Enchanted Library or So It Begins…

This year marks our sixth year transforming our library into a magical place for families to visit. Each November we close the library early on a Friday night and transform it with twinkle lights and backgrounds and props into a tour filled with characters from children’s books. Each year’s theme is different – fairy tales, books into movies, Dr. Seuss, villains, nursery rhymes and this year’s theme – mysteries! With seven skits spread out across the library tour guides take families through a guided path interacting with characters along the way. This is the largest program that our library offers each year with 400 people passing through the library in 2.5 hours.  It’s next to impossible without the help from just about all the staff members of the library and is a program that I really love to do.
Last night was the informational meeting and auditions, but the planning started months ago already.  Every summer, my co-worker and I write the scripts (that’s right, we write each 1-page script although I can’t take too much credit – my co-workers is amazingly talented!), we figure out backdrops, costumes, props and the logistics for each year.  With this year’s theme being mysteries we chose the following characters to highlight – Cam Jansen, Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, Sammy Keyes, Lemony Snicket, Nate the Great (and Rosamond), and finally Sherlock Holmes with his trusty sidekick, Dr. Watson.  Each of these characters will memorize their one-page script and work with our guides to bring books to life for the kids in our community.
We had 16 middle school students (grades 5 – 8) attend our meeting last night and with the help of just a few more, this year may be the best yet!  Because the kids have such a busy schedule we meet only 9 times (including our auditions and dress rehearsals) before the tours which means these kids are dedicated and spend time outside of rehearsal learning their lines, so they are prepared.  I’m excited to see how this year goes, we lost a number of amazing actors as they graduate to the high school this year, but we have a number of new recruits who can’t wait to get started.  Read more about Enchanted Library in the past here, here and here.