Last week, I told my drama students that we would not be doing a performance when a few of the other classes displayed their work in a showcase. This week, no one remembered that I had said this.
“Oh, we're not doing a play?” Bunny asked, rather startled and on the verge of severe disappointment.
“Well, no,” I said, “we don't really have one ready.”
“But what about the play we've been practicing?” she asked.
“Well....” I said. The play she was speaking of was not really a play; it was a short disconnected story that the characters wove when they were interacting and improvising. But I try to never stifle enthusiasm. “If you guys want to rehearse it, maybe you can show it to your moms and siblings.”
Even Girl Nikki agreed, “We need to practice it a lot.”
Rachelle was late, for some reason. But once she got there, she became the director. They had invented a lot of the story on their own, so I didn't really know what I should be telling them to do. I was actually very pleased to stand by, allow them to direct each other, and insert my help as necessary.
Of course, just to complicate things, they wanted all of the boys to be involved. Metal Man was actually one of the easier ones to deal with. J. and Boy Nicky had a very difficult time focusing. Yet, I was extremely impressed with Rachelle. She managed them better than I was able to. Nonetheless, they were still quite distracted, but at least she obtained a few glimmers of seriousness out of them.
During their rehearsal, the girls talked too quietly and the boys talked when they weren't supposed to. I advised them about these slight shortcomings, but their subsequent improvement was not great by any means.
At the very end they had a “dress rehearsal” in front of one mom and a few kids. To watch it was... rather painful, and even a little inspiring (I want to bring an actual play for Rachelle to direct in the next session). The mom who watched told me afterwards, “That was funny, Zach. It was like herding cats.” I nodded and gave a wry smile.
Next week, they will supposedly perform in front of a whole audience. I am trying to decide on a presentation speech.
Thanks for reading.
Zachary W.
P.S. Happy Easter!
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