Album 05\17\2011 (84 photos), by Penny Whetten

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Willy Wonka (70 photos), by Penny Whetten

I'd like to share my Walmart Digital Photo Center photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

A Day At Auditions

This week we held auditions for our upcoming performance of "The Adventures of Mr. Toad".  I arrived at the theatre 15 minutes early to find a mob of people waiting for me to open the doors.  I have had an emotional few weeks with everything going on in my family, but walking in to the theatre and feeling the excitement of all of those kids always lifts my mood.  In fact, I leave feeling excited and much better about life, even with the prospect of having 160-something kids to work with.  Call me crazy, but I actually find it a fun challenge to figure out what to do with that many kids.  I find it exciting to feel the excitement of the kids, even before the day of auditions I have kids come up to me and tell me they are ready for auditions.

So, what happens at auditions - well, you have to face your stage fright fears and get on the stage all alone and sing.  It can be scarier than actually performing, because you do it all by yourself.  Into auditions walk kids that are "seasoned" actors, that have been doing the plays for a long time, some since they were 4 - the magic age of being old enough to be in the plays. There are kids who are brand new and not sure what to expect.  There are four year olds who have been waiting to be old enough and are so excited just to be there. And even the younger siblings who are not old enough, yet they are forced to sit through auditions while someone that is old enough goes up on the stage. After turning in paperwork your name gets called and you get to go on the stage and sing.  As a Director we see kids sing anything from Twinkle, Twinkle or ABC'S to the latest Justin Beiber hit.  Some sing whatever pops into their head as they sit there waiting, others have been working on their number for weeks - with hopes that it will help them to get a better part.  Sometimes we get tired of listening to Twinkle, Twinkle, and then someone will stand up and sing I'm A Little Teapot with actions, or bring their guitar and sing, or sing a song about their name that they made up themselves.  Once in awhile there is the terrible thing of someone forgetting the words to their song.  There is a collective holding of breath as everyone waits to see if they will remember, then there is the question of do you go ahead and clap, or give them more time to figure it out.  There are the kids who are so quiet we really can't tell if they are singing, so we have to wait for some sign that they are done. Then once in awhile there is someone who surprises you - like a little four year old singing the entire song of Popular from Wicked; or another four year old running up to the stage she was so excited to sing, and singing the ABC's with the most enthusiasm I have ever seen.  After the song is over and few on-stage questions answered; and let me just say that this time there were a lot of kids whose favorite part of school was math; the kids either run off to get off as quick as possible or wander off slowly, but most all have a grin from ear to ear as they walk off proud of themselves for what they did, and wondering "What part will I get?".

Back in the Saddle

Well, here we go starting another play.  Today I have the hardest job - casting.  I actually dislike casting, it is the hardest thing that I do.  If I could just cast without worring about the kids feelings it wouldn't be hard.  If I could just pick out the best for each part without considering everyone else and what they are going to do, or how they are going to feel then this job would be easy.  But it's not in me to do that.  I worry about each kid, about how they are going to feel about the part that they get.  I want it to be a good experience for everyone involved.  Of course then you also have to think about how hard they are going to work.  You always have those kids who want a bigger part and yet don't really work very hard, they are there mostly to socialize and spend more time talking than anything else.  Then you have those who really aren't that talented and yet they work really hard and so I always like to give them a shot at it, give them something to work for.  Then you have the kids who are scared to death, but still want to do it, so you have to find something for them to do.  I am glad that we don't cut anyone that auditions, because I think that if I had to cut people I could never do this.  I would rather find a part or add a part for another student than to cut them and not give them a chance.  Maybe it's because I'm not very good on the stage myself, so I would never be able to tell someone that they didn't make it.  So, I'm off to find the perfect part for each student and perfect student for each part.  Most of it is just a gut feeling that I go with, and most of the time it's right.

"I don't want to be a goat"

In our play we have a group of goats.  They are group of 5 year old boys and girls who sing "The Lonely Goatherd".  They had been doing a wonderful job at rehearsals until one particular rehearsal when one of the the little goats asked permission to sit in the front row with the "students".  Thinking nothing of it I allowed him to sit in the front row.  That was my mistake - the next day he came to rehearsal and refused to sit in the "goat" row, because he was a "student".  For the next three rehearsals he stated that he "did not want to be a goat".  He came in his goat costume, went on stage with the goats, and stood completely still during their song because he was not a goat and was not going to sing with the goats.  Finally on opening night something kicked in and he decided that it was ok to be a goat, but still told me that he looked funny.

Out of the mouth of babes

Tonight we had a performance of "It's A Small World".  We have a large group of little 4 year olds, who are getting tired.  As we were getting their little group into a semi straight line so they could make their way to the back of the stage one little girl was in tears.  We tried to get her calmed down and ready to perform, but she would not have it.  Her reaction was "My mom says, when little girls get tired they get moody and crusty".

What does Handy mean??

My group of Americans are singing Yankee Doodle.  They are mostly 5 and 6 year olds.  The other day as they finished singing and dancing to Yankee Doodle one little girl came to the front of the stage and said, "What does is mean to be handy?".  (mind the music and the step and with the girls be handy)