Gatewood School’s Mini-Players performed the musical play Lemonade twice last Thursday in front of an audience of classmates, friends, and family members.
Lemonade hosts a cast of iconic storybook characters, from the Three Little Pigs to Humpty Dumpty, and begins with a song before each character talks about their problems, derived from each of their classic tales.
For instance, covered in band-aids from his fall Humpty Dumpty described his predicament, while Chicken Little was convinced the sky was falling and tried to convince everyone else of it, too!
“The characters made this a lot of fun for the kids,” Gatewood music and drama teacher Beth Mappes said. “They were all fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters that the kids already knew. They were able to connect to them right away.”
The children sang songs together and delivered rhyming lines in between the musical numbers. In the end, the characters discover they can change their attitude and turn “lemons” into “lemonade” with Mother Goose’s secret recipe. Ingredients included friendliness and tenderness.
This was a positive message not only for everyone in the audience but for the cast as well, which consisted of Gatewood students from grades one through three.
“For a lot of them, it’s the first time being on the stage, and I love to instill that love of the performing arts at such an early age,” Mappes said.
Being on stage has other benefits as well, especially for younger students, she added.
“Public speaking is the number-one fear in adults, and I believe getting the kids on stage speaking in front of a large group at an early age can make someone feel more comfortable with that,” Mappes explained.
“It’s funny because a lot of times we see more introverts on stage than extroverts. That’s because they can take on a different facade; a completely different person than himself or herself. It’s a great way to build confidence at any age.
“Plus, they get to see all the different aspects of theatre like sets, props, music, directing, and tech crew,” she continued. “There’s such a variety of ways to be involved besides just being on the stage, and it gives them a chance to find out what they really like to be a part of.”
Older students were involved in the production, too, taking on the more technical, behind-the-scenes roles. Seventh grader Caylin Stancil and Lilly Weems from grade six have each been involved with Gatewood Players for four years, both on and off stage.
For this performance of Lemonade, they helped Mappes in teaching the young actors their lines, leading warmups and drama games, and even choreographing one of the musical numbers. During the show, during both day and night performances, they did stage work as well.
“The younger students look up to the older students as role models and both girls were amazing,” Mappes said. “It’s a natural progression into leadership roles and another great part of theatre.”
There also was an additional tech crew, made up of students from the fourth grade and up. This is the first year the Gatewood Players have had a full tech crew, and they take turns working each of the shows.
Mappes stressed how important it is to have a good stage crew at work, making sure everything goes smoothly and right on cue.
“I always say, if you can’t see or hear the actors, it doesn’t matter how talented they are!”
The debut performance for the school came at 1 p.m., followed by a 7 p.m. matinee for parents.
“The parents are wonderfully supportive of the kids. It’s always great to see,” Mappes said. “And the students are so excited for their families to see the show.”
Next, Mappes is looking forward to Gatewood’s middle school students’ arts elective performing in the GAPPS One-Act Festival in February for the first time.
Also, Gatewood’s big musical of the year, Shrek Jr., performed by the Gatewood Players in grades three through nine, will be presented this March.