Once again, I was privileged enough to skip work and be a playwright for the day--a rare and much-appreciated occasion. On Thursday, I visited my friend Giselle's 5th & 6th grade drama class at Camp Kookookoos, a six-week day camp in Teaneck, NJ. For the last several weeks, these boys and girls have learned about drama while preparing a production of Saltlick and the Robot. Since I do live nearby, I visited their last rehearsals before the performance on Tuesday. The kids were excited to see me--Giselle had quashed their earlier beliefs that I was an old man (but she never said anything about being an adult)--and I tried not freak out from the attention.
As always, I am amazed that anyone ever memorizes a script--especially children--especially children who meet together for drama during a 40-minute club period once a week or so. The production value of Giselle's project was also a pleasant surprise. The children really took costuming themselves to heart (especially the girl playing the Sheriff, who repeatedly adjusted her folded-towel paunch), and used these trappings and props to create characters, as well a sense of comfort on stage. Oh, and Robbie the Robot was rather impressive, just amazing, really. So well done.
And during the rehearsals, I sensed that the difficulties of getting through a run-thru smoothly derived not from any lack of enthusiasm or competence on the children's part, but from the dearth of time available for rehearsal. If you can't run the show twice in a row or rehearse more than once a week, then lines (and props) get dropped, awkward pauses linger, and the ending scene remains foreign terrain. And I've finally come to the realization that with children and performing, more trouble comes with attentions spans rather than memorizing lines and blocking and emphasis--waiting to have to say a line and getting distracted rather than any anxiousness from saying that line or performing an action.
But really, Giselle and the kids (most without experience or even an initial interest in drama) are doing a great job, exceeding my expectations, and I think they definitely will impress their fellow campers at the show on Tuesday. Break a leg, kids!
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