Follow these tips to successful club skits and plays.
Add a play to your club calendar, and get ready for high excitement and participation. Nearly all kids love role-playing, and even novice directors can pull off rewarding events. Some guidelines for impromptu skits and more ambitious plays will help you and your club members get the most from your acting efforts.
- Make it fun. Happy children remember where they’re supposed to stand, they follow directions more reliably, they speak more clearly. They build lifelong memories of Pioneer Clubs as an exciting place where they were successful and appreciated.
- Make sure kids know the story. Before assigning parts, tell the story of the play or skit. Breathe life into it so they’ll remember it. If even the youngest kids know the story line and know their role, they’ll try to act that way – and that’s more important than standing in exactly the right spot.
- Individualize parts. Every club member is itching for something special to do. Protestors can stomp in waving signs; judges in robes can billow in. Brainstorm with children. If soldiers devise their own method of marching in, their performance will be more original and reliable.
- Mix age-groups. Older kids can be “head lamb” or “head rabbi.” With them there, little lambs aren’t as likely to lose their way.
- Cast creatively. Try unexpected kids in spotlight roles. You’ll be gratified by performances from kids who once lingered on the fringe of club activities.
- Double-cast roles. Who’s to say how many attendants Pharaoh had? This lets more children be involved and makes it easier to cover for a child who’s sick.
- Make sure it’s loud. A Scooter who understands his or her part can deliver a line with incredible impact. A procession of big-voiced Trailblazers carrying candles and chanting can be spine-tingling.
- Costume everybody. Avoid disappointment and hard feelings.
- Delegate tasks such as director, sound/lights coordinator, costume/make-up person, props/scenery person, music director, and program typist. Make a written schedule of who does what, when.
- Use door monitors. Every door should be monitored by an adult with a script. Monitors check costumes and props, make sure actors are ready, confiscate gum, and try to keep excited giggling to a minimum.
- Begin or end each planning session and rehearsal with prayer. You can reinforce for the children that all you do is for God’s praise.
- Enjoy the event. The best pre-performance pep talk expresses confidence and love. Remember suggestion 1? If kids are having fun, they’ll do a terrific job.
