By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
NEW SWEDEN — Students of the New Sweden school had the opportunity to flex their theatric muscles earlier this month thanks to a Perloff Grant through the Maine Community Foundation; the funds allowed the school to bring in Rob and Lorrie Gray of Children’s Stage Adventures for a whirlwind week of stage, song and Shakespeare that had every student participating in some form or fashion.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
Lorrie Gray, center, of Children’s Stage Adventures sings along with New Sweden students during rehearsal earlier this month as Rob Gray, left, gets ready to emphasize the final note of one song featured in the school’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on Dec. 3.
In just five days, students learned all their lines and songs for a double performance on Friday, Dec. 3, first for Woodland students and later for the community. With a performance worth of lines and songs to memorize for their production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” students didn’t seem to have a problem with memorization in the least.
“The students loved it,” said music teacher Jennifer Holmes, “it gave them a chance for a creative outlet and they really worked together as a team.”
From kindergarten to eighth grade, students had a variety of options in the cast, chorus and crew — some students even worked outside the set creating a documentary of the whole performance process.
“We look at an opportunity like this as enrichment, something the students wouldn’t normally get, and build it into their current curriculum,” said School Union 122 Superintendent John Hedman.
Faculty, staff and audience members alike agreed that the performance and the process building up to it was a two-thumbs-up success.
“Kids never forget a play they’ve been in,” said Rob Gray. He and his wife, Lorrie, have spent countless hours working with mid-level and elementary schools preparing for and performing variations on the classics that, while somewhat simplified, remain true to the nature of the work.
In the New Sweden performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” some of the lines were performed exactly as written by Shakespeare’s pen and the rhyming patterns of the musical were similar as well.
Of course not all students were quite at home on the set, which is why educator Ernie Easter worked with a handful of students creating a documentary of the event.
“The students learned about creating timelines, sequences and learned to tell as story through video and photos,” he explained. “Our goal was to take students without parts in the play and engage them in part of the production process.”
The result was that every student in every level at the New Sweden School had a part in the Shakespearean comedy, and that’s an experience none of them will soon forget.
