Drama: Fall Term Summary

In the first term of the 2011/2011 school year, Drama Atelier was entirely focused on introducing concepts of storytelling and dramatic play. In a nutshell, saying “You’ve been play acting before, outside and in your classrooms. Here is an opportunity to do that in this special class, with more resources, and more time to focus.”

Only a handful of friends were in past Drama Atelier classes, so we took a step back from the large scale productions and complex plot devices we had worked up to, and focused on what’s at the core of dramatic play. Many friends who were on the younger and shyer side of things throughout last year now had the opportunity to be leaders amongst our large populous of new preschoolers. 

 I took constant notes during these sessions. I have gone through the crazy pile of papers to share some gems with you. Hopefully this paints a picture of how things went, and how your children began their drama adventures this school year. 

BILLY LAZROE & THE KING OF THE SEA

            We started every week with a fantastic Erica A. Kimmel book, called Billy Lazroe and The King of the Sea. Our school wide theme for this atelier term was “the Pacific Northwest.” This story takes place in and around Portland, but in the exotic world of the 1800s shipyards. Week after week, the children were drawn in by knowing the place and then hearing an incredibly nuanced adventure story. My hope was that this epic story, drawing on Greek mythology, would inspire them to create similarly complex plot lines in their dramatic play. It worked to varying degrees of success.

           I asked the children to summarize the Billy Lazroe story immediately after finishing it. Here are some surviving results.

Group 3:

Where: Portland, OR

When: The 1800s

What: The girl goes down to Davy Jones's locker. She maybe swam to Davy Jones's house. Someone is sleeping. Billy Lazroe is on the boat, trying to drive the ship. Billy is playing his music. Davy Jones comes up and talks to Billy. Billy gets pearls. In the end, Billy disappears.

Character List: Davy Jones

                      Billy Lazroe

                      Willamette

                      Dead Guys

Group 4:

Where: Portland, OR

When: April, 1885

What: Billy Lazroe is a sailor who works on a boat. He sings. Davy Jones comes up from the river. Davy sends up pearls. Billy buys a boat from the captain. There's waves. Davy Jones's huge hand comes up. There's dead sailors down in Davy Jones's locker. He sings again. Billy meets Davy's daughters. She's swimming and gets lost. She has no shoes on, but does have a necklace. It floats and goes on to the shore. Billy wakes up and holds on to the necklace. He talks to not-dead sailors. He leaves and his dog is all alone and sad. But he's not dead. He's on the sea.

Group 5:

Where: In the Pacific Northwest

When: A Long Time Ago
What: Beginning. He's in his house. He grows up to be a sailor. He sings a song..Davy Jones comes! Then he's looking at the pearls. Then shows the captain that he has the pearls, and the boat sails off. Middle: He jumps into the water. Then, he sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Then the sailors are in the locker. Pirates! Then Davy Jones's daughters come, and Williamette swims up. End: Billy comes up to air with a pearl. And she shows it to the other pirates. Billy then disappears. The waves are pushing the boat. The End.

FOCUSED, INTENTIONAL FREE PLAY

On the second or third day of the week, we started making intentional choices about characterization and setting within our free play. Here are some telling notes from those sessions.

Sofia: Grandma (does nothing)

Ursula: Mom (works at a store)

Sienna: Baby (1 month old)

Finley: Musician/Instrument Player (lives with family)

James: Dad (works w/computers)

Will: Dragon (Friendly). 

The dragon lives in the book area (dragon house). Baby, mom, grandma, and dad live in the house (castle). Instrument guy is there because the family hired him to play. 

Ursula, Sofia, and Sienna happily work in house, staying in character. Sienna just lies on the ground. James starts to wander. I ask him what's up. "Dad goes to work." Finley decides to build his own dragon house and to be the "dragon police." Halfway through, Sienna announces that she would like her character to be older so she can walk and talk a little. 

James goes about his business making eggs. Ursula and Anja, the "two moms," help him. Ursula picks up a stuffed doll "baby" and starts to take care of it. 

