable on-stage and more visually appealing to the audience.
As far as the teachers go, I think the most valuable thing in this course is side coaching. Side coaching is this almost stream of consciousness thing where you’re conducting the exercise at the same time they’re doing it, and you can use it when you’re coaching a scene, too, where you’re giving verbal feedback that the students incorporate into what they’re doing, but they don’t stop and react to the feedback. They continue on as the characters and that’s such an incredibly valuable tool for all kinds of rehearsals.
I think the practice and the learning of side coaching is such a valuable resource for teachers and, in this course, we really stress that.
Lindsay: Oh, yeah. Also, in the course, because we offer not only the videos but there’s also transcripts and an MP3, you give very clear instruction during the video of examples of side coaching, right?
Allison: Yes, you get to hear me doing side coaching as a sound file and you also get to hear me side coaching while watching a video of the students reacting to side coaching. So, you really get a sense of exactly how it works.
And I also give some tips for how to learn to side coach because there’s ways you can practice it on your own before you try it out on your students.
Lindsay: And, if you want to read a text, if you want to read a script, you can just go through the transcript and see how Allison does her side coaching.
Allison: Exactly.
Lindsay: What we want to emphasize here as we wrap it up is that this is really a course for teachers to teach, right? It’s not how you learn to do mask, it’s how you teach mask, and that’s really most important, right?
Allison: Yes, and I think that’s really the plus – it teaches teachers this whole new technique for how to get their students to be more physical, how get their students to make specific physical characterization choices. And, I think, for teachers, this is such a tremendous tool that will help them when they’re teaching mask as an exercise, if they’re teaching mask for the sake of doing it in a play, or if they’re just working on physical characterization with their students. I mean, I think the strongest directors are the ones who are able to help the actors with the physical element as well as the verbal, the text, the blocking, and I think this is really that tool for teachers. This is really a great thing they can take with them.
Lindsay: Awesome. Thank you so much!
Allison: You’re welcome!
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Lindsay: Okay. So, I am now talking to Steven Stack. Hello, Steven!
Steven: Hello, Lindsay!
Lindsay: Steven is our course instructor for the course, From Audition to Curtain Call: Directing Youth Theatre. Now, that sounds like that is a pretty all-encompassing course, “From Audition to Curtain Call.”
Steven: It really is and, if you think about it, that’s the only way that it could be because all of those things – from audition to all the rehearsals to the curtain call – are included in the process of creating a show. So, if you leave one out, you’re leaving out important parts of the process and that just can’t happen.
Lindsay: Right. You know, like, if you want to know, it’s a step-by-step process, isn’t it? You know, if you’re preparing your play, then the next step is audition, and then the next step is that first rehearsal, and then it snowballs from one to the other.
Steven: Absolutely.
When I first started directing, I didn’t understand how important following a certain process was and my shows and the rehearsals never went as well as they could have. But, as I gained more and more experience, I started really going, “Okay. Point A to Point B to Point C to Point D,” and so forth. And then, the whole process just became so much stronger and more enjoyable for me and for the actors.
Lindsay: So, I think that what you’re saying is that planning is sort of your secret bullet when it comes to directing a play from audition to curtain call. You want to be prepared.
Steven: Absolutely because, if you don’t know how to get where you’re going, then there’s no way you’re going to get there. So, the more you plan, the less stress you feel, and the more successful you’re going to be in the long run.
Lindsay: Okay. So, let’s talk about some of the specifics of that planning that you’re going to cover in the course. What are some of the highlights in this course?
Steven: Well, at the beginning, it’s just making sure that you understand the play you’re about to direct – that you know the ins and outs, all the characters, the motivations, the conflicts in every certain part of the play, and that you can have some ideas of how you’re visually going to paint that picture on-stage – that’s the first thing.
And then, you’re going to basically go through that whole process from “When do I do my auditions? What do I want to do in my auditions? What should my first rehearsal look like? When am I going to block the show and how am I going to block the show?” and then you get into the rehearsals then all the other things that may come up.
And, in this course, we cover all of those from dealing with parents, from dealing with casting, from dealing with those moments that you might not want to deal with – everything, really.
