Running Your Theater: Children in Shows

Children in Shows

Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Theater Administration
Forum Name: Running Your Theater
Forum Discription: General questions about how to make it work
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4742
Printed Date: 11/22/24 at 4:08pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Children in Shows

Posted By: Kyne
Subject: Children in Shows
Date Posted: 8/05/10 at 10:44am

I'm looking for suggestions on how to handle small children (12 and under) in "kid-heavy" shows such as Oliver! or "Wizard of Oz". At auditions, we made it clear that any young child that was cast in the show would need his or her parent with them (or some other guardian) throughout the rehearsal process at all times, but we would have child wranglers during the actual performances.

I'm fully aware that everyone's schedules are full these days, but, as many of you can attest, there is way too much to focus on when doing a production without the crew taking care of little ones that are dropped off so their parents have free babysitting. I completely understand that there is a lot of down time with theatre-it's the nature of things and for kids, it can be especially trying. We tried to have crafts and such to keep them busy during these times, but we still had complaints.

Questions for those of you who do community theatre productions with kids: Do you have an assigned crew member to basically babysit rather than expecting the parents to do so? Should the director-in the case of kid's shows-set up special rehearsals just for the kids (I only question this because it seems like parents have their child in a hundred different things these days-some priorities need set, I would think)? Or is it possible since these complaints came from those who this was their first experience with theater--that they are just not familiar with what is expected-even if they were told ahead of time?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated since we want all of those involved with our community theatre group to have a great time and continue to do shows with us, but I'm at a loss as to how to make sure the crew can focus on the particulars of a show that a paying audience will support and making sure that the "small" cast members are taken care of as well.

Thank you!

Replies:

Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 8/05/10 at 6:05pm

Maybe I'm wrong but it seems like it's asking quite a bit for a parent to be present during all rehearsals.

Posted By: Kyne
Date Posted: 8/05/10 at 8:29pm

Thank you for your post-this is what we are wondering. Are we too strict with expecting parents to be there and should we consider assigning a crew member to the children.

Thanks so much for your feedback! Greatly appreciated.

-------------
Lynda

Posted By: Theatermama
Date Posted: 8/06/10 at 12:11am

As my name says, I am a theatermama but I also have directed many shows with children. My son was the Artful Dodger in Oliver 3 1/2 years ago which would have made him about 11 and they had a huge crew of kids. He has also done 4 operas and several other musicals with adults. Parents were not desired to be there at all for any of them - they could if they wanted usually but it was not required and there are those parents you would really rather stay home. On show nights however, there was at least 1 or 2 parents backstage to help manage things. Kids were only called when they were going to be needed and then they were released and it was just expected when run throughs happened that they would behave or they would be dismissed. They had some college student age assistant stage managers that were there to help manage kids. They managed study tables, and the kids were expected to also work on learning their lines etc. Once my middle one was in Our Town and he played a character that died young and he literally had to sit in a chair stock still for 45 minutes and not move a muscle while he was in the cemetary. He was made to come in and rehearse that - I used to laugh that that was the longest I had ever seen him still. He snaked his mp3 headphones under his shirt up the back and listened to stories or music and basically found a point on the wall to meditate on and he did it.

My sons have done numerous plays since they were quite young - my oldest started acting at 10 and my middle at 6 and the little one at 2 (they are 4 years apart and they all started the same year). The successful directors had rehearsals for the kids to learn their parts and then they were only there when the show was being put together and unless they were in the last scene, they left when they were done and only stayed for curtain call for the last dress and performances only. When they were young 3 and 7, I did sit during their scene rehearsals as they were always less than an hour and we stayed with them during the show and they gave us a special room where we brought toys and such, we took turns seeing the show and watched each other's kids.

As a director, I have done many plays/musicals with children and I never have parents stay. I was the Christian Ed director for 7 years and did a summer musical - we had about 4 adult staff and the parents were encouraged to either meet for bible study or enjoy the day/evening off while we rehearsed. I just finished doing a musical camp for the new musical 13 (we were the Indiana Premiere) and I was the only parent on staff because I am a costume designer and was the only one with 8 years experience with the 10 year old camp. Our campers ranged from ages 9-18.

I think it really depends on your scheduling ability, if you are highly structured it is very easy to manage large numbers of kids. Good luck - I love working with children -I am directing You're a Good Man Charlie Brown in March and did a 30 actor cast of almost exclusively teenagers for Babes in Arms last spring and we only had about 3 staff members the whole rehearsal process.

Posted By: Kyne
Date Posted: 8/06/10 at 8:25am

Thank you SO much for your feedback. You can't imagine how helpful this is in planning for future shows. I will be taking these suggestions to one of the board members for them to take to their monthly meeting. In my opinion, they need to rethink the way they've been handling the kids lately in order to make it enjoyable for both them and adults.

Thanks again so much!

Posted By: Theatermama
Date Posted: 8/06/10 at 10:33am

Good luck. I will say my favorite directors are the ones that honor my time and my children's time. I really don't like it when I have to go to a 4 hour rehearsal and only get to do our portion for 20 minutes and the rest of the time you sit and wait - I think that is highly disrepectful, I try to schedule 30 minute to 1 hour sessions for scenes or parts of scenes and just have more of them - really helps kids learn their parts better too. Since I respect their time, I expect them to respect mine and come on time, with lines memorized and ready to work it several times. I also always have a quiet area for homework and I expect them to bring it when we start putting the show together since they may have some wait time.

I should mention that my boys are now 19, 15 and 11, about to jump to the next year this fall for all of them so we are going on 10 years in theater and it has become a family obsession. My oldest is a theater major/management minor in Minnesota and he even came home and did a fundraising show this summer. My middle one did 2 full productions as the lead in both this summer (in fact we are in performance of the last one this weekend - we opened last night- with 3 more shows of the new musical 13 - and rehearsed in a 2 week musical camp for the show choirs's fall production. My little one is the least into it but he did one show (13) and usually does 1 or 2 shows a year when they need smaller people in his brother's plays, as directors around here like to cast dependable families - it is easier so we usually work on shows together. We always have at least 1 show in the works if not more, the entire family is involved, my husband is a set builder, occasional actor and chief videographer and keeps the homefires burning.