Finley, once again the "music player guy," wanders around the house banging on a drum. He then goes over to build a cabin on the family's property, continuing to bang on the drum. Anja eventually finds an apron, and takes over the cooking operation.

Finley comes back into the house. He picks up the lib of the soup pot with his toes and places it on the frying pan. This prompts a discussion with James about "how to cook things."

Ursula "shares the bed" with the baby.

I decide to visit as the uncle. I ask for a snack and a place to sleep. Anja tries to offer me some scrambled eggs, but James insists that "the eggs are for TOMORROW." They settle on grapes. I have some, and then pass them around. I yawn and say that I'm really tired, and the friends go about making a bed for me. James goes "Oh, you need a pillow!" and gets me one. 

I notice Anya trying to sneak away while I'm pretending to sleep. I ask her where she's going. "The bathroom," she says.

Another week:

PHASE ONE. Choosing characters.

Sydney: A princess. Named Julie. 3 yrs old. Her favorite food is oranges. She likes to twirl with dresses.

Sabine: Another princess. Belle. Sister of Julie. Favorite food is ice cream. Also likes to twirl with dresses.

Lana: A horsie. Sometimes a flying unicorn. Her favorite food is grass. She is a very happy horse. She is white and brown.

Olivia: The girl on the phone. She is 3 1/2 years old. Her favorite food is carrots, and cucumbers, and quesadillas.

Monica: A baby. Named Clarabelle. She is a 1-scratch that- 2 yr old girl. Cupcakes are her favorite food. She is a happy baby. She loves to drink lemonade. She likes to wear pink. She doesn't like getting boo boos or tooting. She likes to sleep and does not like to cry.

Malia: A unicorn. Named Unicornio. It is a 4 1/2 yr old big kid unicorn. Its favorite good is egg shells. It's a difficult uniorn. But a happy one. It loves to drink orange juice. She doesn't like pepper.

Ryder: A squirrel named Harry. It's 5 yrs old. Its favorite foods are cheese & chicken. Its a happy squirrel. A girl squirrel.

Kingston: The Daddy. Named Kingston. Is a 39 yr old daddy. His favorite foods are good things like vegetables. He likes to drink milk and water.

PHASE TWO:

The friends split off into their groups. Ryder B, Sydney, Sabine, Olivia, and Lana are in the house.
Monica, Malia, and Kingston are over in the "office" (block area).

Sydney recreates her costume exactly each day. Lana and Olivia are a dog and cat, though that is not what they decided to be originally.

Sydney and Sabine have veils.

Kingston and Malia announce "We need stethoscopes!!!"

I put on a the cd of a big thunder storm, and announce that we all need to make sure we can stay dry and cozy.

Sydney: I'm on storm watch!
Malia: Our office has a super good roof, so we can stay safe.
Lana: Protect the babies!
Sabine: We have swords to hit the storm away!
Malia: Did you know that Unicornio can make anything stop? I stopped the storm!
Sabine: Who wants some coffee? Who wand some cookies? Cookies and coffees....
Malia: MORNING SUNSHINE!!!

PHASE THREE: Friday.

Very quiet, focused play. Kingston and Malia reconstruct the "office" again, and Sabine volunteers herself to be the "patient." She lies down, and Kingston and Malia cover her in silks and gently tab her with the small wooden hammers. I am amazed with Sabine's monkish patience throughout the whole process.

Lana builds a very nice bed for her baby, as Sydney prances around in her extensive princess garb. Syndyey and Lana find some jewels on the shelf and declare them to me.

Lana: This one is lemon. This one is grape. This one is a meatball, probably, and this one is red noodles.

Sydney: Pssst. Patient Sabine! I see you!"

Kingston and Malia ask Sabine to spell her name. She starts, then the clipboard crashes down. They finish, then spell Monica's name, since Monica was our patient yesterday. Eventually, Lana and Sydney play a car.

