by Toni Groff
On January 13th, families of St. Basil Academy gathered for a student presentation. The afternoon performance included a play, a variety of recited poems, and songs the children had practiced during Mrs. Janis’ Music Exploratory class. The play, however, proved to be the highlight of the program.
The Thanksgiving play, inspired by this year’s study of US history, was written and directed by fifth-grader Elena Janis. She wrote individual parts and scenes that included each of the academy’s 17 students. Elena also managed the challenging practice sessions, encouraging the older students to memorize their lines, while working to get the younger students to attend to the rigors of following a director’s instructions and to wait patiently and quietly for their turns to participate. The well-known story of the “First Thanksgiving” was enhanced by homemade costumes, props and humor. Some of the humor, however, was unintended.
It was planned that Peter Janis ring a bell, which would be used as a cue, and he was anxiously awaiting this moment in his sister’s play. Unfortunately, however, when time came for the bell to be rung, there was no ringing heard. Not hearing the bell, Elena quickly improvised by saying, “Ding, Ding!”, which brought laughter from the audience, and the play progressed otherwise as planned. The rest of the story took place behind the scenes, and witnessed by a smaller audience. Right before the bell was to be rung, Peter had come to Mrs. Zwang with the bell stuck on his finger. Try as she might, Mrs. Zwang was not able to free the small bell from the not quite small enough finger in time for Peter to perform his much-anticipated role.
Another bit of unrehearsed humor, which also brought laughter especially from parents and grandparents, occurred when the freshly painted Indians were cued to join the Pilgrims for the meal. Try as they might to follow Elena’s instructions to promptly respond to their cues, some of the smaller Indians’ stage entrance was a bit delayed, being somewhat more challenging than anticipated for the actors who had quietly wedged themselves behind a low file cabinet to await their stage call. Anysia Chantel, being among them, was at long last able to wriggle herself free to join the rest of the Indians and Pilgrims for a great feast.
The rehearsed and unrehearsed combined to create an event that was enjoyed by all. Elena has announced that she has already begun work on a play for next year.
