
This little musical came about in a burst of inspiration brought on by some desperation. One of the Theater Skills classes I began teaching in the Fall of 2015 had eight First and Second Graders - 7 girls and 1 boy. I was planning to just let them learn theater skills by working with Acting Games, short skits and songs. But it soon became clear that they wanted to do a play with a real performance.
I quickly searched through many materials and decided that I just needed to write them a show. Obviously, I needed to tailor the parts to the personalities and talents I had. The boy had a great voice and could move. It made sense to cast him as the Grasshopper and give him some "Gene Kelly savoir-fare." The girls needed clearly defined traits in order to bring their characters to life. So, I gave each Ant one main emotional character trait such as "Effie, Miss Efficiency," and "Winnie, the Whiner."
Enjoy the Grasshopper's dancing song "Summer Loafin'."