Theater Class Performs “The Grinch” to Fawn Elementary Students
January 15, 2019
“It was a great opportunity for the students to move from dramatic theory and practice to actual performance.” — Advisor Sarah Buttiens
Readers theater is where someone tells or reads a story that already exists in dramatic fashion. It also involves minimal costume and little to no set.
Students from the class chose between various children’s holiday stories, such as: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Nutcracker, The Polar Express, and ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.
“We chose the Grinch because of its popularity amongst children, so it would be easy for them to understand a story they have heard of,” said senior Akira Misselhorn.
The project took about three weeks to create including: modifying the text to a script, preparing costumes, and having rehearsals.
“We did about three to four weeks of preparation and rehearsals,” said drama student Noah Granlund.
The class worked together to adapt the script for preparation; they cut some scenes that they couldn’t perform and changed some wording to work with the props they had.
The students also included some costuming for the performance. The Grinch wore a green shirt with black pants, and The Who’s all wore crazy, Christmas sweaters.
The students also had minimal props for their performance, such as: bells, stockings, and presents.
The six students cast themselves as: The Grinch, two narrators, and three Who’s.
Fawn elementary picked the date in coordination with the high school’s schedules, and while there the drama students performed four different shows for the students.
“Since it was the holidays and students tend to struggle with focus and have extra energy, I thought the elementary school might appreciate a break in their routine and enjoy a production by high schoolers,” said drama teacher Sarah Buttiens.
Buttiens also said she got the idea of doing this project when she took her son to see a reader’s theater of The Polar Express and thought it would be a fun idea for her students.
The students from the class had a positive opinion from the project.
“I think it went really well because all the kids liked it,” said future farmers of America (FFA) member Vincent Economides.
Also, the students thought the performances benefited the elementary school studets in a positive way.
“I felt very happy with our performance, because throughout the whole showing and even afterwards, the kids seemed full of awe,” said Misselhorn.
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