Danielle l's Senior Project Blog

Project Title: A Spoonful of Child Psych Helps the Curtains Go Up: Creating the Perfect Kids Jukebox Musical
BASIS Advisor: Vaneska Nelson
Internship Location: East Valley Children's Theater
Onsite Mentor: Breona Conrad, Artistic Director



Project Abstract

Drama is an excellent tool for child development as it hammers in creativity, responsibility, and cooperation. These are all useful traits for many fields in a student’s future, so developing a way to get all students in a school interested in and excited about theater arts would be helpful. My project will be to create my own perfect children’s jukebox musical. I will be interning at children’s theater learning facilities and programs, Childsplay and East Valley Children’s Theater. . I will also be researching child psychology and child education to truly understand the mind of a young performer. My goal is to create a musical that will stick with kids and inspire them to further pursue theater.

    My Posts:

  • “Like I’ve Sailed Into The Eye Of The Storm”: Getting to the Finish

    Hell0 there! Big news... I've finished my musical! I finished all the scenes and sent it to Breona. She had a few suggestions to enhance the script in terms of word choice like for example adding a Shakespearean word where there wasn't one. Overall though, she said the plot and writing were pretty great! I'm... Read More

  • What’s Wrong With Being Confident? (Well A Lot…)

    Hey, guys! There's a saying in theater that goes "have confidence, but not overconfidence when performing." Well, this week, I definitely had overconfidence. Since dialogue was coming pretty naturally for the other scenes, I thought I could finish the whole musical this week easily. Unfortunately, I began to hit some roadblocks which really frustrated me.... Read More

  • Scriptwriting: “Just Keep Dancing Through”

    Good morrow, readers! My scriptwriting is finally starting to get underway! Writing this script has been very fun, but it also comes with its challenges. I'll describe some of the main things that I have to face below. One, line length. Lines in anything production involving kids usually have to be kept pretty short. I... Read More

  • Fitting A Shoe To A Show (And By Shoe, I Mean Glass Slipper)

    Hello, viewer! In complete honesty, I did not make much progress on my musical this past week. Two things kept me busy. One was my last ever Science Olympiad tournament which was bittersweet since I had been in the club since 7th grade. The other was watching and being a part of Places! Production's Rodgers... Read More

  • How Can I Write My Musical When the Prince is Giving a Ball?

    One week more. Another week another destiny. Okay, that was a pretty dramatic Les Misérables reference, but in all seriousness, this week hasn't been as eventful. However, I do have way more progress to share now on the actual musical itself! Let's start with some changes that I alluded to last post. For one, a character... Read More

  • The Camp Arc: Camp #2, Pt. 2

    It was a T-Rexcellent week at Childsplay! Performing arts mixed with prehistoric merrymaking allowed for one great week of interning! In Dino Drama, we continued our daily schedule of stories, crafts, and transforming into dinosaurs. Thursday's picture book became very interactive. It was called The Mine-osaur, and it was about a greedy dinosaur having to... Read More

  • The Camp Arc: Camp #2, Pt. 1

    Happy Wednesday evening, my good audience member! I have shifted gears from Mesa to Tempe as I am now involved in two dino-mite camps at Childsplay! Driving up to Childsplay, I was lost at first. I was looking for either a small building or a theater reminiscent space. I was not expecting to pull up... Read More

  • The Camp Arc: Camp #1, Pt.2

    Just like that, my first week of camp was over on Friday! It was an exciting week filled with spooks, science, and singing! In order to put on a spooky play for kids, we needed to get them thinking about creative ways one could scare or perhaps even... murder one another! Yep, only in theater... Read More

  • The Camp Arc: Camp #1, Pt.1

    I've officially started my work as a counselor at East Valley Children's Theater! So much spine-chilling progress has been made over just two days. There are so many games sprinkled throughout the day. Every game has its own separate purpose: some are for focus, some for rhythm, some to get creative juices flowing. My favorite... Read More

  • Alright, Campers! (*Surprised Pikachu Face*)

    What is this feeling, so sudden and new? It could be my excitement since my shadowing of spring break camps starts tomorrow! Over the next two weeks, I will be going to East Valley Children's Theater and Childsplay respectively to intern at their facilities. I briefly touched on EVCT's camp in a previous blog, and... Read More

  • Agent Danielle, Mission: Creating a Children’s Musical

    Hello, showgoers! My musical is starting to come about more! The five categories have been finalized: Ancient Greece, Shakespeare, Around the World, Ballet/Opera, and Modern Broadway! A song has been picked for each as well! Here, I will attach the link to a Spotify playlist that will feature all the songs that will be included... Read More

  • We’re Going Back in Time to the First Performances to Get Theater on the Menu.

    Audience members, hold onto your foldable theater seats. I've started to lay the base ideas for my musical! There was difficulty deciding a theme. Aliens? Pirates? Animals? There were too many childhood niches to choose from. I then played with the category of "Historical Figures." I was thinking in the realm of Mr. Peabody and Sherman... Read More

  • The Kids Aren’t Alright

    Hello! My name is Danielle Lee and I’ll be performing my senior project “A Spoonful of Child Development Helps the Curtains Go Up.” Ok, the slate is over. Let’s get started. Yesterday, a kid undergoing a tough time came up to me after a rehearsal. All they said was, “I’m so happy,” with the biggest... Read More