Who in their right mind tries to put on a 40 minute play with 60+ third graders?  I’m pretty sure my poor student teacher is questioning my qualifications tonight as she has survived our first rehearsal with everyone today.  The only problem with having a grade level play is having it split among three different classes and having to rehearse without two thirds of your cast every day.  Then within two days, you take the three parts and put them together knowing that the first day will be organized chaos.

There was no way we were going to do a full run today without working out logistical problems first.  Where are the props, do we have enough room for the circle dances, how will we get the mummies past the kid passing the boxes to build the pyramid – you know, the usual stuff.  In the meantime, you have to keep everyone busy and somewhat engaged so that when you want to rehearse a number you’re not having to gather everyone together again.

And then there’s dealing with the excitement.  “I’m so excited!”, “can I wear my hat now?”, “can I take my mask home?”, “are these real risers?”.  There’s a fine line between too much energy and not enough energy and either one can ruin a performance, so having enough rehearsals to make sure everything works but not to the point where it becomes old hat is key.  After 30 years of doing this kind of thing, I usually find the sweet spot but that usually means that one rehearsal is going to be just a little bit chaotic.

I’m sure to the untrained eye that it looks like I have no idea what I’m doing and that it’s going to be a mess.  I was told today by someone who was watching the kids that they couldn’t believe how much stuff I was having to do at once but that’s just the nature of the beast.  While one child is asking about their lines or a costume, another child is messing around on the risers, while I’m correcting a student who hasn’t gotten their mouth close enough to the mic to be heard, while I’m adjusting the volume and teaching a shy little thing how to hit the giant gong just right.  But I can guarantee you, it will make for an entertaining show.

So to go back to the original question, who in their right mind would do this kind of thing?  It does seem a bit on the masochistic side, trusting 8 and 9 year olds to learn lines and remember where their spots are and not try to push each other off of the risers, but it’s watching their faces and hearing their excitement when the final performance happens that makes it ok in the end.  One of my little guys who came up to me twice today to tell me he was “so excited” is a student who normally struggles in my classroom but he has embraced his role wholeheartedly and is loving it.  I typically find that my class clowns and those usually disruptive kids are my best actors, not being afraid to step outside their comfort zone and do a little over the top acting.  After all, there’s nothing like hearing people laugh because you’re funny.  It can truly build a kid’s self-esteem.

Tomorrow we get to run this thing three times within ten hours.  By the time it hits the parents tomorrow night, whatever happens happens.  We’ll do the best we can and enjoy our time singing, dancing and acting together.  It will be a far cry from the seemingly chaotic rehearsal that happened today but it was just as I expected it would be.  Now I just have to reassure my student teacher that yes, all of this will come together and she’ll be great as well.