The Garden School Tattler

It was a good play, but it was different from my perspective, I think than from the audience's. What I saw really amused me. For those of you who saw the play, I'd like to add a few extra delights.

Because it was Friday afternoon, which is the worst possible time in early childhood - end of the week - the kids were beginning to lose it. Edith had a terrible time with the cast who were tumbling and rolling around in Miss Kelly's room.

The play started with Jalen's intro line. He had been very quiet up to play rehearsal, but he really liked the acting and asked for a larger role. He took to the narrator's role very quickly. He liked the costume and lines, and was a quick study.

He wasn't the only one who liked acting. When the O'Leary's came out on stage, David was suddenly in his element. David's beautiful face looked out at the audience with delight and amazement. It was as if he "found his niche." His eyes lit up at the whole thing, and he carefully delivered his lines making love faces at his watchers.

Dawson, who generally is a terrible ham, went dead. He took one look at the audience and nearly shook himself into heart attack. "I'm not going out there," he exclaimed at the door, "Oh yes you are."

Poor Daymon couldn't remember his lines from one moment to another for two weeks, but once he got on stage, he relaxed. It was interesting to see. He had real presence of mind and that amazed me.

Logan was our steady actor. He began the play with well delivered lines and carried it from beginning to end.

Morgan was a delight. She stepped out of her age into a kind of timeless mastery of stage presence and delivered her lines wonderfully. The costume was really cute on her.

The Leps were tough and rumble - but that's the way Leps are supposed to be. My Jack delivered the line "A saint? Here in Ireland?" with great feeling. I was pleased with the costumes Edith made, and the leps seemed to take great delight in them. Adyson had the longest lines and he delivered them well. Ty was the brilliant Lep; Taylor was the complainer, Aidan was the matter of fact Lep and Justin was the so-say-it Lep. He had a great smile on his face. The Leps were at the heart of the story.

They were trying to earn their wings back so they could go back to Heaven. They were friends with everyone and although they were a bit scheming, they were good natured and tried to sell a good story.

Mayli did an outstanding job as Queenie. She really has a nice talent for acting. She added an MMMMM that really got a good laugh from the parents.

I think the girls got the most laughs. They were very willing to share all the fru-fru and they helped each other out. There was absolutely not one second of fighting over anything. Peyton's line, "And I think I might be one of them," (gods) was hilarious. When Faith said, "Would you consider a rain cloud?" they laughed in good spirit. I was glad the shoes held up.

Abby was our usual bright and shiny golden girl. She was also a goddess, "a real tribute to the universe. " Madison is still young, but she did a good job with calling St. Patrick a brownie. Hadley who is generally very shy did a great job as the straight-man Druid princess.



Austin did an wonderful job as the Druid King. Behind his chicken feathers, lay the heart of a real shining king. "Is he powerful?" asked the king to St. Patrick? "Very powerful," answered the saint, "He made you." "That's impressive" replied the king.

Yuta played St. Patrick. He's a straight man. I saw some pain come to his face as he tried to remember his lines exactly. It was a matter of honor. I could tell by his intensity. I wish he could have laughed more, but he wanted those lines exact, and English is a second language for him.

The brownies were stage struck. Triston, who is usually a real clown came down to earth with too big an audience, but Briana loved it. She stood on stage not wanting to leave. She liked the moment and the costume, and the limelight. She liked being pink, pretty and on stage. Triston, who is always on stage in his mind was suddenly struck with the reality and cowed.
The chorus sang well.

The snakes were really funny. I'm not sure if any of you saw this, but Jasmine didn't quite know she was on stage, MJ was confused by it, and the one actor who stunned me the most was Brian. He was one of our snakes. Now I worked with the snakes for days and they couldn't repeat a line to save their lives. So we thought at the end of the play, they would say something endearing. Brian kept improvising. He kept adding things to his lines. He got a very matter of fact look on his face as if to say, "I really like this, and I'm going to keep talking until someone stops me." So a two line role became about ten.

We don't have a lot of room for plays, but we make the most of what we have. It's an occasion that causes us a lot of work, a lot of stress sometimes, but if the kids are enjoying it, and learn what it means to produce a little piece of art, it's well worth doing.