Red Butte Garden Summer Theater Camps

During June, my daughter Cami directed two of my Children's Theater productions at Red Butte Gardens in Salt Lake City.  The camps are each just one week long, so the material had to be short and manageable.  She did "Stone Soup" with a group of 7-10 year olds and "The Ants and the Grasshopper" with 4-6 year olds.  As you can see, the living wall in the "Orangerie" was a beautiful backdrop for the show.  

The children provided their own costumes and helped create their own props and scenery. Here the Ants march in carrying their enormous corn kernels.

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Each show needed to tie in with nature because the camps are associated with the Gardens. So of course, the instructors wove learning about "nature" as the children learned their songs, dances, and lines.  It was a lot to master in just 5 days!  They also colored giant autumn leaves and glittered huge snowflakes!

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I actually got to watch the second show.  The little children were delightful.  They sang and danced and delivered their lines amazingly well for having so few actual hours of practice time.  

They met for three hours Monday through Friday and had to learn three main songs and two dances.  They also had to have time for doing their crafts and learning about nature and playing at recess. So, they probably only got eight hours of actual rehearsal time.  

The message of the story is to plan ahead like the Ants do in gathering food all summer so that they have enough stored for the winter.  The Ant Queen tells the shivering Grasshopper (who desperately wants a place to stay during the winter) that "You can either play now and pay later, or pay now and play later. Either way you'll have to pay!" (John Maxwell quote) The Ants invite the Grasshopper to entertain them while they dance and play all winter.  He learns that the Ants drive a hard bargain!  After playing the ukulele for them all winter, he decides that he will make sure he always plans for the future!

Kudos to the kids!  They did a great job!

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