Broadway Plays in The Living Room

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Kids love playing grown-up. That’s why they’ll enjoy staging plays at home.

“Daddy, can I be the director?”

“No darling. You’ll look after the script and make sure your brothers and sisters say their lines correctly.”

Kids enjoy the not-so-ordinary, so they will love moving furniture around, transforming the living room and dining room into a stage. Everybody has a part to play so you will print the script and give them copies. What a pity you don’t have clipboards. Preparations for the home drama might involve covering windows with black cloth for the make-shift stage. That will excite even sulking teenagers. Do they ever smile? Never mind.

Drama is storytelling and storytelling is about life. Your kids will grow up and work in corporate Canada or U.S. They will be expected to tell stories i.e. make presentations before management, workshops or conferences. Some will become fashion models, win beauty contests like Miss Anonymous, become famous actresses and be labeled ‘celebrities’.

REHEARSAL

Tell kids that stage plays at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, London West End, Broadway or Market Theatre in Johannesburg need the following, before a play opens to the public: a script, actors, director, stage manager, costumes, lighting, music director, sound people, make-up artists, costumes etc.

It might look like a lot of fun to kids, but it’s about responsibility. Who does what, when and how. That is what work is all about.

Stage Management

What room can you turn into a stage? Where will you get chairs and where do you put them? Where will you put lights? This is a challenge in an apartment or flat, and easier in a double-storey because the ‘audience’ can sit on the stairs. Hey! Can you use the garage? The director must also decide which side actors enter and exit the stage.

Costumes

This is the fun part because it means raiding the basement to find old clothes. Many families keep clothes in suitcases and boxes because they don’t have basements.

Before Cellphones

Kids too young to have cellphones will enjoy the responsibilities of staging a play in the living room. All is lost once they have phones. They are completely hallucinated by Tik Tok drama and funnies.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Blogger Without Borders

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