While I was visiting my daughter's family in the Seattle area, my 11-year-old grandson told us a situation that happened to him. (We thought this was humorous. He was not laughing.) He went to a combined activity with the youth at Church that did not suit his taste. They were doing LINE DANCING. That wasn't so bad. But then, they decided to have the kids learn some PARTNER dances like waltz and fox trot. My young grandson balked at that! Partner dancing requires actually touching the girl partner. YUCK!
This is precisely why I never do Children's Theater shows that have anything close to a LOVE STORY. A few years ago I wrote a new musical for the 4th-6th graders at a local school. This blog post from 2014 tells a little about writing for 10-12 year olds.
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This is precisely why I never do Children's Theater shows that have anything close to a LOVE STORY. A few years ago I wrote a new musical for the 4th-6th graders at a local school. This blog post from 2014 tells a little about writing for 10-12 year olds.
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The story that has intrigued me is one from "The Tales of the 1001 Arabian Nights." It appealed to me immediately for three important reasons. First, it is NOT a love story. (It is dangerous to have a love story or even anything close to a love story for this age range.) Second, it has plenty of the elements kids get excited about - magic, mystery and adventure. Third, it has the potential for providing meaningful characters for a large cast. (Lead parts for 5 GIRLS! Very important!!!!!!)
Kids love portraying characters that have individual names and some sort of back stories. Who wouldn't? There is nothing very exciting about being Guard #6, Servant #3 or Dancer #5. It is much more satisfying to portray a character with a name and a reason for being - at least for part of the time. I try very diligently to give each child a named character for their feature role and then have them fill in additional Ensemble parts.
This plan does not always work, but I continue to try, nonetheless. Why write for a just a generic Troupe of Gypsy entertainers, when you could create Barim who plays the guitar, Mona and Nadia who dance, Jamileh who tells fortunes, Ghalandar who does magic tricks, and Najid who has a trained dancing Bear named Bobak. I give the children a little information concerning their characters and hope that feeds their interest to go on a fill out more of the BACKSTORY for themselves.
Where this story, actually titled "The Story of the Speaking Bird" (in the translation I found) follows just a few main characters, a Children's Theater piece needs to be expanded to tell the story through dialogue, action, songs and dances involving many characters. That gives me the opportunity to create and name many new and unique characters.
I love stories that come from exotic historical settings. There is such a richness in the cultures and languages of these places. And there is no richer or more colorful setting than that of Ancient Persia. The more I do research into ancient customs and architecture and designs and musical styles, the more exciting it becomes. And, for me, it is just plain fun to go through the lists of Ancient Persian names and their meanings to decide what fits each new character. That's when those characters become real to me. They suddenly get a life force of their own and I get inspired by the energy of their emerging personalities.
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"Parizade's Quest" is about re-uniting a family that had been torn apart. In that respect, I suppose this story has a LOVE element, but it is NOT a Romantic LOVE STORY.
"Dress This House" is sung by Parizade (who doesn't know yet that she is the lost princess) as she instructs her servants to get her house ready for a visit from the Sultan.
Kids love portraying characters that have individual names and some sort of back stories. Who wouldn't? There is nothing very exciting about being Guard #6, Servant #3 or Dancer #5. It is much more satisfying to portray a character with a name and a reason for being - at least for part of the time. I try very diligently to give each child a named character for their feature role and then have them fill in additional Ensemble parts.
This plan does not always work, but I continue to try, nonetheless. Why write for a just a generic Troupe of Gypsy entertainers, when you could create Barim who plays the guitar, Mona and Nadia who dance, Jamileh who tells fortunes, Ghalandar who does magic tricks, and Najid who has a trained dancing Bear named Bobak. I give the children a little information concerning their characters and hope that feeds their interest to go on a fill out more of the BACKSTORY for themselves.
Where this story, actually titled "The Story of the Speaking Bird" (in the translation I found) follows just a few main characters, a Children's Theater piece needs to be expanded to tell the story through dialogue, action, songs and dances involving many characters. That gives me the opportunity to create and name many new and unique characters.
I love stories that come from exotic historical settings. There is such a richness in the cultures and languages of these places. And there is no richer or more colorful setting than that of Ancient Persia. The more I do research into ancient customs and architecture and designs and musical styles, the more exciting it becomes. And, for me, it is just plain fun to go through the lists of Ancient Persian names and their meanings to decide what fits each new character. That's when those characters become real to me. They suddenly get a life force of their own and I get inspired by the energy of their emerging personalities.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Parizade's Quest" is about re-uniting a family that had been torn apart. In that respect, I suppose this story has a LOVE element, but it is NOT a Romantic LOVE STORY.
"Dress This House" is sung by Parizade (who doesn't know yet that she is the lost princess) as she instructs her servants to get her house ready for a visit from the Sultan.
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