Sydney is content to rule over the land as princess for ever and ever. She positively beams with delight at her role. She adds a leaf bracelet about half way through. Kingston builds himself an "office" on the side of the house. Malia takes it upon herself to be a unicorn assistant, and Monica joins in as the "patient." Meanwhile, Lana and Olivia become a dog and cat in the house. Ryder B. is happily cooking food for 20+ minutes.

Sabine is STILL lying on the doctor table.
Kingston and Malia start prank calling me.

Yet another week:

The Family woke up in the morning, because the phone rang. Mom gets up and makes breakfast. Mom helps everyone get ready for school.
Then the family goes to the bus stop. The bus comes, and then everyone gets on the bus except for mom.
They go to school, and uncle Maki is the teacher. He teaches them how to write their names.
After school, they find a payphone and call mom.
Mom is at home, with stuff for dinner. She says "Come home so we can all have dinner."
Peanut catches rain drops.
The family goes back to the bus stop and takes the bus home. When they get there, Mom has made dinner. Then they take a family portrait and go to bed:

Peanut and uncle Maki
Mom and Sister
Dad and Brothers

Also from this group's sesson:

WHAT is our house like? Pause, no answer.

Color? It's a pink house.

Big, small, or medium size? It's a big house.

What kind of things do we have to use? Spoons, forks, plates, beds. Tables and chairs. Clothes. Toys. Cars.

Is there anything unusual, or special, about our house? We have a treasure chest of jewels, a flower, and a kitty cat. Also, a nest with baby chicks in it.

Dad has an office and a car.

 CHARACTER CHOICES:

I ended up just sort of improvising my course of action, depending on the experience level of the group, and their enthusiasm towards the work. One group seemed very excited about more fantastical dramatic play (less mommy/baby play, more like fantasy/adventure story). So I had them choose characters to be and supply me with the details about the characters, to help them flesh out their own ideas.

One group:

RILEY: A princess. Named Riley. Loves to eat oat crackers. Can eat a lot. Can kiss her own foot.

CONNOR: A big robot. Named Big Rocks. Loves to eat rocks. Has shooters (but safe ones, only used against really bad guys). He has special green scales on his body. He can jump really high, all the way up the clouds.

EVERETT: BatmanSpiderman. That's his name. Black with red stripes, a web, and a cape. He can web-up guys. Lots of buttons on his cape. Can change outfits. Also loves to eat rocks. (It should be noted that Everett was seen dressed as this character with an original, non-corporate costume at the lantern walk!)

RYDER: A pirate who has a pirateship sailing in the water. Loves to eat chicken noodle soup and banana bread. Named Ryder. He has some jewels and treasure box of money and lobster claws.

TANUJA: Mermaid. Named Monkey. Loves to eat peanut butter and jam. (When asked by one of the other children if she is talking about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, she says "No way. Just peanut butter and jam." She can swim really fast.

OLE: A lion. The biggest lion in Africa. Named Bonzie. Loves to eat peanut butter and sort of...salad. He loves salad. He can jump really high in swimming pools.

VIJA: The director. No name.

The BatmanSpiderman and the lion are having a battle out in the woods. The mermaid and the princess hang out with Andrew. Then, they meet each other, and go to restaurant with the "Big King" (Andrew, apparently). We go into the castle to eat. Tanu says that the phone is ringing, answers it, and says we're busy.

I turn on the thunderstorm sounds. All the characters crowd into the house at Vija's insistence. Ole covers himself with a blanket to hide. Tanu starts cookin' food. Every makes many announcements. Ryder runs around screaming.

Everett: These are the most beautiful fishes. This killer whale is going RIGHT TOWARDS YOU!

Lost fragment of group 1's story:

Group 1 had more kids experienced with drama in their group, so they actually wrote and performed a story. Half of it was torn up and lost during a rehearsal. The first half appeared months later.

One day, in Washington, in October of 1984, in the fall, there was clock ticking loudly. And it struck 12. It was a dark night, and the moon was on the pumpkin. Then, a magic wand made the pumpkin talk. And a bridge, right next to the farm, flew away.

Thanks for reading! More from winter term coming very soon.