Going to professional theater shows, I am always amazed when the shows have interesting staging. Scenes with big movement or dancing and also intimate moments of calm. The give and take of movement depends of course on the pacing of the script. It's no secret that variety in movement helps keep the audience engaged.
So what happens if the show is static with hardly any variety of movement at all?
Whenever I plan a Children's Theater piece, I try to build in times of movement or dancing, and also change up the number of actors on the stage through the scenes. I really try to write in opportunities for variety in the staging. Much of how people write for stage comes from tried and true formulas, but directors know to try to add fresh ideas as much as they can with the talent available.
However, sometimes your best ideas can be ambushed when reality sets in. A man came up to me after the "No Time for Monkey Business" show last week and gave me kudos for even attempting to get 10-year-old boys to do choreography. He said that was probably the least capable demographic to expect polished movement. Then he added that he knew this from his own experience. (Guess he was once a 10-year-old boy in a show with dancing. However, these three boys did pretty good compared to some of the others in this cast. I had very few "triple threats" in this show!)
As I was writing "No Time for Monkey Business," I had visions of lots of dancing and variety in the blocking of each scene. But as we were working on dance steps, it became obvious that these children could barely do the basics. They could step and march in place, from side to side, and front and back. That was basically it. They could possibly do some gestures as well, but not necessarily at the same time as moving their feet and rarely keeping the beat.
We also had kids who really had trouble wandering all over the stage. So I resorted to drawing chalk X's on the patio floor labeled with their names. (I've never had to do that before!) This was probably the most static show I have ever done. Maybe future productions of this show can be better filled with movement.
The most adventurous attempt at choreography was with the Hyena's song. We worked with the kids to learn a basic "cha cha" step. The girl who played the Hyena did very well, and the kids behind her looked like they had fun trying. I guess that was the main point after all.
So what happens if the show is static with hardly any variety of movement at all?
Whenever I plan a Children's Theater piece, I try to build in times of movement or dancing, and also change up the number of actors on the stage through the scenes. I really try to write in opportunities for variety in the staging. Much of how people write for stage comes from tried and true formulas, but directors know to try to add fresh ideas as much as they can with the talent available.
However, sometimes your best ideas can be ambushed when reality sets in. A man came up to me after the "No Time for Monkey Business" show last week and gave me kudos for even attempting to get 10-year-old boys to do choreography. He said that was probably the least capable demographic to expect polished movement. Then he added that he knew this from his own experience. (Guess he was once a 10-year-old boy in a show with dancing. However, these three boys did pretty good compared to some of the others in this cast. I had very few "triple threats" in this show!)
As I was writing "No Time for Monkey Business," I had visions of lots of dancing and variety in the blocking of each scene. But as we were working on dance steps, it became obvious that these children could barely do the basics. They could step and march in place, from side to side, and front and back. That was basically it. They could possibly do some gestures as well, but not necessarily at the same time as moving their feet and rarely keeping the beat.
We also had kids who really had trouble wandering all over the stage. So I resorted to drawing chalk X's on the patio floor labeled with their names. (I've never had to do that before!) This was probably the most static show I have ever done. Maybe future productions of this show can be better filled with movement.
The most adventurous attempt at choreography was with the Hyena's song. We worked with the kids to learn a basic "cha cha" step. The girl who played the Hyena did very well, and the kids behind her looked like they had fun trying. I guess that was the main point after all.
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