Play time again- Christmas

Life just isn't crazy enough until you add theater into it.  This December, Christina decided to join her brothers on stage in one of the Christmas Carol productions at our local theater.  It was a quick reminder of how tiring it can be when little kids go on stage for the first time.  Remembering every detail of what they need and helping them through tech week is a job on its own.  Tech week- ugh.  A week that everyone is glad to see come to an end.  Christina managed it very well, while there.  She remembered all of her stage entrances, exits, blocking, and song lyrics.  She handled the stress of the director's demands, hard work with few breaks, and very late nights.  Until she got home, that is.  Though willing to do any work asked of her at the theater, the exhaustion of it all was postponed until either the following morning or at 5:00 the next night. A few mega-meltdowns later, she somehow got through it.  We were proud of her.

 The theater scene seemed to fit Christina naturally. She played the role of the littlest orphan caroler and managed to keep track of all her costume pieces and entertain herself backstage, until her next scene. The majority of work on my part came at the beginning, in giving her a head-full of curls and plenty of make-up. I quickly realized how much more is involved in having a daughter in theater than sons. It's the hair. It's like getting your kid ready for prom night on every performance night until the show is retired.

 While fussing over Christina, I let the boys mostly prepare themselves. Joe needed a little extra assistance with costume piece organization- he had several costumes and needed help with a very quick change in between scenes. He played one of the Cratchet children and really enjoyed his role. His most difficult challenge came with the candy. During one scene he and his fellow Cratchet siblings were given candy canes and were required to dispose of them at the end of the scene. Asking Joe to do something like that is like asking him to breathe without lungs. Joe wolfed down his candy cane as fast as he could back stage, while trying to change costumes, and sometimes would appear in the next scene with his mouth slightly askew, trying to sing around the hidden candy. I don't believe this went unnoticed by the director, but I can't imagine he was too pleased about it.

 

Aaron has become quite a little theater pro. He managed his own costumes and stage appearances without reminder. Aaron played the role of young Ebinezer Scrooge in this performance and sang a very nice song with as much confidence as he has when brushing his teeth. This show was his 8th production and it has been fun for me to watch him mature.