"The theatre, the theatre. What's happened to the theatre?" Well, tonight the theatre was rockin'!! Tonight my intro to theatre class presented their final project, a one act play entitled, All I Really Need to Know I Learned by Being in a Bad Play. I was so proud of these students. They did an awesome job. They've been working really hard for the last three weeks: directing, acting, costuming, lighting, staging, etc., etc., My main role was producer so I got to enjoy the learning process w/o most of the aggravation and frustration during rehearsals. Memories of productions that I've acted in or directed will stay w/ me forever.....all the way back to third grade when I did a solo recitation about a little girl who gets stuck on top of the cupboard in her attempt to get a cookie from the cookie jar. I've had a couple of opportunities to work w/ my daughters in productions. Both my girls, when they were four and seven, were in a community theatre production that I directed. Kenzie had a small part in another of my intro to theatre's productions, and Maddy videotaped tonight's performance. I used to bring Kenzie w/ me to rehearsals when I was directly high school productions. I'd purposely let her run around on stage while running scenes to ensure that my actors wouldn't break character. It worked....both for the actors and Kenzie. She and Maddy both have been performing on stage since they were three. That's part of why they're so confident.
Mom and I never had the opportunity to act together, but she loved to perform. She was in some productions in school, I think, and I know she did a community theatre production years and years ago. I never got to see it b/c I was living in Texas at the time, but she had to play an Italian woman so I helped her w/ her accent. Last night I talked about my delight in performing w/ my daughters, but I didn't mention the times that I got to perform w/ my mom. I accompanied the senior church choir in which she sang, and I accompanied her "Lucy's Kids" for most of my school years and then some. Memories of getting out of my own Sunday School class early so I could play for her class. Memories of driving to a nearby town where her "Kids" sang at a nursing home every summer. There are hundreds of people who will forever know Zacchaeus and Jesus Loves Me b/c of my mom. That's so cool.
I think it's essential that parents and children find common interests. It doesn't matter what it is: acting, dancing, playing tennis or softball, sewing, or bird watching. Find something that you both like or can learn to like. It doesn't matter what it is b/c the activity will soon play second fiddle to the time spent together and the memories created. Memories makes me think of Cats, which returns me to the theatre.
I really enjoyed the play. It was the perfect anecdote for a very long, hard day. I hope your class runs from now on. What a nice way to end the Spring Semester.
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