Typically the Youth Ensemble students play a group of characters in our productions, such as the Baby Sea Turtles and Seagulls in Finding Nemo Jr, or the Duloc Dancers in Shrek, The Musical. Once our fall production of Tuck Everlasting was announced, I realized there were no roles for our youngest students.
My mom runs the theater program at the Center for Performing Arts and was trying to decide what show to do with our Youth Ensemble. I said, “What if we wrote a show about two kids who have a storybook filled with their favorite stories? The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, and the Three Bears, and many more.”
“But they go to read it and all the pages fall out. They aren’t numbered so they put them back quickly and it all becomes mixed up.” Mom added. We kept tossing this idea around and eventually, my mom said, “It’s a good idea. Why don’t you write it?”
I’ve written plays before, but never for performance. Now here we are, almost at showtime. The writing process was difficult at points and other times easy. A lot of the material is borrowed from Mother Goose herself, but intertwining the stories was challenging. My mom helped me edit the play and it is a lot of fun the way the different stories interact.
The rehearsal process has been so much fun, however, I did not know how hard it was to put on a show in its entirety. There are props and costumes, and you can’t forget the set.
The actors are young, beginning at age five and ending at ten. Some children are more focused than others.
There are two different groups of students, some attending on Monday, others on Friday, and a handful attending both. My mom, myself, and my friend Hannah teach the Monday group, while my mom and brother Eric teach the Friday group. Once we were within three weeks of showtime, we asked that all students attend both rehearsals if they were able. It is so important for them to have time together before tech.
Our tech rehearsal is the big rehearsal before a show where you use props, wear your costumes, use the set and the lights, and run the show at least twice. It is really fun and after all that hard work its showtime.
If you were to ask me if I’m excited, I would one hundred percent say yes! It is a big deal to have a play you wrote performed on stage. This is my first play being produced, and now I’m writing an article about it. That feels like a huge accomplishment. I am overly excited and know that there will be ups and downs, but when show time comes it is going to be great.
I am not quite sure what my plans are after high school, as I’m only a freshman now. If I am allowed to work on a project like this again, I definitely will!
Bio: Ella Salvi is a member of the CPAM Elite Dance Team, an assistant teacher for dance/ theater, and will be playing Jesse Tuck in the upcoming production of Tuck Everlasting. She also dances with Dance Prism of Concord where she is also a rehearsal coach.
