Let’s Pause to Appreciate Our Drama Instructors - MovieMaker Magazine

      Delaine Gates taught drama at El Dorado High School in southern Arkansas for 28 years. As she sat in the audience for the El Dorado Film Festival on Thursday night, she witnessed the outcomes of the seeds she had planted years ago.

      One of her former students, Moriah L. Hicks, stars as a co-lead in the impactful short film “Three Sessions,” which was written, directed, and starred in by Erica Michelle Singleton, who was briefly a student of Gates as well. The festival is organized by filmmaker Alexander Jefferey, who also studied under Gates.

      “Ms. Gates changed my life,” he shared with MovieMaker, becoming slightly emotional. “She made high school bearable for me. She truly nurtured my creativity and filmmaking skills and ignited my passion for what I do now.”

      Gates has also taught other notable students, including playwright, screenwriter, and director Qui Nguyen, who co-wrote Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon.

      El Dorado boasts a rich narrative history — once an oil-boom town a century ago. On a tour of the revitalized downtown on Thursday, Darrin Riley, curator for the South Arkansas Historical Preservation Society, captivated festival attendees with stories of gunfights, feuds, buried vehicles, horses and dolls, a secret tequila bar believed to have inspired the town's name, and connections to both Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind and Charles Portis’ True Grit. The town is also where Fright Night star William Ragsdale grew up, and he shared his childhood memories to kick off the festival.

      However, a southern Arkansas town with fewer than 20,000 residents isn’t the first place that comes to mind when considering industry hubs like Los Angeles, New York City, and Orlando, places where child stars flourish. The primary employment in El Dorado lies in oil and chemicals rather than entertainment. Teachers like Gates serve as a gateway and lifeline to the arts, making high school, as Jefferey stated, more bearable.

      Drama and Listening

      Clockwise from left: Jamad Mays, Erica Michelle Singleton, and Moriah L. Hicks in “Three Sessions.”

      A significant testament to Gates’ influence is that Hicks, one of her former students, has become an acting instructor herself. In addition to her roles as an actor, poet, and playwright, she teaches students in neighboring Shreveport, Louisiana.

      In “Three Sessions,” she portrays a determined therapist assisting a young couple struggling with their marriage as they contemplate parenthood. The film emphasizes the importance of communication within families.

      At the festival on Thursday night, she mentioned from the stage that she frequently finds herself echoing the lessons learned from Gates.

      “She always emphasized the need for active listening — that’s essential in acting. I used to overlook that,” she said.

      “Beats are crucial. I constantly remind my students: take your beats, take your beats. Stop rushing through it. I keep reiterating this, as it’s vital to give your audience time to comprehend and absorb your performance. And you, as your character, must fully inhabit the given circumstances.”

      Gates, who listened proudly at her side, added, “I’m incredibly proud of her.” She mentioned that she always told her students it’s about “50 percent acting, 50 percent reacting, because audiences look at how you react and what you’ve expressed.”

      Even in retirement, she remains dedicated to El Dorado: in addition to attending the film festival, she managed to prepare snacks for visiting guests. (On a side note, the bourbon-glazed meatballs were so delightful we requested the recipe.)

      Tough love can sometimes be part of teaching. Years earlier, she advised Singleton not to stay in her class because she was “stealing the scene,” in Singleton's recollection.

      “I was such a distraction! I was terrible,” Singleton confessed with a laugh from the stage on Thursday.

      Nonetheless, she became a professional actor and filmmaker, appearing in films like The Last Exorcism Part II and TV series such as American Horror Story, Scream, NCIS: New Orleans, and All American. Approximately a decade ago, Gates invited her back to share her expertise with her students.

      “You have planted far more seeds than you even realize,” Singleton told Gates from the stage.

      Singleton created “Three Sessions” for the Louisiana Film Prize, based in Shreveport, which has a closely-knit film community with El Dorado. The two towns, about a hundred miles apart, represent the nearest significant population centers to each other. The film prize awards $50,000 to a film shot in Louisiana, attracting many Arkansas filmmakers who cross state lines to qualify.

      The latest winner was the charming “Sex Date,” directed by local filmmaker Mike Nicholas. Alongside “Three Sessions,” the other films in the Film Prize Top 5 showcased at the El Dorado Film Festival on Thursday included "Napoleonic Code"