the end of the beginning

Sharing day. A week ago I had no idea what this day would look like, and already the first one of the summer is over. Picture endless crowds of families with cameras waiting in the not-wide-enough TAT hallway waiting to see their children perform. Keeping track of kids on bathroom breaks today was a headache, but the payoff was completely worth it. Before parents came in the afternoon, we were lucky enough to be able to share The Lottery with the middle school camp, and they shared their Steven Schwartz revue, From Working to Wicked, with us. I'm not ashamed to admit that I teared up a little watching thirty something middle schoolers step-touching while singing "Day by Day" and "Defying Gravity." And though I'm mildly concerned that The Lottery may have induced nightmares in some of our middle school audience members, most of them seemed to really like the play, and I'm all about using theatre to challenge young people. 

I was so proud of the high schoolers today - their performances, both for the middle schoolers and for their families, were so strong. Even more than that, though, I was proud of their post-show conversation with their families. It's easy to forget during a rehearsal process with thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds that there's more going on than frequently misplaced energy and a whole lot of hormones, but these kids are really smart. Their responses to questions about the dark content of the play and how they see it as a reflection on our society were on par with comments I've heard in classes at Northwestern. It's been a long week with them, but I'm going to miss this group.

I misread the yoga schedule today and showed up for an 8:00 class that didn't exist, but I let myself be satisfied that the ten miles I biked today to and from work and running errands was enough to warrant a lazy evening catching up on TV shows.

On Monday I start a two week audition-based musical theatre camp with kids grades 4-6. We'll be putting up a production of Junie B. Jones. It's a huge shift in focus, content-wise and age-wise, so it should be interesting. Hopefully after this weekend I'll be prepared to take on the next two weeks: I'm planning lots of cooking and baking after the farmer's market tomorrow to have plenty of leftovers for lunchtimes.