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 am I right? The kids were given five seemingly harmless props at a time to brainstorm ways they could use them to kick the bucket. From putting peanut butter on a mask and sticking it to someone with an allergy to writing a death curse in a teensy little book, we had many creative ideas sprout from games of “Death By.” The kids were even happier to go up to demonstrate their friends’ methods of murder.
After that, we brainstormed lines. I worked with another counselor to take down the kids’ ideas for how they wanted to tell each part of the story. I made sure to take careful notes, so each kid could get their vision in the script. We submitted our findings, and right after lunch, the full script was made! I could immediately recognize some of the lines as ones that I took down on my clipboard! Thus, we had the full show ready.
The end of Wednesday may have been the most exciting part though because we got costumes! While Breona and I ran through blocking with the kids, the other counselors searched through the storage to find outfits matching each kid’s vision for their monster. At the end of the day, they showed off what they had collected, and the kids chose their exact pieces the next day. My favorite costumes would have to be the two white dress ghost costumes; they were so flowy and elegant. Let me know which costumes you like from the picture below though!
Thursday was mostly just focused on putting the show together. We combined the blocking and choreography, and a dress rehearsal came in the afternoon. Even though it was tricky getting some of the lines at first, the kids did a great job fitting the pieces together pretty quickly.
Of course, more games came as well! The counselor I ran pre-lunch games with had to leave for the last two days, so I was left to take charge. Without fail, every day, the kids begged for Statues. The people playing the statues have to move around without the two “security guards” catching them. If anyone has watched the Night at the Museum series, Statues feels like you’re in that.
We had a variety of fun games introduced throughout the week, but one of the hardest was surprisingly a game called Heartbeat. Everyone sits in a circle holding hands, and one person sends out heartbeats through hand squeezes. Once your hand is squeezed, you squeeze the hand next to you in that direction. We could never get the correct number of heartbeats back to the game master, but it was still a great focus game!
We also constructed the set! Actually, the kids did most of the work. One counselor made a big town sign, and the kids took the first half of Thursday to draw ads and pictures for Spookytown. We then filled the wall with all the fun artwork!
After some last rehearsals and games on Friday, the doors opened for the show! Parents sat down to watch our show, curated only in a small week. The final show was definitely the best run of them all; it was magical to see how much every camper had learned in just five days.
And of course, this thrilling week ended with the best task of all: taking out the trash bags. In all seriousness though, this week was such wicked fun, and I was so grateful to be part of the process! I was able to brush up on some of my director skills from Annie Kids as well as learn some new teaching strategies! How to unlock the kids’ proper energy, how to regain the group’s focus, how to handle a meltdown: it was all there! I also got to learn more about kids’ different interests especially through our lunch conversations, so those will be kept in mind as well for my own show!
Tomorrow, I’ll start my second internship at Childsplay in Tempe! I can’t wait to see what fun is in store next!
Take a few days till next post.
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