Summer drama camp season is upon us. It begins next week. Why am I agonizing?
First, the powers that be at our church are having power play issues. Two different departments, Music and Children, are arguing about whose turf this camp is on. Guess who gets stuck in the middle? Yep, me, the Director.
Second, I got pushed into doing a specific play. I had little say in the matter. The problem, is that the play sucks, it's absolutely awful. It was written by a local lady and the one that pushed me into it.
I've spent the past four years building this camp to be a full-on broadway style camp. I teach the kids everything, from set design, prop making, costume making, choreography, etc. This has become one of the most popular and most requested children's camp and I'm extremely proud of it. usually. Not so much this year.
It's difficult for me to get excited about having kids perform something that is sub-standard. The lady that wrote it is planning on sending this off to a publishing house. They're gonna rip it to shreds in it's current state.
Here's a couple of examples of what bothers me:
1. She makes jokingly makes references to prozac and bulimia. Not the subjects of choice for elementary children. I've already stated that I will not have those in this play. I really don't feel up to explaining in detail what those are to the kids. I find this especially inappropriate at a church camp. I'm not going to go all preachy here, I think you know what I mean.
2. No big production numbers. There isn't one time that the kids can get up and sing and dance together.
3. The level of vocabulary is way too advanced. This is not geared enough for the elementary crowd. It doesn't need dumbing down, just simplification.
There's a lot more where that came from, but I'll stop for now or I'll get all riled up again. If I could bow out of this play gracefully, I would. It's my reputation at stake here too you know.
The positives? Set design is cool as well as the props. I'm still working on the costumes.
Onward to the important stuff!
I know that I promised to show you a glimpse of this on Saturday, but when I promised, it was on a Friday, and I had no idea what day it was. I have lost all track of days now that school is out. And I was right too, it's completely balanced after blocking!
Anyway, here, as promised is the spinning FO.
Turned out pretty huh? Click to enlarge
Here is the state of the current knit, Elizabeth Zimmerman's February baby sweater:
The Terracotta Cardigan
You do NOT have to do her play. Even if you're the director shouldn't the material be approved on by a committee, or at least approved by several parents? Maybe you could tell the lady that you need to use a previously published play for content approval, etc. and that once hers has been published and previewed that you can use it for another year. Shame on her for being a bully. Hey, maybe a play on that topic would work... then again, the message would probably be lost on her. The yarn is gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, depression and eating disorders are *completely* unknown among churchgoers ...
ReplyDeleteThey might not be unknown to churchgoers, but do children really need to know about these things?
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've seen there are different types of eating disorders. Some are born with it and fight with it for the rest of their lives. The other is learned. I'm trying to prevent the learned eating disorder. I don't think it's healthy to a child to explain to him/her what bulimia is.
Children are highly susceptible to ideas, good or bad. I've come across children as young as the first grade who are worried that they are fat. They heard it on home and tv.
If I put the idea in their head that they can go home and purge it all out and to become thinner, do you think that I have done them a service?