I am sad we were unable to have our final performance. Our kids worked so hard all semester, and they were so excited for tonight. Even though we didn’t get a chance to say a proper goodbye and finish out our time together, I think we ended on a good note because our last practice was so great, and we gave them a chance to run through the whole play just like the real performance.

My biggest concern for the final performance was that we wouldn’t have many kids show up. They all seemed excited, and the kids who hadn’t yet turned in their permission slips seemed intent on bringing theirs today so they could still participate. We would have definitely had our Macbeth and Banquo though, so that would have been great for the performance because they were our two strongest actors, and I’m sure everyone would have been entertained by their British accents.

I was also worried that the students wouldn’t pay enough attention and know when they were supposed to be on stage. The final practice we tried to run through the whole thing as we would for the performance, but before each scene, we had to stop and tell them who needed to go on stage. I was nervous we would have to do that and interrupt the flow of the play since a lot of our kids were in scenes back to back, so we couldn’t prepare them for the next scene as they were still acting out the current one.

Overall, I think our kids would have stepped up to the challenge of filling in the roles of their classmates who didn’t come, and though it might have gone a little long, I think our part would have gone pretty smoothly. I’m sad our kids didn’t get to show off how hard they have worked this semester, but I’m glad I got to work with them. It was a great experience.