Lindsay: We from A to Z, right? Exactly how do you deal with parents who don’t like the casting that their child has been given? Some of the keys that every student actor needs to learn.
You go through the five most important keys that student actors need to learn and my favorite one is that you tell them “don’t act” when they’re on-stage. Why is that? Why shouldn’t students act on-stage?
Steven: Well, because you don’t want performances. You don’t want people performing what they think the character should sound like or be like; you want the actor to actually know what the character is like and to be able to create those moments truthfully because, you know, they’ve been told so long how to perform, how to recite their lines. I don’t want any of that – not just for the audience because it’s a good thing for the audience because the audience can see when a moment is actually happening, but for young actors to be able to actually experience what it feels like to respond in character, for me as an actor, it was one of the coolest things that ever happened to me on-stage.
Lindsay: I think that’s such an important thing for actors to learn. And, I think, another really important thing for directors to learn is that, when they get to the middle of the rehearsal process and things aren’t going so well, to have some tricks and some exercises up their sleeve that they can rely on, right? To get rehearsals going.
Steven: Absolutely, and one of the key things, too, for us, is to embrace all those difficulties that pop up. One of the things I love is when those problems come up because then you can go, “Okay. Now, how do I solve this and make the situation better?” Sometimes, it’s a rehearsal game that we just throw in right in the middle of rehearsal out of nowhere that’s going to help – first of all, it helps them understand their character better, and also, it provides this spark that maybe was missing for a while. But yeah, it’s really key to embrace those difficulties because that’s really where you find the challenges then that’s really where you grow the most as a director and your students grow as actors.
Lindsay: And then, when you get to the show, what’s the most important thing that you cover? When you’ve done rehearsals and you’re leaving the students with the show, what’s one thing that you cover about this final step in the whole process of putting on a play?
Steven: Well, the main thing I stress to my students is that they know the end. They know the end of the show, but not to focus on that – not to focus on their nervousness, to focus on the moment – where they’re at at the moment. And, in this case, if I’m talking to them right before a show, I was like, “This is the moment you’re in and, when the curtain opens, you play that moment, and then every moment as it happens. Focus on the now. Focus on what your character wants and everything takes care of itself.”
Because, honestly, I feel that the true pressure is in rehearsal about putting everything together. By the final rehearsal, if I’ve done my work as a director, and they’ve done their work as actors, then they deserve a successful show and that’s the part that they control because we control the rehearsal – we don’t really control the show as much. But, if we put in the work, then our show is more than likely going to be really successful.
Lindsay: Awesome. I really think this course, if you haven’t directed before and you’re sort of looking around for “What do I do? What are the steps?” you know, this course is going to give it to you. And I also think – and what I quite like about what you’ve done here, Steven – is that, if you have directed before, there are some turn things upside down that you might not expect and I think that’s good, too. It’s almost like you planned it that way.
Steven: Absolutely. Well, because one of the things I’ve realized – with my wife’s help, mind you – was that I can always be better and I’m always looking to improve as a director because I know that, if I keep working for that improvement and looking for new ways to do things, then I’m going to be a better director next year than I am right now and that’s why I’m always looking, “How can I make myself better?” Because, if I’m getting better, so are my students, and that’s really the whole point of all of this – helping your students be better actors and better people, too, in the end.
Lindsay: Awesome. Thank you so much, Steven.
Steven: You’re welcome!
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Lindsay: Okay. So, now I’m talking to Matt Webster. Hello, Matt!
Matt: Hi there!
Lindsay: Matt is the instructor for one of our courses, Organized Chaos: Discipline in the Theatre Classroom, which, I think, Matt, that is just a fantastic title. Why “Organized Chaos”?
Matt: That’s a phrase that I remember. I don’t even know if it goes back to my college days or my childhood. But it seems to best describe what happens in a theatre classroom that, to the outside observer, it looks like chaos – it looks like the students are running around and the lunatics have taken over the asylum. But, when a theatre classroom is being well-run and well-managed, it’s being run like a tightly run ship and everybody knows what’s expected, everybody knows what it is they’re doing, the rules are being followed, and a great deal of creativity is occurring within that situation as well.
