Pageant report.
Dec. 7th, 2008 10:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaToday was the first rehearsal for the Christmas pageant.
There was surprising late drama over the casting, involving a couple of kids who had their hearts set on being specific animals but did not tell me so. I think everyone has voluntarily traded around for parts they like. I have a nice big group of actors, six preschool doves, and five members of the big kids' chorus - possibly about to expand again, if a group of girls whose grandfather brings them to church are able to commit to the play.
Let me say straight-up that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, directing a pageant. I don't know what you're supposed to do at rehearsals. I'm totally winging it. Here's what we did today:
When the kids arrived, I fed them donuts and handed around scripts. We sat the whole group in a big circle and read through the script together so that everyone got to hear the whole thing and started to be familiar with the verses of the carol. The kids did a beautiful job of the read-through - I expected it to be stumbling and awkward, but they were already putting expression into their voices. The Donkey, our lone 7th grader, did particularly well. Which is why I asked her to be the donkey.
After the read-and-sing-through, we divided up.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
acceberskoorb volunteered to take the doves (the preschool chorus) off to another room to practice flying and singing. This apparently went well and was a lot of fun, at least for the kids. (Maybe not for acceberskoorb.) My helper mom was familiar with the carol, so I asked her to take the big kids' chorus into the nursery to sing. I was left with the speaking-part actors. We talked for a couple minutes about each character, now that the kids had had a chance to see the script, and then we did a walk-through of the spoken scenes, reading the lines and moving around appropriately. The cows and sheep insisted on being on their hands and knees, and I let them do it but explained that they would need to stand for the real performance. (Because they delivered their lines to the floor, as I knew they would.)
While we were rehearsing, my scenery guy and his upper-elementary-age helper made a model stable out of construction paper so that we could see what they have in mind. I was blown away. It was awesome. Also, the big kids' chorus learned the tune of "The Friendly Beasts" to the point that they no longer needed the mom's help, and the doves perfected their flying and learned the first two lines of "Silent Night." I asked each dove parent to practice singing "Silent Night" at home.
Next week, we'll try to get it all blocked out, and we'll work on delivering lines with the proper pauses and emphases, being loud, and facing the audience. I think we'll probably go through it all together again, and then split up again - that worked well. Or maybe we'll do it the other way around. For the third rehearsal, I'm going to ask all the kids to have their lines memorized.
I've arranged to have one parent there for "crowd control" each time, but I was impressed with how well the kids paid attention and how quiet they were when they weren't speaking. That probably won't last, right? But they were all really serious and intent. I think they're excited and want to be part of a good play. Or maybe they were all just lured into a sugar coma by the three dozen donuts I provided.
I got some nice compliments from parents, about the script. And some "my God, I can't believe how pregnant you are and you're still doing a pageant" comments, which I suppose are par for the course.
For each rehearsal until the play, I have one parent assigned to bring food and one parent assigned to be a general helper. I have a squadron of costume-sewers and at least two animal-headdress-makers and a prince of a guy who is not only willing to make a stable backdrop, but is willing to let kids help him. I have a mom who is willing to work with the singers. Unfortunately, my teen accompanist just found out that her parents have booked them to travel for Christmas, so I need to come up with another accompanist. Hopefully that won't be too hard.
There was surprising late drama over the casting, involving a couple of kids who had their hearts set on being specific animals but did not tell me so. I think everyone has voluntarily traded around for parts they like. I have a nice big group of actors, six preschool doves, and five members of the big kids' chorus - possibly about to expand again, if a group of girls whose grandfather brings them to church are able to commit to the play.
Let me say straight-up that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, directing a pageant. I don't know what you're supposed to do at rehearsals. I'm totally winging it. Here's what we did today:
When the kids arrived, I fed them donuts and handed around scripts. We sat the whole group in a big circle and read through the script together so that everyone got to hear the whole thing and started to be familiar with the verses of the carol. The kids did a beautiful job of the read-through - I expected it to be stumbling and awkward, but they were already putting expression into their voices. The Donkey, our lone 7th grader, did particularly well. Which is why I asked her to be the donkey.
After the read-and-sing-through, we divided up.
acceberskoorb volunteered to take the doves (the preschool chorus) off to another room to practice flying and singing. This apparently went well and was a lot of fun, at least for the kids. (Maybe not for acceberskoorb.) My helper mom was familiar with the carol, so I asked her to take the big kids' chorus into the nursery to sing. I was left with the speaking-part actors. We talked for a couple minutes about each character, now that the kids had had a chance to see the script, and then we did a walk-through of the spoken scenes, reading the lines and moving around appropriately. The cows and sheep insisted on being on their hands and knees, and I let them do it but explained that they would need to stand for the real performance. (Because they delivered their lines to the floor, as I knew they would.)While we were rehearsing, my scenery guy and his upper-elementary-age helper made a model stable out of construction paper so that we could see what they have in mind. I was blown away. It was awesome. Also, the big kids' chorus learned the tune of "The Friendly Beasts" to the point that they no longer needed the mom's help, and the doves perfected their flying and learned the first two lines of "Silent Night." I asked each dove parent to practice singing "Silent Night" at home.
Next week, we'll try to get it all blocked out, and we'll work on delivering lines with the proper pauses and emphases, being loud, and facing the audience. I think we'll probably go through it all together again, and then split up again - that worked well. Or maybe we'll do it the other way around. For the third rehearsal, I'm going to ask all the kids to have their lines memorized.
I've arranged to have one parent there for "crowd control" each time, but I was impressed with how well the kids paid attention and how quiet they were when they weren't speaking. That probably won't last, right? But they were all really serious and intent. I think they're excited and want to be part of a good play. Or maybe they were all just lured into a sugar coma by the three dozen donuts I provided.
I got some nice compliments from parents, about the script. And some "my God, I can't believe how pregnant you are and you're still doing a pageant" comments, which I suppose are par for the course.
For each rehearsal until the play, I have one parent assigned to bring food and one parent assigned to be a general helper. I have a squadron of costume-sewers and at least two animal-headdress-makers and a prince of a guy who is not only willing to make a stable backdrop, but is willing to let kids help him. I have a mom who is willing to work with the singers. Unfortunately, my teen accompanist just found out that her parents have booked them to travel for Christmas, so I need to come up with another accompanist. Hopefully that won't be too hard.
