Cynthia noticed a group of children ‘performing’ without a real story. The children asked her to make a curtain for their work. Cynthia (on step stool with arms extended over her head for longer than she liked!) taped two fabric panels to the ceiling.
The play expanded explosively.
Raven walks to the empty chairs and pretend speaks with a formal posture. She runs backstage. Each child is introduced and dances and sings out from behind the curtain. While performing, they are each singing a different song and dancing individually.
Amy and Cynthia met with this group after reflecting that the performance didn’t seem to be about the performance at all. In fact, in the middle of the performance, the curtain fell and everyone broke character and stared out the window or sat on the floor with a book, the spell was broken.
Cynthia and Amy wondered if the backstage negotiations and the effect of revealing a suprise was more important to their play than the performance. They met with the group.
Cynthia asked the group to tell Amy about their performance.
Phoebe: “First we introduce the show, we take turns telling the people our names.”
Raven: “Introduce, tell names, go back behind the curtain.”
Bryce K.: “The curtain is so no one can see us. We hide.”
Raven: “When they are behind the curtain, they use it to dress up like ballerinas, wear pink shoes and clothes. I want a puppet show.”
Phoebe: “You can use the curtain for a puppet show.”
Raven: “You need a wall for a puppet show.”
Amy began a long discussion with the group about where to put the structure permanently in the classroom.
Ophelia: “You can’t do it outside ’cause there is just sky out there and you can’t hang a curtain from sky.” They agreed the curtain would hang in the rug area.
They discussed materials to use for the curtain:
Raven: “The curtain has to cover the shoes or they will see the costumes. It can’t be see through. The curtain is the most important thing, unless you want a puppet show.”
Bryce: “We could put a flower on the curtain.”
Phoebe: “We need fabric, green, red maybe. There are rainbows and flowers so it looks like you are outside.”
The children moved to the studio to draw their ideas for the curtain.
Amy and Cynthia are wondering if after the curtain is designed, they can share their ideas of adjustable height with Raven to accommodate a puppet show. How will this effect their design? And, if they are interested in putting on a show for an audience, why is all the interest and dialogue about backstage instead of the show? Is this group of children really interested in staging, or performance? We will meet again next week to view the drawings in different compositions.