“We know what we are, but know not what we may be.”
- William Shakespeare
I observed our directors working diligently on Wednesday afternoon. The middle of the week is always the most stressful time of every residency. This is because it is the time all of the characters of the play are walking on the stage area of Tydings Auditorium but have not yet come together as a cast. This coming together is a process of hard work, dedication and know-how on the part of the Missoula Children’s Theater directors.
Each line and song of the play are carefully scripted to stick in each student’s growing brain. Current brain research shows that musical and theatrical activities turn on the part of the child’s brain that produces brain cells. By the end of a Missoula Children’s Theater week, the students are leaving Tydings Auditorium with bigger brains than when they arrived on Monday.
Most importantly, the students become a unique part of something they could not create on their own because it is bigger than themselves. If every student were all the same character, the play would be drudgery to watch. This collaboration allows the students to take us to Sherwood Forest where they can take from King John and give to the poor or fly with Aladdin on a magic carpet ride or live with the Little Mermaid at the bottom of the sea. This is the power of the arts. The arts provide the ability to live for a moment on stage in a world far away from Turner Street; it encourages a student to make the most of their moment in the spotlight and endlessly wonder what they may be.
Thank you for supporting the arts and kids.
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Tyson Ledgerwood
Elementary Fine Arts Coordinator
Hobbs Municipal Schools
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Shakespeare Quote from brainyquote.com
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