Center Stage Youth Theatre

Posts Tagged ‘Costumes’

This week as school ended I packed up and an brought to my new house my entire stock of costumes,  books,props and teaching materials that I had transfered here with me from VT.  The school grows shorter and shorter on storage space and I am just as happy to have these dear things home with me where I can keep them organized and close by, now that I have a garage and a giant FROG to keep them all in.  It feels good, and I can’t help but think that I will be better off having them all here in one place where I can know where everything is and not have to worry if I can remember where a specific piece was put.  Feels good.

I admit this was a frustrating week for me.  I found it hard to keep the kids engages, and this made everything we were doing that much more tricky.  We are trying to prepare a song for the awards ceremony as well as getting all the kids dressed in costumes in order to create the photos that will make up our Alice in Wonderland Montage.

I wonder at my frustrations – and at what was going on.  The kids, I truly think, have got summer on their minds in a  big way; speaking to other teachers I hear this is absolutely the way all kids react to this time of year.  And it is interesting, and a very big lesson learned on my part, that rather than finding our very special guys to be less susceptible to peer pressure, vacations coming up, and social conventions like dating – I had thought they would be oblivious for some reason! – our students in many cases feel a heightened awareness of these situations, struggle mightily with them, and are very harsh in judging  themselves concerning their levels of success or failure.

We are buzzing along with preparations for our music/photo montage.  Well, maybe buzzing along is not the right term – there are many bumps each day and my co-teacher and I often have to rush to intervene before conflict occurs -  lol – but we are certainly busy creating now, at last.  the kids have made scenery this week, and just before the last bell Thursday we made and posted a HUGE piece of paper on the wall on which we will paint a backdrop of a forest scene – one of our very talented students designed the scene and we will transfer the picture to our giant paper.

I am a little sad that we will not have movement in the final project, but reason that we are taking our important steps slowly around here.  The children will learn about the creation of sets, costumes, make up and most importantly of all for many of them, using and understanding non verbal communication,  facial expression and body positioning to convey meaning and emotion in our photos.  They are already working together, smiling – for the most part – and chatting – so excellent!

I learn so much from them every day.

Right before we closed for winter break the kids and I spent the last 2 weeks playing more new games, but also working on things for the set and props and costumes for the show.  I was unsure how they would respond to these tasks, but as usual they showed themselves to be eager and quick learners – I think my favorite day was when I had them all working in pairs to construct the three new rolling clothes racks and the room was absolutely a-bustle with team work; I was so grateful to them!  I never could have gotten these things together in such a short time.  And watching and listening to them getting organized and down to work was interesting and informative for me,  and I think I was able to learn more about their different learning styles by observing them in action this way.  And I think they really liked being included in the show preparations; I was happy and proud to include them in the program.

Only 4 kids from Glenforest were onstage in the show  – every one of them did a wonderful job and I was terribly proud of them – but so many other people from Glenforest helped out.  The show truly did  feel like a school function in so many ways.  Thanks everybody.

In rehearsal things are winding up as we approach the Thanksgiving break.  And of course after we come back is when things will take off at a much quicker pace; the costumes and the set and the props will start coming in and as we move along the idea of the performances will get more and more real to the kids until they find that they are ready for opening night, almost without realizing it.

We have a stage manager now; a college student with a lot of experience behind and on the stage.  She is lively and a take charge kind of girl, which I love as I have not become any better at being a right brain person  since moving to SC, believe me!  and there have been parents coming out of the woodwork to help, and that is so wonderful.  Things are going well, and are right where I know they need to be.  If feels so good to be directing again.

This week I had an inspiration to ask that RYT lend us not only the costumes for TBCPE but the set as well.  I received permission for this, and now have the task of renting a truck which my eldest son will then load with the accoutrements of the Vermont production and drive them up here!

I am eternally grateful to my producer at RYT and the board for allowing this.  They are providing a great gift to my new group of students and – though they perhaps do not realize it – providing great comfort and peace of mind to me as well.  Thank you Rutland Youth Theatre; Cindi and Michele and Tom at the Paramount.  Thank You my darling son Ben.  I am so grateful for the gift of your help and generosity…

Center Stage Youth Theatre announces Auditions for Barbara Robinson’s The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Saturday October 16 and Sunday October 17 from 2:00 – 5:00 at Glenforest School on Harbor Drive in West Rutland.  There are parts for up to 50 children and teenagers ages 5 – 18, and no preparation or experience is necessary to audition.  Performances will be held in the Glenforest School Auditorium December 9, 10 and 12.  If cast, there is a $35 .00 fee per cast member or a $60.00 fee per family to help cover productions costs such as sets, costumes and script royaties.  For more information call Center Stage director Susan Scaccia at 803-206-4924, or email her at rssb1228@yahoo.com.

Swimmy by Leo Lionni is the subject of our K-2 class that begins September 13th at The Tri City Leisure Center is  West Rutland.

Here is Swimmy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0nRCrgPGY

One year in VT I had the very bright idea to make an entire school of fish costumes for this little show.  I used that neat looking pattern from a well known pattern house to cut out and begin to sew about ten costumes.
It was the only time i ever thought i would go absolutely out of my mind trying to create costumes.  I finally – and i have never told anybody this – threw the entire lot of them in the trash except for one big black nasty fish I had finished.  Though he was supposed to have been Swimmy, he was now scary enough to me to be the big fish that tried to eat them all.

Eeek!  A costume nightmare.

The costumes have been reconceptualized much more simply.  Red hats and gloves, black hat and gloves.  And one big nasty nightmarish giant fish.

I am hoping to get the rights for Barbara Robinson’s hilarious play about the true meaning of Christmas, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever for Center Stage’s first show this December.  I need to get the go ahead from Glenforest School and work out the scheduling for the auditorium, and then we can get started on this project with auditions in
October.

I have directed this show many times and it has become something of a tradition in the Vermont town I’m from.  I would love to see the same tradition started here.  It’s so much fun to see many of the same kids year after year in the show, playing different parts as they grow up into different roles and helping the new actors out with their parts.

To keep the show fresh I always added something new each year.  The challenge was a sweet one and we had some wonderful times making sometimes silly and sometimes poignant changes to the action.

It’s a great starter show too, as the costumes and set are very simple, and we can use 50 or more kids of all different ages.  And the messages the show tells are timeless and beautiful.   And so funny.

I scurried around town for a couple of hours today scrounging up inexpensive supplies and made a pretty good haul.  It feels good to be gathering things together that will be used to bring to life the ideas our littlest students will have for sets and costumes and props.

I keep thinking about what i want to use for the little show we will do.  My mind races to the really neat costumes and set pieces we have used in the past for this one, and then it hits me:  it’s all in Vermont.

So!  It’s time to start building Center Stage Youth Theatre from the ground up.

We’ve already got 9 students, 10 pairs of scissors, chalk and paintbrushes and i just know I’m going to find a good cheap source for tempera paint in the town any day now.  The kids will bring a snack, a water bottle and those shiny attitudes that come from being in kindergarten through third grade,  when everything in the world is still a possibility.

Let’s get going.  We’ve got a (little) show to do.