Jenna
LOVES to sing, and dance, draw, learn, explore . . . I have wanted so badly to
enroll her in dance lessons, or music lessons, art classes , etc. I have even considered sports when she has
shown interest – but it was always out of reach financially - even on those
rare times when it looked like the class itself might be in reach, I knew that
the costumes (or uniforms) would get out of hand.
Last summer I had the opportunity of
enrolling her in a peewee theatre class taught by a gal who had instructed
children’s theatre in New York. Jenna
would have an opportunity – not only to act, but to sing, to dance and perform
and hopefully make new friends.
The play is never done in its
entirety. The instructor has been given
only six to eight weeks to rehearse before putting on the show.
We met for eight weeks initially. One hour per week. Realizing that she would need more time, she
made arrangements for the children to do their dialogues on a Saturday at her home. I thought that was so awesome of her to be
willing to do the extra work.
So the first play was “You’re a Good
Man, Charlie Brown”. Six parts and seven
children showed up – four being girls.
And the “Charlie Brown” has two girls with speaking parts. Four boy parts.
Two girls were asked to split up lines
for Lucy. Jenna chose to read for
Schroeder. The youngest of the cast was
asked to read for Linus – and actually sounded just like the cartoon character. That night the parts were cast for Linus and
Lucy. Who in the world would she get to
play Charlie Brown?
None of the three boys seemed like the
right candidate. The four (going on
five) year old had been cast as Linus leaving a boy who was not so fluent in
English, and one who appeared to have ADD as he was all over the place or
hiding behind his mother. I understood
what had possessed his mother to enroll him, but was seriously wondering if
he’d be able to pull it off.
The not so fluent was cast as Snoopy –
and the instructor saw great potential with casting our ADD as Schroeder. He was fabulous. Knew all of his lines. Stayed on page. I was actually very impressed.
Jenna had read for Schroeder and Sally
– and because Sally was the only girl’s part left, Jenna memorized her part
(actually she had started memorization on all of the parts except for Charlie
Brown)
After two of the girls dropped out
(they had attended the first night only) the instructor thought she could split
up Sally’s part among the rest of the cast and asked if Jenna would be
interested in playing Charlie Brown.
“He’s the main part!” I told Jenna. Her enthusiasm did not match my own. How could she possibly play a boy? She didn’t.
We made Charlie Brown a girl.
Instead of dreaming about a little red-headed girl, we changed Jenna’s
line to say that she liked a red-headed boy
But then it was realized that Sally’s part
was needed. And so the instructor asked
a neighbor to take her class – she learned her lines and dance numbers and
songs in just four weeks.
There was no costume expense – it was
whatever is in your closet. I liked
that. The shirt that Jenna wore was one we had purchased the prior year as I
had enrolled her in a dance class and the instructor provided us shirts to make
jagged edges for the “George of the Jungle” number they’d be performing.
All of the class members pulled it
off. Unfortunately Jenna didn’t get to
sing and dance as much as the other children (it wouldn’t make sense for her to
sing “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown”) and she never got to learn her solo
because of the time frame. But she did a
beautiful monologue and she actually did very well.
Her professionalism was surprising as she
was truly sick that night. Not a
contagious sick necessarily. She had
just eaten something that hadn’t agreed with her. And the drive to the school only added car
sickness.
She had puked twice on our way into the
school – did an awesome performance – and then made a b-line to the garbage can
to heave up some more. Poor child really
had nothing left to throw up.
School House Rock was announced for the
next production. Excitedly Jenna made
her approval known. But because of the
location of the school and my inability to see at night, I said I didn’t think
I would be able to keep her in.
I was so touched when the instructor
offered to come get her and drop her off.
I could take her – that was no problem.
But my house is not on the way home to the instructor’s house (hers
would actually be on the way to mine) and so I made arrangements to drop Jenna
off at the school and meet her instructor near her house after class. It worked out well except for one day when I
gave the instructor the option of keeping Jenna home or asking the instructor
to drive out of her way to drop her off – she chose the latter. And I feel blessed.
The class hours had been extended to an
hour and a half a week instead of just one hour. School house rock didn’t seem
to have any specific roles except for Tom – the teacher (also played by a girl)
– though they all had speaking parts and solos.
And the attendance had gone from five to fourteen. My husband filmed most of it as I was
laughing so hard I couldn’t seem to keep the camera still.
The last play that they did was “Alice in
Wonderland”. They had moved to a high
school much nearer to my home (as well as the instructors) and I have been
excited about that. But because of earlier schedule conflict and lack of funds,
Jenna did not participate – although Jenna and I went and saw it the same week
Randy and Carrie were married. It turned out really cute.
All of the children wore black with quick
costume change on top. The instructor had allowed three different girls to play
Alice – one at a time during various scenes.
The costumes were a bit more elaborate than whatever was in the closet,
but still kept simple. The kids pulled
it off rather nicely. I was impressed.
I promised Jenna that we’d put her in the
next show – Wizard of Oz. Am looking
forward to attending classes again. It
appears that they will rehearse just six weeks (nine hours) though before they
put on their final production.
