This past Thursday Lydia and I met with our group and advisor, Corinne. We began the rehearsal with general introductions so Lydia and I could get to know who these kids were and what their interests are. There were 7 kids present out of the total 10 and they all knew each other very well. Considering their age group (11-13), it was clear that they would challenge us with sass and disrespect but I am confident in my abilities to keep them on task. This isn’t to say they aren’t very excited to put on a play — they were already trying to cast themselves!

Another accomplishment from this past week was describing the very confusing plot summary of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Lydia and I harped on the four Athenians and their twisting relationships, as that is the main premise of our Act (II). The girls were very excited at the idea of a love story…the guys not so much. They were careful to maintain a macho attitude by holding a football and talking about their girlfriends from this past summer. That being said, I am sure they will be happy to tap into the personalities of the characters.

Finally, we played an improv game of charades which was very difficult as the boys only wanted to make football references.

Overall, I may be overly optimistic about the abilities of my group but I am looking forward to getting to know each of them better and reading through the Act our next time there.