Twisted Tweens: Drama Class #6

Happy Birthday, Zach!”

As I walked between classes at the community center yesterday, I heard plenty of random friends tell me this. Eventually, the fact was unmistakable: it was my birthday, and I was having fun.

I was born at 1:32 PM, in the bright sunlight of a Wednesday afternoon. March 25th, 1992 to be precise. Well, once again my birthday was on a Wednesday, but at 1:32 PM – instead of squirming my five pound body in the open air for the first time – I was in the middle of teaching drama class to my six to nine year old students.

We had a good class. They improvised scenes with their ever-present characters. At the end of class, I told them that I was directing a play, Puss in Boots. Previously, some of them had been interested in auditioning. But I think they might be a bit too young, and their attention spans might be a bit too short. Still, I thought I would give them each the chance to act like a cat.
They all seemed to enjoy acting like cats so much more than they enjoy the heavy, intellectual concepts that I try to present to them. I don't blame them for having this preference. For the next session of classes, I will be sure to return to such fun, light-hearted activities.

After class, my family and I were getting ready to leave. I overheard Metal Man's mother telling him that it was my birthday. Pretty soon, Metal Man walked up to me. “Happy Birthday, Zach,” he said.

“Oh, thank you, Metal Man,” I replied.

“I didn't know it was your birthday. If I had known, I would have brought you a present.”

I think I thanked him again. It's really amazing. Metal Man has such an out-of-control, egotistical and hyper personality, but he can pause everything and actually be sincerely sweet. In fact, he's an adorable child! I don't know why he has so much craziness inside of him.

Thanks for reading. I must go and prepare my house for my birthday celebration this weekend.

Zachary W.