Summer Theatre

We had an amazing group of 8th graders that graduated out of our Junior Friends program this spring and offered to direct, produce, and run practices for a summer play.  I love empowering tweens and teens that have the initiative to create new programs for kids.  We’ve had a Chinese New Year program, various theatre programs, and more that tweens and teens are the primary organizers.  Sometimes it can end up being more work for myself or a another adult, but sometimes it works out really well.  And this was the latter.
The five young ladies who ran the summer theatre program first found four skits online all about the seasons.  They chose The Hat by Jan Brett (Winter), Henny’s Eggs by Jan Brett (Spring), Anansi the Mighty by Jim Weiss (Summer), and Turkey Trotten (Fall).  They were in charge of scheduling, try-outs, practices, props, and costumes.  They did an amazing job even with kids going on vacation, dropping out unexpectedly, and the stress that comes with being in charge of a large event.
The actors were part of our Junior Friends group (grades 5 – 8) and in the end we had about 50 people attend the show, a lot of the kids parents, but also families with young children.  I like giving families the option of seeing live theatre because professional theatre shows can be so expensive.
I have spent four years with these girls in various programs and I think that my favorite part of the whole process was when one of the girls came over to me and said simply, “I understand.”  She was referencing how she finally understands how stressful it can be putting on a theatre show, getting kids to listen to directions, and the process overall.  I am so proud of all five of these girls and I can’t wait to see what they can and will be doing when they get to high school.