An Interview With Mr. Plotkin

By: Carolina Viegas

I met with Mr. Plotkin, the AP Language and College English teacher at Carle Place High School. I interviewed Mr. Plotkin because I was curious to know how he balanced his teaching/directing and home life while he was directing Carle Place High School’s most recent play, Alice in Wonderland. I asked Mr. Plotkin when he would get to the school and then leave the school while he was directing. He said that he got there at 7am, and depending on the day, left sometime between 8 and 10pm. Mr. Plotkin was not able to go back to his house in between the time school ended and the start of rehearsal because he lived too far away to make the commute in a timely manner. I wanted to find out how Mr. Plotkin was able to manage grading his students’ work and planning out the show. When I asked him this question he laughed and said that he didn’t. On a more serious note, he said that he did his work as a teacher whenever he had a chance, normally between school and an hour before rehearsal because he still needed to set up for that day’s rehearsal. I thought that he must have been really stressed, so I asked him how stressed he was. Mr. Plotkin said that he was stressed but it was a good thing because he said he thrives on stress. As a matter of fact, stress distracts him which helps him successfully work on what he has to do in order to make the show run smoothly. Mr. Plotkin started planning Alice in Wonderland after he got the “okay” from his potential cast. Once he got the go ahead, he started planning everything from the lighting to making the special effects the show entails work on a stage that was not built for that. A particular special effect in Alice in Wonderland was the glow of the characters on stage. It was really cool to see so I asked Mr. Plotkin where he got that idea from. He responded by saying that the idea for that came from watching the movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas. He thought that if someone ever made a musical out of the movie, he would use colors that glow in the dark for costumes and make-up. Once he decided that he was going to be directing Alice in Wonderland, he put the idea of the glow in the dark costumes and make-up to good use. Mr. Plotkin also discussed that he gave his students extra omits if they watched the show or were a part of the cast/crew. Mr. Plotkin enjoys both teaching and directing and can’t wait to continue doing so in the future.