More Children’s Theater
May 28th, 2008 by Patricia
Last summer, I made costumes for the Rocky Mountain Theater for Kids. After pulling together approximately 110 costumes in 8 weeks, I realized that it’s REALLY not what I want to do any more. Though it was fun to find out how well I’d retained the skills I learned in undergraduate school and honed in various professional costume shops, it is gruelling work to crank out dalmatian after peasant after fairy costume.
Now, I am writing plays instead of costuming them, which I greatly prefer. It’s hard to find short plays for twenty-five four to seven-year-olds, many of whom can’t read. So far, I’ve done adaptations of The Emperor’s New Clothes, Sleeping Beauty and Alice in Wonderland. It’s really a kick in the pants to take favorite old stories and make them come alive (with the help of a herd of mini-thespians and an incredibly talented director). My contract with the theater allows me to keep the copyrights, with the caveat that I don’t sell the plays to anyone else in the Denver/Boulder metro area. My plan is to write a few more to go with them and have a book for k-2nd grade teachers. It’s all part of my patch-work approach to making a living as a writer, which I will write more about next time.
Hi Pat,
I got sucked over to your site from your books4children post. Cool. It’s been fun seeing some of the things you are up to and it reminds me that my first two published pieces were plays for children. This was some time long ago in the dark ages! I can totally agree that costume making is a lot of work. Hope your summer is productive. Nancy