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Writing for a Male or a Female Protagonist?

3/24/2021

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Writing Children's Theater (for ages 5-12) from classic fairy tales, folk tales or fables AND keeping recognizable characters and plot lines, can be challenging.  Many of these traditional tales involve having male protagonists. In other words, the story revolves around a male main character who goes out on a QUEST or a hero's journey, or has bad things happen to him that he must overcome  --- Sinbad, Hercules, Aladdin, Pinocchio, The Boy Who Cried Wolf.  Some stories are generic enough that a female can be substituted in the protagonist role, but then the title has to change because it carries a male name. Unfortunately, with that change, the production loses the valuable advantage of NAME RECOGNITION.

When a female is the protagonist in Children's Theater and has famous name recognition --- Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Rapunzel -- as a director, you have a hard time getting boys to join the cast.  Young boys usually stay far away from any play that even hints of a love story.

So, what does a writer/director of Children's Theater do? ​
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Well, first I look for stories that have a recognizable title with NO gender name in it ---  The Country Mouse and the City Mouse, The Empty Pot, (A Successor to the Throne), The Musicians of Bremen, Stone Soup, The Tale of Chicken Licken, and The Ants and the Grasshopper. 

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These stories are the easiest to reimagine with a FLEXIBLE CAST.  That means that the protagonist and other characters do not necessarily need to be a particular gender.       

(These are good for the casts that have many more girls than boys, which seems to be the norm in Children's Theater.)

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Since I ALWAYS want to attract boys as well as girls to my shows, I may use a story with a male name in the title, but make sure it has NO LOVE STORY and plenty of good roles for BOTH GENDERS. I have found that creating good female roles for a show that has a male protagonist is easier to sell to boy participants than the other way around  --- Momotaro, The Adventures of Dick Whittington, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, (Never Cry Wolf), The Three Billy Goats Gruff ​

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An exception, has been Parizade's Quest - a tale from the Arabian Nights.  This show has a definite female protagonist in the title, but also has four other strong lead roles for girls, as well as many important secondary female roles.  (In fact, Parizade is not the actual main female lead.) It also has five strong male lead roles, and many strong secondary roles for boys.  It has NO ROMANTIC LOVE STORY but does have a REUNITING of a FAMILY LOVE STORY.  (The boys were okay with that.)

I actually wrote this show for a group of kids I knew pretty well at a local elementary school.  Of the 45 kids in the cast, we had about equal numbers of boys and girls --- VERY UNUSUAL FOR CHILDREN'S THEATER!

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Creative Entertainment

3/15/2021

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​"We're practicing POSTURE so we can become princesses."
      Megan and Maya were balancing heavy books on their heads as they paraded around the family room in their princess dresses.  Their mother told me that each had gotten some money for Christmas. They studied online catalogues and finally found these dresses that fit their budgets.  So they decided to buy them.  Now they like to practice Princess skills --- like walking with perfect posture and having tea parties using their best manners.

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When I went in to spy on them and take these pictures, they had set a beautiful table and even had Classical Music playing for ambience.  These are such creative girls!  Watching hours and hours of television or playing endless video games are just not permitted in this family except for brief periods in the evening.  So, after homeschool activities and chores are done, these girls spend their free time creatively entertaining themselves.  On my recent visit to their house in Pennsylvania, I got to watch this creative play for five days straight.

A different day they spent drawing, coloring and designing paper dolls.  Megan told me that she really loved the book I sent them for Christmas about when I was young and loved to play with paper dolls.  "We're making costumes, and sportswear and glamorous evening dresses --- just like in your book, Grandma!"

She knew just what to say to melt her Grandma's heart.

"We just aren't having a drawing contest!" added Maya.

Good girls!  They understood the message of the story!  (I love these girls!)

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YouTube Video ​https://youtu.be/YSFDSr_w6lc
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Being Happy is a Choice

3/9/2021

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Being happy is a choice.

How many times in my life have I heard this?  Too many times to enumerate, that's for sure!  
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Probably your mother told you this when you were growing up.  I know I have found myself speaking (in my own mother's voice) these same words to my children --- especially the ones who did not want to wake up early for school --- or at 5:00 am to get ready for Early Morning Seminary.

My high school friend's mother used to wake her up by coming into her room singing "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" at the top of her lungs.  My friend usually levitated very quickly in hopes that would STOP her mother's vocalizing.

While visiting my daughter's family last week in Pennsylvania, I took the opportunity to record four granddaughters singing some of my kid's songs.  These girls were willing to learn 14 new songs for me.  One of the songs was "Good Mornin' Sunshine" from the play The Tale of Chicken Licken.  Nine-year-old Maya told me that this was her favorite song.  "It just makes me happy, Grandma!"  Maya likes "Good Mornin' Sunshine" because it is all about the animals on the farm, and she likes their little mini-farm.

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This family began raising chickens last Easter.  Those eight chicks are now egg-laying hens.  Apparently, they each have unique personalities and do some very silly, but entertaining things. 

​Recently, the girls thought it might be funny if the hens had HANDS.  So their brother Tanner used his 3D printer and made little hands for the chickens.  

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The girls even put them on their own heads.   Now if that isn't silly...

It brings a smile to your face and giggle to your heart, just like the song...

"Good Mornin' Sunshine" sung by Maya, Megan, Melanie, and Makayla.

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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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