Uptown Students On Stage

Location: Brennemann (Joseph) Elementary School

Date: Saturday, December 15, 2012; 10:00 am-12:00 pm

December 14^th 2012 was one of the darkest days, not just in my lifetime, but for many others as well.  As the world woke up trying to comprehend what had happened in Newtown, Connecticut; I was headed to Brennemann Elementary School to participate in 'Uptown Students On Stage' program.  We were going to be working with children, participating in acting and improv games.  Initially apprehensive since I have no experience with acting, I found that this was just the therapy that was needed.

Cafeteria wall

Upon arriving at the school, I was directed towards the cafeteria where there was a big crowd of children and adults.  This would have made this program one of the most popular that I had attended, but I realized that there were multiple projects going on that morning, including ‘Read With Me’ and ‘Tech Club’.  I found Tara, the volunteer leader for my program and she said that soon the rest of the group would leave and we would have the cafeteria to ourselves.  After that happened, we were left with 3 children and 6 volunteers, including Tara and myself.

The first game we played was ‘Holiday Party Name Game’.  We all stood in a circle and introduced ourselves as if attending a holiday party and were bringing one item that started with the first letter of our name.  Furthermore, we were supposed to mime that object and the next person in the circle - besides their own name and thing - repeated all other names and the things they were getting.  This was a brilliant way for the children to remember everyone’s name.  When my turn came, I said that the thing I was getting to the party was a rose and then took a deep breath, smelling an imaginary rose.  Through this I game I found out that the 3 children were Adam, Yasmin and Serena and the volunteers were Sydney, Rebecca, Sara and Katherine.  Adam is a very shy boy who participates readily, but needs to be coaxed to speak up.  Yasmin is a sweet girl who was enjoying this whereas Serena was very active and seemed in her element.

Sydney led the next game and was brilliant at it.  She seemed like a natural and I later learned that not only did she have some theater training, but she was also a teacher at a school and thus very comfortable with kids.  The game was ‘Greetings’ and we were to walk around the room and when we encountered someone else, were to introduce ourselves as different characters, ranging from Santa Claus, to an Elf, to a Video game character.  We also were to show different emotions such as happy or angry to see them, and also meet them as long lost friends or as if we were walking in heavy snow.  Sydney really did a very good job keeping us motivated and herself was quite exuberant in her role-play. 

Next we played ‘Mime Telephone’, where we stood in a line and the person at the head of the line mimed something.  Without saying a word, the next person mimed what they interpreted and we continued all the way till the last person guessed what the thing was.  Sticking with the holiday theme, the mimes were for Christmas tree decoration and Santa Claus and for most parts, everyone got it.

Following this game was ‘The Scream’.  For this we stood around in a circle, looking at the ground.  Then we would all lift our heads up at the same time and then look either straight or sideways.  If two people’s eyes met, both are supposed to scream loudly and ‘drop dead’.  This is supposed to continue till only one or two are left.  I was not looking forward to this one, especially with the screaming.  Whether by design or luck, I never had to scream and was the last person standing…twice.

Next up was ‘Fortunately, Unfortunately’ where we once again stood in a circle.  One person starts a story and the next one continues it by saying ‘Fortunately’.  The next one then proceeds with an unfortunate occurrence and so and so forth.  Since there were nine of us, we each alternated between something fortunate and unfortunate as we went around the circle.  This was one of my favorites since we were doing something creative and was a great way for the kids to come up with innovative ideas.

Then was game which was popular with the kids, ‘Emotion Party’.  In this, the three children went out of the room with a volunteer and made up some emotion or a character that they wanted to play.  Then they would come in the room and act that out while the rest of the volunteers guessed who they were.  I was amazed at how much the kids liked performing and in fact, they tried to do as many characters and emotions as they could. 

Finally, we sat down to play the lengthiest game of the day, ‘Skit Creation’.  This was something the kids enjoyed doing as well.  The idea was to write a short story, including characters and dialogues; assign roles and then perform.  This was going to be one of those 24-hour workshops where people try to make a film from scratch in a day.  In our case we had 20 minutes.

The story we came up with was a Christmas party where two children break a vase while playing.  This happens because the Christmas tree topples over onto the vase.  Fearing their mother, they run outside and encounter Santa.  He asks them what they want for Christmas and instead of presents for themselves, they ask for a replacement vase.  I suggested that we end the story with Santa being impressed by their selflessness and giving them not only the vase, but also plenty of presents.  People liked that and so we went about assigning the cast.  Adam and Yasmin were the children, Rebecca was the mom, Sara, Katherine and Serena were the party guests, Sydney with a flair for the dramatic was going to play the tree – including the topple - and I, the only adult male, would play Santa.  Tara was going to be filming and Serena would also be responsible for on-the-fly set changes. 

My Reindeer Headgear!

We started by selecting the props and as Santa, instead of a sack on my shoulder; I got to carry some long stuffed animal toy.  Plus, we couldn't find a Santa’s hat and so they gave me reindeer cap, which looked totally ridiculous.  This was then replaced by a very colorful Oriental hat.  We then did a couple of practice runs and poor Sydney had to fall down in all of them.  Finally, we were ready to film and our practice helped us a lot.  We all applauded the effort and then it was time to go.

We said goodbye to the children and before leaving I made a pitch to the volunteers to support the Macy’s Believe Campaign – nothing like a little cross promotion.  I walked to the train station chatting with Sydney and she was off to another assignment where she was going to be tutoring some kids.  The opportunity description for this on Chicago Cares website had concluded by saying “Students build confidence and abilities, and you may just learn something as well”.  I certainly had.  I had learned that sometimes tragedies such as one which happened yesterday are almost impossible to avoid and its natural to get angry.  But we can take comfort in each other and in children who look up to us for guidance.  Today was exactly what was required.  I went to see ‘The Hobbit’ later that day and there is a dialogue where Gandalf talks about how Saruman is wrong about people.  In context of what had happened, I couldn't have said it better. 

“Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay... small acts of kindness and love”.


*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy