Students Collaborate for Kid Theatre

June 11, 2021

Academics

GNS

For the fourth year, Grade 11/12 IB Theatre students collaborated with the Grade 3s as part of Kid Theatre 2021. The Senior School students gave the Grade 3s a list of titles of plays and novels—with no other context or information—and the Grade 3s then wrote scripts for the IB Theatre students to act out.

Normally the students would have been able to workshop and perform together, but because of COVID-19 restrictions the students couldn’t meet in person. Instead, they adapted and met digitally through Google Meet.

The groups had a virtual workshop session where they discussed important parts of the script to highlight, staging ideas, characterization ideas, key line readings and more.

“It’s pretty cool because we gave them works we have studied over the past two years, so it’s funny to see their version of what they thought the play was about,” said Stella Fraser ’21.

When the Grade 11 and 12 students get the scripts they use their drama skills to put together something magical for the young screenwriters. With the brand new play they are handed, they have to make creative and quick decisions about lighting, sound, characterization, acting and directing.

“I found their work abstract and a little bizarre. A lot of it is reminiscent of what they are learning,” said Wesley Lloyd-Kruger ’21. “I can see themes of wits, how to interact in not-so-positive situations, apologies, reconciliations and I can see a lot of themes that they are learning about.”

One of the titles Grade 3 students were given was The Great Gatsby, where Miranda, Emma, Daniel, Everly and Sailys were the screenwriters.

“We made it about a race with giants,” explained Emma. “It had a narrator and two giants racing. One of them could fly, but the other couldn’t so that one rode a pegabroom, which is a broom with wings on the side like a unicorn. The person who couldn’t fly wasn’t being nice to the other person.”

Emma said it was fun to write the story for the Grade 11 and 12 IB Theatre students, and said a lot of brainstorming went into it. Adding, Gatsby was the name of the race, with the narrator being called “Fluffy Peanut.”

“We definitely used our thinking skills because we had to brainstorm a lot of ideas, and we were also inquired because we loved to learn about it and explore different ideas,” she said.

Another title that the Grade 3s were given was 1984, and Sophie, Shaan, Gabby, Clay and Shayer were the screenwriters for that.

“We came up with a story about a person who was born in 1984,” said Shaan. “It was a little hard to come up with a story because we all had different ideas, but we voted and settled on what we wanted.”

What great work from the Grade 11 and 12 IB Theatre students with their performances and directing of these plays, and congratulations to the Grade 3s for coming up with such imaginative stories!