The last two weeks were quite a whirlwind. Twenty one children ranging in age from 4 1/2 to 11 participated in my Neighborhood Summer Theater Camp held in my backyard. It was truly a summer INTENSIVE! We worked very hard to learn acting skills, songs and dances, and all of the lines and blocking to put on a production of my new Children's Musical "The Tale of Chicken Licken" all in just over 20 hours of teaching time. Whew! The children accomplished it and looked very cute in the process. I am proud of their hard work.
When I begin to write a new show, I generally use the formula that my cast will be made up of a few boys, but mostly girls. So I keep that in mind when creating songs and populating the landscape. But as the registrations came in for this camp, we had many more boys than originally expected. This posed a bit of a challenge since I had already started making the costumes. I thought that making little girls look like barnyard fowl would be a cinch -- just put them in a T-shirt and shorts with a tutu in whatever color most suited the bird. Well, that idea had to be revamped with fully half of the cast being boys. So, with the help of one of my talented daughters, we came up with designs that would work better for the boys in the cast. Additionally, I quickly wrote a couple more songs that enhanced the storyline more because I was able to add lines and situations with these male characters in mind.
When I begin to write a new show, I generally use the formula that my cast will be made up of a few boys, but mostly girls. So I keep that in mind when creating songs and populating the landscape. But as the registrations came in for this camp, we had many more boys than originally expected. This posed a bit of a challenge since I had already started making the costumes. I thought that making little girls look like barnyard fowl would be a cinch -- just put them in a T-shirt and shorts with a tutu in whatever color most suited the bird. Well, that idea had to be revamped with fully half of the cast being boys. So, with the help of one of my talented daughters, we came up with designs that would work better for the boys in the cast. Additionally, I quickly wrote a couple more songs that enhanced the storyline more because I was able to add lines and situations with these male characters in mind.
Testing out and proofing new material is a scary proposition. You never know exactly how a new show or song will be received. I am happy to report that what went well went very well and the few costume malfunctions and flubbed lines were forgiven. It would have been nice to have a little more time to work with the mics and costumes before the performance, though. But, when the kids remembered to speak and sing into the mics, they were heard very well. In doing this camp, I learned just what appealed to the young cast, and what may have been a little too sophisticated for them. Perhaps there are a few places in the script that I may rewrite for a younger, more homogenized cast, say K-3rd graders, and make many parts flexible enough to be cast as either male or female. But all in all, I am pleased with this new creation and I think "The Tale of Chicken Licken" definitely has a future for other Children's Theater productions.
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