Center Stage Youth Theatre

Posts Tagged ‘New Year’

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.

Welcome to 2011 everybody!  Wow – 2010 ended for Center Stage in a whirlwind of activity as we mounted our first big show…The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.  As I have directed this one now 8 times – and still love it every bit as much – the actual show was not a mystery to me but the process of getting the show up and running here in my new home town was quite an adventure.  But folks came absolutely out of the woodwork to help, and the feeling of joy I think people felt as we all worked together to help the kids shine was wonderful.  I am extremely grateful, and I very much look forward to our continuing adventure as we approach the rest of the season: classes, a musical in the spring, summer camps and Shakespeare this summer.

Here we go!

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.