Lindsay: So, would you say that you are very happy with the classroom management that you put into your classes?
Matt: I am, and I’ll tell you, the other thing is that I continue to learn and really try to be aware of what works and doesn’t work in my classroom. And, if I feel something isn’t working, I’ll tweak it a little bit. If I feel something’s working well, I’ll continue to use it and see if it works with a different group of students and if it needs work. Theatre classrooms, like all classrooms, are fluid spaces and being able to know the basics and then adjust to make it work for the students in front of you is really important.
Lindsay: Do you ever discuss that with your students about when something’s not working, particularly with something like classroom management?
Matt: Absolutely. Absolutely, and I’ve found that it’s valuable to do that because, ultimately, you’re working with human beings. Yes, they’re students. Yes, sometimes they’re children or sometimes they’re teenagers. But they’re human beings and they want to be treated like human beings and they want to have a stake in what’s going on.
And you’re a human being as well and you might be making mistakes and you might be doing things that they can point out and say, “Hey! You’re not being fair when this person gets in trouble over something and that person doesn’t; you’re playing favoritism.” Or, “You said this yesterday and, you know, now today we’re doing it the same way. Why?” And, sometimes, you’ve got to swallow your pride a little bit and realize you’ve been called out, but it’s a way to grow and improve and sometimes you can say, “Well, I’m sure you see it this way, but let me explain to you why we’re doing it like this.” And then, there’s none of that simmering resentment or questioning of what’s going on and it’s a much healthier environment.
Lindsay: Now, I know you’ve been a Drama teacher for quite a while. When did you step into the classroom?
Matt: Oh, I stepped into the classroom full-time as a professor in 1996. But I had been teaching adjunct and college courses for about probably six or eight years before that so I’d been teaching for a while.
Lindsay: Yeah, and you also not only have spent the past number of years in the classroom but you used to teach beginning teachers.
Matt: Yes, I did. I ran a department in theatre education and I had students who started as freshmen, went all the way through with all of the coursework with me. I supervised their student teaching. I signed off on their teacher licensure and, you know, kind of saw them from entering the program to beginning teachers and then even a little bit beyond because I stayed in contact with them.
Lindsay: All right! So, let’s talk about that for a second. What is the most common mistake you see in beginning teachers when it comes to classroom management?
Matt: A big one is that they’re unprepared – that they walk into the classroom and they think that they can wing it and they can’t. You have to be prepared walking into the classroom and you also have to come in with a certain level of authority.
One of the things I tell my students is that, before you open your mouth when you are standing in front of your classroom on day one, you’re the most brilliant teacher that’s ever existed. The students will assume you know what you’re doing. They’ll assume you’re a seasoned veteran. They’ll assume that the classroom that they’re walking into is going to be a well-managed, organized kind of classroom, and you will prove or disprove that in the first thirty minutes of your classroom.
So, be aware when you walk in. The more prepared you are, the more organized, the more ready you are, the better your year is going to go from day one because the students will assume that you know what you’re doing up until the time that you prove you don’t.
Lindsay: It’s all about you, the teacher, right? You know, if you don’t feel like you’re that confident teacher, you have to be that confident teacher. It’s a Drama class!
Matt: Absolutely. Fake it till you make it. Absolutely.
Lindsay: Okay. So, this course specifically, Organized Chaos: Discipline in the Theatre Classroom. Discipline is such a weird word for the theatre classroom. We don’t usually associate discipline with theatre, do we?
Matt: We don’t, and there’s also this sense – as you said before – that theatre is kind of a free-for-all. It’s this kind of amazing place where we follow our creativity and we follow our muse and we act and we act out and we play and perform and do all of these things, and all of that is true, but there has to be a structure under which all of that takes place because, without that structure, then it really is chaos. It really a very difficult situation for everyone concerned.
Lindsay: So, we have this course, Organized Chaos, and any teacher who is thinking about taking your course, what are some of the things that they’re going to learn?
Matt: Well, they’ll learn how to set up a curriculum because, as I said, when teachers walk in on day one, they’re unprepared if they don’t know what it is they’re teaching, how their overall calendar is going to work, then they’re playing it by ear on a day-by-day basis, and being one step ahead of your students on a daily basis is exhausting.
