Before we begin

Our drama club starts up again soon for the year. I've had several parents already ask me what play we're doing, and we haven't even sent sign-up sheets home. I'm emphasizing not choosing a play yet, for several reasons. One, the point is that it's a drama club, not what play we're doing. I want the kids to want to be a part of a group, not just get to put "MacBeth" on their college applications (though we may do that play yet). Also, I need to know how many kids are signing up before I can pick a performance. This is our third year of drama club, and it's quite popular, which I'm so happy about. I love working with the kids and listening to their viewpoints, as well as teaching them about speaking out, cheating toward the audience, and supporting each other instinctively. One of our happiest moments was when we saw a child correcting a prop that was going to get walked into. They did it quietly, not drawing any attention to themselves, simply because they saw it needed to be done. My husband and I high-fived each other later and mentioned it at the next meeting. That sort of "plugging in" to the group is exactly what we're always aiming for.

Instead of once a week, our group will be meeting twice, one day to do work on the stage and one day to work on monologueing, techniques, discussing skits.... I think the discussion time will really add a lot of dimension to the club, and hopefully it will be organized and insightful! Working on stage is absolutely crucial, of course, and the kids all love being on-stage (who doesn't?). But it's more chaotic, I think because it's so exciting to be up there, and the acoustics encourage loud voices. This is not a bad thing! But I'm looking forward to discussions when I don't have to keep one eye on how close people are to the edge of the stage.

Welcome!

Welcome to our Kids Drama Club blogsite. My husband and I lead a drama club at our elementary school, and I've found it very frustrating trying to look up exercises and monologues on-line. I've wanted to post the information I've gathered for some time now, so other people might have a place to look up everything I can think of to do with a drama club. I'll be posting the rest of this year's activities as we do them, as well as referring back to last year's club. We put on the play A Thousand Cranes last year, and it was just our first year. The kids did wonderfully, really emoting, and they learned a lot about teamwork, as well. This year, we'll be performing two plays, both themed around the idea of friendship and appreciating your own strengths.

This year's club has 20 members, all students 4th through 6th grade. Some of them are only interested in lights and set design, not acting on-stage. I think that's great, that they want to be a part of it, in a supporting role. Last year, the girl in charge of lights decided she wanted to act this year. Kids have a great deal of fun performing, and they naturally want to be praised for who they are.

Thanks for reading along, and I hope that you find the information here helpful.