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Priming the Audience

2/19/2022

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Often people attending a show or concert are not aware of proper AUDIENCE ETIQUETTE.  When to laugh, when to applaud, and when to be patient and quiet.  I have seen entire paragraphs ing concert programs dedicated to how the audience should behave during an orchestra concert.  The people who attend Children's Theater can benefit from learning good AUDIENCE ETIQUETTE as well.

Some of the most brutal audiences are those of Middle School students, especially if they are watching their peers trying to perform.  They may think they are being encouraging to their classmates by laughing loudly, randomly applauding or calling out their names.  But when they shout out during the performance, it only distracts the poor actors on stage.  It disrupts their concentration and doesn't allow them to hear their music cues.  Many of these student actors may be in their FIRST EVER PERFORMANCES.  Their nerves are already at HIGH ANXIETY, and the heckling from the audience just makes them retreat into uncomfortable shyness.  A Children's Musical is not a basketball game!

How to tackle this problem?  Unfortunately, it takes patience and many tries.  The Director may come out before the show to explain things.  He may mention that in order to help the actors give a great show, they NEED TO BE A GOOD AUDIENCE.  He may have them practice different kinds of laughing --- polite giggles, surprised delight, wholehearted guffaws.  But he should always have the audience practice quick SILENCES so that the scene isn't disrupted.  The same with applause --- there is a difference between sincere appreciation (the polite clapping between scenes) and insanely raucous clapping, whistling, and yelling at the Finale.  A wise Director may have the audience practice appropriate STOPPING and momentary SILENCES explaining that this part of their job is very important to supporting the actors.  (In a school setting, it may be wise to get the teachers to help prepare the student body before they see the show.)

It takes as much practice for an audience to learn ETIQUETTE as the actors do to learn acting skills and deportment.  Many schools do not have the budget to afford all of the expensive sound and lighting equipment to properly run a show in a large auditorium.  They may not have budget to get beautiful sets or costumes.  They may have a student population that has never had access to doing arts of any kind -- no art or dance training or voice lessons.  The kids and their parents may have never had any opportunities like this before and just don't know what it takes for their kids to be involved or how long it takes to put on a show. 

Though it's true that a good show can be achieved on a modest budget, it has no hope of success if it is sabotaged by a rude audience.  AUDIENCE ETIQUETTE is key to helping pull off an entertaining Children's Theater show!
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Adapting Material for FlexCasting

2/15/2022

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Each summer I try to schedule my Theater Camp in June because the weather is usually pretty nice.  Then I find out that other programs are already scheduled for those dates and that would affect many of my loyal families.  So, we scramble to figure out other dates.  I find I'm always trying to be FLEXIBLE.

That's a lot like adapting a play for the specific needs of your cast.  Children are always growing up and moving on, and younger children eagerly appear wanting a chance.  Being a director of Children's Theater is a lot like gambling.  You cannot know how the dice will roll.  You can only guess at how to cast the show because many of the young children don't even know how to show you what talents they posses.  Many talents develop right before your very eyes.

So, you need to be FLEXIBLE.  It's best to use material that has built in ways to adapt it to fit the needs of the children.  Lead characters who can be either male or female, old or young, tall or short, etc.  Secondary comedic characters who are well-drawn already, but leave room for improvisation to make them more memorable.  Lots of singing and dancing that can involve everybody equally (regardless of ability).  Also, the possibility of completely eliminating characters that you just may not have enough actors to fill.

I like owning all of the rights to a show.  That way, if I need to completely rewrite the script, add another character or group of characters, give them a new song, etc., I can. 

Once I went home from rehearsal the first day realizing we needed a new song.  My music leader suggested a new Opener to bring on the cast.  So, in a flash of inspiration, "Over Yonder" became the opening production number to "Stone Soup."

When we did "A Successor to the Throne" at an Elementary School (4-6th graders), a group of talented older girls needed bigger parts.  So, they got a revamped scene and a reworked song,  "Autumn Lingers on the Breeze."

Because we had a very talented singer in the cast for "Momotaro" and the character she needed to be didn't have a song, I went home and quickly wrote one for her.  "Hero" actually became a nice theme song for that show.

Then, just last summer, the Fox in "The Tale of Chicken Licken" needed a beefed up part and a new song, "You Oughta Keep and Open Mind."   

Who knows what will be needed for this summer's Theater Camp?

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Audience Appeal

2/8/2022

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Writers are often told to "write to your audience."  As a writer, the hardest part of the job is figuring out who that audience might be.  Writing for "Children's Theater" can be misleading.  Some theatrical pieces are written to be performed by adults for an audience of children (ages may vary).  Some pieces are written for child actors to be performed for parents and grandparents.  Other pieces are to be performed by children for other children.  (Theater for teen-aged actors is still considered Children's Theater even though sometimes they can handle adult material.) No matter what the piece, the projected AUDIENCE makes a big difference.

