Whew! Wow, have we learned a lot over the past two weeks. April 21 was the very first day of our local touring program, Enchantment Everywhere, and it has been thrilling to visit six different Philadelphia District schools over the past two weeks in order to bring them our newest production.
You may know that our first Enchantment Everywhere production is based on the classic Grimm tale The Fisherman and the Flounder, but what you probably don’t know is that our cast members not only perform the show, they (with our fearless Stage Manager Jamel) also serve as the crew, putting the set together before each show and packing it up again to move on the next venue! The first day was tricky, but now that we have two weeks under our belt, we have gotten very good at loading the show in and out of a new venue quickly and efficiently, which is great. It enables us to fulfill the purpose of Enchantment Everywhere – to bring portable productions directly to local communities!
Other things we learned:
- Principals and teachers are awesome – and very helpful in organizing a tour like this.
- Kids are amazed by the set , especially when the hut turns into a cottage and the cottage turns into a castle!
- Kids ask good questions. Some that were asked during the Q & A session we provide after each show included: “What was the moral of the story?” and “Why did the actors want to play these characters?”
Over the next 6 weeks, we will visit a total of 30 schools in Philadelphia, Chester, and Delaware counties, serving over 7,500 children! Who knows what other cool things we’ll learn?
