After a long hiatus from rehearsal, Caroline and I finally got to go back to Henderson to work with the kids again. We met the new crop of kids who we’d be working with, and they did not disappoint. They seemingly all had theater experience, which I wasn’t aware was even an option for kids so young.

When I was their age I had only been in the required school plays, and I always had the smallest roles possible. To see kids that were motivated and excited about it was really encouraging for me.

The rehearsal went well for the most part, but we hit a bit of a snag when we were relocated from the theater to the cafeteria, where two other groups were having study hall. Quickly the kids focus was gone, as they fed off the presence of the other groups. The worst part about the cafeteria was the noise. We couldn’t hear the kids, and they couldn’t hear us.

They were fooling around, running around the stage and hiding in the curtains. I couldn’t blame them though, it’s hard to expect kids to refocus on a dime, especially when you change environments. We were able to still have a decently successful rehearsal, but this was one of the more “roll with it” experiences we have. Next week we’ll have the scripts and we’ll assign roles, and hopefully then they’ll really get into it.