LANGLEY --- Though she stands in front of teenagers all day, math teacher Ginger Proctor says she's too shy to do any singing or dancing to make classes more interesting, but she's willing to find people who can.
Mrs. Proctor and other Midland Valley High School math teachers were intrigued when they heard of Calculus: The Musical! this past summer and decided to take a chance on the Cincinnati-based production.
"These students are in these classes (calculus and pre-calculus) because that's what they want to do, but they want a lot of examples," Mrs. Proctor said.
The songs -- set to such popular tunes as Madonna's Material Girl and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Under the Bridge -- give her that opportunity to drill rules, but in an interesting way.
"I think the songs will be stuck in my head the rest of the year," said calculus student Zachary Tisdale, 17.
Zachary and classmate Mark Taylor, 17, said the teachers do a great job and that smaller class sizes in advanced classes make sharing information easier, but if a concept is difficult to grasp the songs will only help.
"I've looked up the 'zero divided by zero is undefined' all year, so I'll have to find the song," Mark said.
The show was created by Sadie Bowman and Marc Gutman and is now performed by Know Theater of Cincinnati. The two-actor show uses Isaac Newton as the main character, with other popular mathematicians, ghosts and even his therapist popping up as he works through solving gravity.
Performers Jae Boley, 23, and Sean Powell, 22, were somewhat in over their heads when they were told they won the parts. Neither had completed a math course past pre-calculus. The three-month rehearsal required study sessions to get them up to speed on the math.
"I was kind of confused, and this made me not want to take calculus in a way, but it was cool that they could turn what we know into a rap," said student Sydney Booth, 16.
Mrs. Boley and Mr. Powell said that when they attend teachers' conferences they are treated like rock stars, but the show was really created to appeal to high school students and create a spark.
"Math is sometimes deemed a nerdy subject, but it was written in a way so they know it's OK to enjoy math," Mr. Powell said.
Mrs. Proctor said she hopes to open the show to other calculus classes in Aiken County next year. In the meantime, she has a CD ready to keep her current classes in tune with velocity and gravity.
Reach Julia Sellers at (706) 823-3424 or julia.sellers@augustachronicle.com.
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