Rag-a-Muffin Players by
Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
One
of my favorite activities in junior high school was being part of a children’s
theatre group called The Rag-a-Muffin Players in Clausen, Michigan.
Adult
actors from the Stagecrafters group ran the children’s theatre for a fee and
provided two directors: one with a
college degree in children’s theatre and the other in playwrighting.
Stagecrafters
put on productions of Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams and provided a
memorable workshop experience for young actors.
As
child actors, the rag-a-muffins did the following:
-auditioned
for plays written for children and acted in them (there were many street
scenes, so everyone had several parts)
-learned
about theatre make-up
-learned
about hairstyles for different parts
-learned
about lighting
-blocked
scenes so actors would not trip over props or each other and made maps for
stage hands to follow when setting up sets
-read
through plays to rehearse them
-painted
scenery and props
-participated
in director workshops
-attended
puppet shows to learn about the importance of voice in acting
-helped
publicize our plays with posters and school presentations
-performed
readers theatre with small books to practice pronunciation, learn new
vocabulary, and develop characters with voice alone
I
was occupied Thursday through Saturday and did homework after rehearsal till my
mother picked me up after work.
Almost
every young person in America would like theatre experience. Actors could run many of these workshops for
extra income on rented stages in community centers, churches, and perhaps
schools while offering reasonable rates to parents.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
