The Theatre Kids

I didn't get involved at all with theatre when I was in school. Sometimes the kids involved were labeled weird or dramatic. None of that really bothered me and I never teased anybody in theatre. It's more that it was just kind of a foreign thing to me. There was nothing that led me in that direction. As an adult, I kind of see the theatre kids with fresh eyes and think that I would have fit in there. It is a warm, welcoming, inviting place for all, free of judgment and bursting with creativity. I substituted a theatre class on Thursday and just want to say that it was AMAZING (emphasis on the zing)!!!

I keep thinking back to all the little things of the day. Each class had different improv exercises they worked on. The last class was doing half-life and a character emerged, Cleveland the Cow. "I'm Cleveland the Cow..." As we rotated through different exercises-onion, freeze, interpreter, hitchhiker and machine, Cleveland the Cow kept having a front and center roll. A plot began to develop. Carter the Caterpillar came on the scene and the two of them had a budding but school-appropriate romance brewing. The students were getting very creative with both the ways they incorporated Cleveland and Carter as well as the unfolding of a story of these creatures. When the student in charge for the day was exasperated about the overuse of Cleveland the Cow, students adapted and started saying, they were calling from Cleveland (in interpreter) or going to Cleveland in hitchhiker. As time went on, the students came up with a plan. First of all they would dress up like their teacher for his return next week. Also, they would refer to Cleveland and Carter but they would act like it's a popular show on TV and they would bring it up and talk about it a lot to see if the teacher catches on and how he responds. They panicked and asked if I was going to be able to keep the secret. Creative students were thinking of constructive and healthy ways to have fun and I had a blooming opportunity to destroy everything...but how does that reward healthy creativity? I thought they had a brilliant plan that endeared me to those students. I wish I could be a fly on the wall in that class on Monday. I would love to see everything unfold. If this is how one day in theatre goes, what would a whole year there look like?