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Friday, June 7, 2019

Rag-a-Muffin Players by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

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