So, how do you set up your curriculum? How do you set up lesson plans and unit plans and the overall shape of your class for a year-long course or a semester-long course? So, that’s something we’ll look at.
The pacing; how do you figure out the right amount of time to spend on a particular subject? When is it time to move on? When is it time to slow down? That’s something else that we’ll look at.
How to set your classroom up – I mean, this is one of the basic things that a lot of people have no idea about that they don’t think about when you walk in on day one, this space is now yours to control, and how you set that space up is going to have big consequences down the road of how well your class is managed.
We also look at the rules and boundaries of the classroom and what you’re accountable for when you have your students in front of you, that you need to have consequences for breaking those rules, and you need to be consistent in enforcing those rules – that, sometimes, having the students themselves create those rules can be a big benefit to you as a teacher because they’re ownership of it is something that will boost and enhance the discipline in the classroom.
And then, there’s the idea that you will have bad days as a teacher and what are some ways to deal with that, and that, as a theatre teacher, you really need to expect the unexpected because, as we know, the theatre classroom is not like every other classroom.
So, those are some of the topics that we look at in the course.
Lindsay: Oh, it’s fantastic! I think that, you know, we talk a lot when we’re teaching, particularly Drama teachers, about, oh, how to choose a play and how to do improv or how to block a scene, but this might be, I think, the most important course a teacher could take.
Matt: What’s really nice about this, there’s a phrase that I would talk to my students about, my up-and-coming student teachers, that I would say, “What I’m trying to do for you is to be like the wizard in The Wizard of Oz,” that you pull the curtain back and see what the wizard does, that we don’t really know when we take education classes or theatre classes, the nuts and bolts of how a classroom works.
And there are not a lot of classes that are taught that give you that information and that’s why I think this class is very valuable and very important because it may even be things that, intuitively, a new teacher says, “I really think I need this but I don’t know how to get it,” and this lays out some of the basic building blocks that you can use to create the classroom environment that then we do get the kind of creativity and fun and improvisation and scene work and things that you’re talking about. But you need a structure to build that upon and that’s what this course does.
Lindsay: Awesome. Thank you so much, Matt.
Matt: You’re very welcome.
Thank you, Matt, Steven, and Allison!
Lindsay: So, you can get the link for the Drama Teacher Academy and also links to all of the plays that our three instructors have on our website as well at the show notes – theatrefolk.com/episode105.
Craig: I’ll save you a click. It’s DramaTeacherAcademy.com.
Lindsay: So, if you want to cut out the middleman and you just want to go right to the source, DramaTeacherAcademy – all one word – DramaTeacherAcademy.com. Learn more! So, how much the monthly fee is, what the monthly fee gets you, and you can even see trailers for our launch courses.
Now, I have to tell you that we are not opening the doors to the Drama Teacher Academy indefinitely. The doors are going to close for now to the academy on August 22nd – that’s Friday, August 22nd. This is a new site and we want to make sure our charter members are getting everything they need.
And so, for that reason, we’re limiting enrollment to the DTA right now. So, Friday, August 22nd, the doors are going to close, and they’re going to be closed for at least a month. So, if you want to get in on the ground floor, if you want to be a charter member, if you want to start taking courses, you’ve got to act now – DramaTeacherAcademy.com.
And we didn’t even get into the fact that it’s not just courses on the Drama Teacher Academy; there’s also lesson plans that you can download. It’s really workshops on demand, it’s learning on demand. It’s for you when you want it, what you want, at the pace you want.
So, that’s our little pitch for the DTA. Craig, you’re excited, I know.
Craig: I’m just ready to see what people have to say.
Lindsay: Ah! Me, too!
So, finally, where, oh, where can you get this wonderful podcast? Well, we post new episodes every Wednesday at theatrefolk.com and on our Facebook page and Twitter. You can find us on YouTube.com/Theatrefolk. You can find us on the Stitcher app and you can subscribe to TFP on iTunes. All you have to do is search on the word “Theatrefolk.”
And that’s where we’re going to end. Take care, my friends. Take care.
Music credit: ”Ave” by Alex (feat. Morusque) is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
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