The first week working within the groups went well. It was helpful meeting as a group to talk about what we wanted to do with our act before meeting with the kids. I think the first time meeting with the children was good. There were only two kids for the start, but they were pretty engaged and were asking questions/participating. Another girl came near the middle of the session. We did introductions and then described the premise of the play and watched a short video. The kids seemed kind of confused about the plot – it being pretty complex – but once we explained that we were only doing one part of the play, they were relieved. We told the kids how our adaptation was going to work and they were ready with ideas (like using robots as the characters). Before we meet next time, they will hopefully be more familiar with the plot and we can get started on some concrete work.

We finally got to meet the kids! We began this week with introductions so everyone went around and said their name and favorite ice cream flavor. Then we talked a little about Shakespeare and watched a short video breaking down Much Ado About Nothing. We then did a quick quiz to see how well the kids remembered the characters. From there we moved on to talking about various important plot lines and gave them a few options to get some feedback on. Our group was very engaged and vocal (but not talking over one another). They had strong opinions that unfortunately conflicted with one another. Seemed like half of them wanted the characters to be returning from quarantine and the other half wanted them to return from a normal summer, half wanted the relationships to take place over social media and half wanted the relationships to take place in person.

Looking forward to next week and we will make final decisions on the major plot points and then move into more specifics and get a feel from the kids for what they want to do, if they want to speak and draw things or not. Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by the group of kids and their manners and engagement. Off to a good start I think!