the absolute basics required to stage
your own plays at home, school
and in your community. . . without
incurring unreasonable
monetary expense or unwarranted blood
pressure increase.
Parts One through Seven
show the how-to basics of playmaking, from organizing a company and
selecting a script to assembling costumes and props, running rehearsals and
handling the production's technical aspects. Part Eight translates theory into
action by presenting three plays in detail from top to bottom.
Making plays with kids is a
simple, family-centered activity, a potent learning tool for children, a proven
method of helping children acquire vital social and communication skills - and
the absolute best way you'll ever find to feel like a kid again yourself!
A few words from L.E. McCullough, the author of
"Anyone Can Produce Plays With
Kids"
Hi.
There are several very good reasons why adults should
help kids create and put on plays.
Reason #1. It's
a simple, family-centered activity. And it's fun.
Reason #2. It's
a potent learning tool for children. And it's fun.
Reason #3. It's a proven method
of helping children acquire vital social and communication skills.
Oh, and it's also fun!
Do you detect a pattern here? Playmaking is first and
foremost one of the most purely !!!FUN!!! activities you'll ever enjoy
with children.
Creating short dramatic works to perform in the house
or yard is easy and entertaining.
Playmaking inspires kids to learn more about their
world. It improves literacy and encourages cooperation and
responsibility while stimulating the exercise of imagination.
Everyone has to work together to achieve the goal of
making the play "happen", thus, everyone's effort is important.
Best of all, playmaking allows children to express
themselves in positive ways that receive immediate and spontaneous approval from
adults and peers alike, which is crucial to nurturing long-lasting self-esteem.
By age four most children have already grasped a lot of
the skills necessary for acting; they can memorize, they can mimic, they can
dance and sing and easily project themselves into identities outside their own,
i.e. "pretend". Even toddlers, if there are older children to guide
them, can be incorporated into the action with a "walk-on role" that
involves limited speaking.
Playmaking allows parents and children to achieve a
"good goal" together. Parents get to see their children at their most
vibrant and creative. Children get to excel for their parents, and they become
more self-motivated and self-reliant, especially in terms of socializing with
other children.
By going through the process of creating and
interpreting a play for an audience - even if the audience is only the family -
parents and children learn to listen to each other better.
Playmaking permits families to "act out"
their feelings, their problems, their issues in a forthright manner that is
non-threatening because it is a play, and as such can be examined from a
safe emotional distance.
Writing a play about a problem may not resolve the
problem, but it does get people talking, and that's the first step toward a
solution.
And putting on plays with kids doesn't have to be a
hassle. The plays my family and friends performed when I was a child had no
costumes or scenery whatever, but our sense of wonder and enjoyment was never
diminished one whit. Every playmaking group should exercise maximum creativity
toward making the play their own. Preparing for the play is usually as much fun
as actually doing it, sometimes more.
Oh, yes, we were talking about reasons to produce plays
with kids. If you're not convinced by the weight of empirical evidence set forth
so far, how about this purely selfish motive:
Playmaking is the absolute
best way you'll ever find to feel like a kid again yourself.
And, it's non-fattening.
Now, roll up your sleeves, learn those lines and
break a leg!
L.E. McCullough, Administrative Director
Humanities Theatre Group
Indiana University-Purdue University at
Indianapolis
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