A grand experiment

April 2, 2015

by April Cochran

Market House Theatre Education Director 

Footlights had their performances this weekend...three shows put on by Early Elementary, Upper Elementary and Middle school troupes (we really MUST come up with zippier names for them...I’m open to suggestions!) This year was a grand experiment...for the first time, we opened our Footlights enrollment to kindergarten students.  

Katie and I realized we had created a disconnect between preschool PlayShops and Footlights (which formerly was open to grades 1 and up).  I had previously taken a few outgoing kindergarten kids on a case by case basis- but this year we formally added that grade to Early Elementary.  Which worked fairly well - until we hit the performance session.  It’s a huge challenge to rehearse a show when a good third of the actors can’t read, tire easily and reaaaaaaalllly are not fans of rehearsing the same bits over and over as one does when perfecting a performance! I learned to switch things up a lot! But the biggest challenge - learning their cues!  

The kids really did a super job of learning their lines...but knowing when to say them was beyond many of them.  Heck - that’s a hard thing for many adults to grasp, much less a 5 year old!  Thus - I added three of my wonderful teaching assistants into the show.  The beauty of the script we used (“Once Upon a Shoe’) is that everyone is onstage virtually all the time.  It was fairly simple to insert three large “kids” into the mix - spread out among the group.  Those three TAs (Hadley Pierce, Martha McHaney and Kathryn Johnston) had approximately 1/3 of the cast as their responsibility.  They memorized which one of their charges had a hard time remembering when to speak and would simply reach over and either touch, nod or nudge the young actor to remind them it was their turn.  Eventually - most of the young actors learned their cues without the reminders, but their backups were in place in case of distractions. And being in a show on a large stage with bright lights and a packed audience is definitely a BIG distraction!

Show time!  Excitement!  Nerves! 

“I can’t do this!”  

“I have to go to the bathroom” 

“My costume’s not where I put it”  

Eyes shiny with unshed tears, bouncing kids in their backstage chairs....

I was about as nervous as they were.  Dress rehearsals had gone very well, and if the kids could just ignore the audience they would be awesome.  But could they restrain their urge to shade their eyes and peer out in search of moms and dads?  Would they glance out - see the hundreds in attendance and freeze up?

They...were....awesome!  Their performance Saturday afternoon was nothing short of magical.  Virtually every voice rang out with confidence and clarity!  We had worked hard on projection and gesturing...and we had both in abundance.  I was so proud of those young actors who gave it their all!  And not a single “Hi mom!” in sight!

All three of the FOOTLIGHTS troupes did a super job.  I am very proud of each and every one of them!  But I am especially proud of the 35 kindergarten through 3rd graders who entertained their friends and families with such confidence and spirit!  I hope to see ALL of our Footlighters back for our next session which starts April 11.