But, if you want to...
Act
Sing
Dance
Design Sets or Costumes
Produce
Direct
Write or Edit Scripts
...or your kids (and you!) are hooked on American Idol, your 4, 6 or (enter the age of your child or grandchild here) is your resource for any and all movie trivia, or you just plain like getting out once and a while as a family with the chance of seeing a neighbor or two along the way,
Then sit yourself and your family down at a school play!
I admit it. Until about two years ago, I was one of those parents that went to a school performance, if and only if my own child was performing in it. I looked upon it as a requirement of parenthood. My first experiences with school performances, of course, were the holiday and spring school concerts where my little cherubs dressed up and stood on school staging, singing - with their wee little voices - about everything from their missing two front teeth to the fifty states (in order - forward and backward!). Thrilling stuff. Well, certainly extremely cute stuff, but I have to admit I was always very appreciative of the principal and music director that held things to about an hour. (I know. String me up.).
I had resigned myself to this attitude - and my allotted role, relative to the school-based choral and theatre arts within our fine towns of Groton and Dunstable, as taxi driver, seat warmer, volunteer, and inviter of Grandparents as additional audience members - until I was bullied into - er - kindly invited to a play put on at the prestigious Groton Dunstable Regional High School's Black Box Theatre.
I didn't have a child in the high school. I had no friends or relations who had a child in the play. I knew no one who was working on the sets or lights or music.
But...
My son had taken an after school drama class with a Ms. Christina Chadzynski when he was in second grade. Sam had fallen in love with Ms. "Cha-chin-ski" and was in absolute awe - as all children are - every single time he saw her outside of school, particularly when she arrived at any of several parties or friendly gatherings that he was also lucky enough to attend. I really liked Ms. Cha-chin-ski and our families had become friends. I assumed this meant that I would be attending plays and potentially volunteering for plays that Sam was in throughout his middle school and high school years - which was absolutely fine.
When we got the call from Ms. Cha-chin-ski telling us that the she was directing a play at the High School that she thought that Sam (and his brother and sister) might enjoy, I figured it must be a contemporary, child-oriented comedy or action-thriller.
It was not.
The play was Nicholas Nickleby- the Charles Dickens classic.
My first thought was that this wouldn't be something that my then five year old son, Gabe, would sit through and I wasn't sure his eleven year old sister would want to sit through it either. And Sam? Well, Sam wasn't one to sit through something that didn't have
A.) Lots of things exploding,
B.) Major-league weaponry, or
C.) Oversized or overly exuberant reptiles, killer sharks, or country-sized swarms of stinging insects.
But I couldn't just say ‘no' to the love of Sam's young life. So, as a family, we piled in the car one night and didn't head out to eat. We didn't head off to a movie with overpriced sodas, popcorn, and candy. We went to the High School, bought tickets, (saved heaps of money over the cinema option) and the kids were all excited.
To see a play.
A Charles Dickens play.
Put on by a locally-based director (with national and international theatre connections, by the way... Who knew?!)
And a locally-based cast.
And no one blew anyone else up, and no one got eaten by a shark, and no one got carried away by a swarm of hornets, nor wasps, nor bees.
And the kids loved it.
And we loved it.
It was absolutely awesome.
The kids were so excited, even after the play. They wanted to know who was in the play. They wanted NAMES. They had their favorites. They knew Charles Dickens' characters' names. They asked questions about the time in history that the play was set in. They asked about the sets. They asked about the High School performers' tradition of somehow inserting Ms. Cha-Chin-Ski's name into the play during at least one performance of every play she directs.
They were enthralled.
We were hooked.
When Sam was in his first play last year at the Middle School (he was "Voice of Boy" in Honk, Jr. We were so proud!), the kids couldn't wait to go. We didn't just warm the seats because it was required...We couldn't wait!
We started to go to school plays that we didn't know ANYONE in. We got to know who the local talent was (and what talent we have!).
About a week after we saw the High School players perform Anything Goes last year, Sam and Gabe were with their Dad at the Groton Donnelan's Market. Two of the stars of that play were in line in front of them. John (my husband) said that Sam and Gabe got totally star-struck. They called the players by their characters' names and had to hold themselves back from asking for autographs. How cool is that?
Since our first High School play, Sam and my husband John have been in plays. Sam helped John run lines for his role last year in the Ed Foundation's fundraising production of Don't Dress for Dinner (directed by none other than Christina Chadzynski... Of course!). Even my oldest daughter has chosen Drama as an elective next year. Who knows what Gabe might do?
All this from choosing Nicholas Nickleby over a night of the same old, same old. Now, we've even got the grandparents involved. Think of that! Inviting the grandparents to come along to a school play where they don't have a grandchild acting or helping out? Wowza!
Interested? Well, we currently have two plays on our schedule and we're getting all excited about them. The first one is a Middle School fifth and sixth grade school play - Dear Edwina Junior - being performed March 3rd and 4th. Sam isn't even in this one, but we're going based solely on our past experience. I can tell you that I've seen a number of these fine actors and actresses perform in the past (and Honk, Jr. was pretty darned entertaining last year!).
The second play on our schedule is the High School play being performed March 17th, 18th, and 19th. It's gonna be a doozy. They're doing Grease. My kids are super excited and were even interested in the casting - based only on their attendance of the past couple of years of high school plays. (Inside tip - the kids are VERY excited that their favorite actress will be playing the part of Rizzo... They have good taste too - wait until you see her!) I wonder if I could get my kids to dress in 1950s attire. I think the boys would look awesome in greased back hair and white t-shirts with rolled up sleeves. Who knows!
So, in summary, if you want to write - read.
If you want to expand your horizons and get a kick out of what your kids (and parents!) might do with a little family togetherness and a school play...get out and GO TO ONE!
Hope to see you there.
Performance times and ticket information for:
- Dear Edwina Jr. [0]
- Grease [0]