In my career of producing Children's Theater, I have worked in all of these arenas.  The professional and community theater companies I have worked for usually only liked doing productions using kids from ages 12-17.  The kids can read, study on their own, have already been developing their talents, and can usually produce a polished performance worthy of presenting to a "distinguishing" audience.  And yet, a large proportion of young children ages 5-11 would like to participate.  Let's face it, many people are not delighted by watching young children doing "the best they can, bless their hearts."  ​
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Picking an appropriate show is always difficult.  The director must take into consideration the type of story and how it will appeal to both the actors and the audience.  Young children love colorful, fanciful stories, many that are based on famous children's literature.  Older kids may be interested in broader and sometimes darker subject matter.   For a community or professional company, careful attention must be paid to what type of production will draw in a crowd.  They have to think about profit.  Schools may have different criteria, and may pick more age appropriate pieces geared to their student population.

I began writing shows for that younger, underserved population many years ago.  The children ages 5-12 seem to have fewer good pieces geared specifically for them.  It has been a joy to develop shows that have broad appeal, engage the children, and play well to an audience of more than just parents and grandparents.  Some of the most fun to produce for this age range have been "The Tale of Chicken Licken," ​"Momotaro," "The Adventures of Dick Whittington," and "The Country Mouse and the City Mouse."  


It's always fun to share comments from audience members:

"I just loved the songs and dances in "The Tale of Chicken Licken."  The show was so professional. The costumes were adorable.  Loved the Bluebirds 1940's hairdo's.  We could understand every word!  It was such a fun show!"

"My husband's parents have gone to many a grandchild's performances, but they told me that "Momotaro" was so much better than anything they had ever seen their grandkids in -- BY FAR!  It was a 1/2 hour performance that just flew by!  Thanks again for such a wonderful experience for our children."

"We have been to so many children's theater shows and usually we don't expect much.  The acting is never very good and the songs are usually pretty dumb.  But the music in this show ("The Adventures of Dick Whittington") was great!  The songs were so catchy, we had no trouble trying to sing along when cued.  We enjoyed how professional the production was.  Our kids were thrilled to be a part of it.  Looking forward to next summer."

"The Country Mouse and the City Mouse" show was so fun! I loved how there were meaningful parts for so many kids and everyone was busy for the entire show.  No one could tell if there was a main starring role because there were so many featured parts.  We loved the songs, too!  They could have been straight out of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast."  
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Mini-Musicals for Classrooms or Drama Clubs

2/2/2022

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A few years ago, I was hired to teach after-school Drama Club for a local public school.  The main goal for this after school program was to give students a variety of activities to fill their time as they waited for their parents to get off work and come pick them up.  Many of the children were only mildly interested in Theater arts, but they were interested in FUN.  So, my goal was to make whatever we did fun.

I had two classes one for 4-6th graders and the other for K-3rd graders.  The actual enrollment was a group of eight 1-2nd graders and a group of mostly 10-11-year-olds.  The older kids actually had a lot of interest and talent and was made up of a decent ratio of male to female kids.  The younger group had one boy and 8 girls and were basically non-readers with no previous training whatsoever.

My thought at what we would do in our Drama Club classes was just to learn skills and play acting games.  But the kids had a different idea.  They had seen the Musicals I had done at the school previously and assumed they would be performing a show.  I definitely had a problem.  What exactly could I do with these students that would seem like a show but not be a main stage production?

So, in desperation, I quickly wrote two mini-musicals.  "The Tale of the Country Mouse and the City Mouse" and "The Ants and the Grasshopper."  (What else could I do with one large boy and 8 little girls?)  We did do skill drills and acting games, but they were more interested in putting on a show.  So, that's what we focused on.  Simple costumes and rudimentary props and sets worked very well for an in-class recital.  The parents came and were suitably impressed.  And we didn't have to worry about sound and lighting.  Whew!

"The Tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff" is another show that works well for an in-class production.  The intimate rainy-day-stuck-at-home theme is perfect for a small group and small audience.

"The Tale of the Musicians of Bremen" was another easy to produce mini-musical.  We elected to do more elaborate costumes and sets, though for this show.  My actors were older kids and they worked very hard in order to merit having extras.  The favorite song from that one was the one where we also played kazoos.

And if I were teaching Elementary Music again, I would make doing an in-class Mini-Musical part of the curriculum.  They are just so much fun!

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    Author

    My name is Betsy Bailey.  I have sung, written and taught music all of my life.  I enjoy writing and directing Children's Theater shows.  This blog will be directed to topics on creating the magic of Children's Theater.  I would love to hear your comments!

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