Anything Goes : Theatre Kids by Aaron W. Miller

I currently run a drama club at an after school program. At first, we did theater games, improvisation and I gave them a hand out of what an actor need to know and we discussed it as a group. The goal was to get them ready for a production. These kids are between 9 and 12 years old and have little to no experience. They wanted to do Cinderella, so I ordered a non-musical version that was intended for young actors. It was long, 3 acts, and the language was too difficult for them. So, I re-wrote the script with just the popular story, shortened it to 12 pages and added some comical moments. These kids have no attention span and get distracted easily. They fool around, talk when not on stage and never know when or where they are supposed to be. I am not looking for perfection, just presentable. It is extremely frustrating and the play goes up in less than 2 weeks.

In the end, though, you have given them some experience--more than they would have had without you. And you, in return, know something more about producing a show with that age of performers. You can either go into the next one fully prepared or decide not to ever produce such a show again. Admittedly, dealing with short attention spans can be very challenging, and with only 2 weeks left there isn't a great deal of restructuring you can impose upon them. For me, dealing with adolescents, there is a 2 week window of showing them how it all works. If you'd like some on going advice, tips, etc. please take a click over to my blog here: http://theatreartsteach.wordpress.com/