School days come and go… but we wanted this one to be special for children and their parents. So we, the staff of this small school in a remote corner of India, decided to stage “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”.
One of the most challenging and enjoyable roles of a teacher is preparing children for a play… especially if the children are in high school… The experience of coaching them and taking them to practice describing the challenges.
Snow White and the rest of the cast were grade 5 or below. A cute and talented third grader became Snow White more because she was relatively less mischievous. The role of the evil queen went to a smart fifth grader who was very good at acting.
The seven dwarfs were chosen for their sparkling eyes, exuberance and general optimism above all… as you will soon see… The prince, who appeared only in the last scene, was a quiet boy who learned his lines and recited them when asked. asked for, a redeeming quality… as you will soon see…..
With minimal and minor hiccups, we managed to get the children’s words perfect for the play. They were well excited, even the seven little kids…since they had to be themselves, fun and lively.
The big day arrived… Everyone was excited. The children were angels when it came to punctuality and dress rehearsals. With the play scheduled for 7:00 pm, the children were ushered into the green room at half past five.
Since the dwarves’ costume was not complicated, they prepared themselves first, put on their beards, mustaches and wigs and marched them to stand in line, waiting for their big moment… This was a big mistake…
They waited, 10 minutes… like good children, silent and happy… The next 10 minutes they looked around and drew the attention of others to their costume. Some posed for photos… They started talking… softly, louder… louder until they were ordered to stand with their fingers to their lips.
It was then that the tallest of the boys noticed a beautiful hole dug just behind the green room. He silently gestured to the other children and said, “Let’s see who jumps out first.”
Those who couldn’t jump simply slid down, shouted in victory, and then clambered back to the ground. This seemed like a good game to pass the time… By the time they were lost and spotted, each dwarf could be credited with at least 3 attempts to jump in and out…
Their attire bore witness to this fact… The suits were terribly muddy, the mustaches and beards were crooked, there was no trace of make-up and small fights had broken out between men… Of course they were lucky to have the nice axes of silver-colored cardboard that we had made for them, to start their skirmishes. “Bang! Shock!” articulated to simulate a well-fought ax duel….
However, the axes had not been designed for this eventuality and they bore the brunt of the fights… all the axes tilted evenly and then some fell apart…
The teachers quickly dressed up the seven little boys, making them presentable for the play. Mustaches were glued back, clothes were brushed off, spare axes were given, and makeup was remade…
The play started… The queen, the king, Snow White and the queen’s henchman were unbelievably good… Now our little boys were sent to the stage… They all got ready with their axes on their shoulders and a happy smile. faces…except one…This little boy didn’t want his whiskers…anymore…they were tickling his nose! He cried for his mother and kept twisting his nose and sneezing until she fell down…now he looked like what he was…a third grader…
Although he came on stage without a mustache, he did his part well, as did the other six boys… We almost became complacent when the other surprises that awaited us were revealed…
It was the scene of Snow White’s happy domestic life in the dwarfs’ cottage… She sang and danced and dusted and cleaned… The parents of the girl playing the role were so proud of her that her father decided which was to be photographed/video graphed/captured on mobile at the time… So, like any loving father, he asked his other daughter (age three) to come up on stage and pose with her now famous sister Snow White… .
Snow White loved all the attention, she stopped singing and started posing for photos… I mean… how many times would this moment repeat itself for her? She did the best she could…
The play started after 10 minutes when one of us lifted the three-year-old from the stage and politely informed the now-smiling father that people were waiting to see the play unfold so he could take the rest of the photos. after the play. ?…Being magnanimous at heart, he complied and leaned back in his seat to watch the rest of the drama…
A real drama was now… the evil queen came with the pretty lace and bows… she was applauded for her acting prowess by the parents while the children watched her wickedness with their mouths open… Then the stepmother disappeared…
It was the scene where I had to give Snow White the poisoned apple… Well… Snow White was singing and knitting and dancing and cleaning, waiting for the queen to show up, so were we… there seemed to be a stir behind the scenes. ..
What really happened was… the basket of bright red apples (five of them) tipped over and the apples rolled… none could be traced… A first grader wanted to help find it… he searched around and then ran back to the director. “Is he okay?” he asked… she had a melon-sized red ball in her hand, which he had found somewhere… It also had wide white stripes…
I will not dwell on the director’s plight, nor will I dwell on whether he considered using the huge plastic ball…for the apple…because at that moment an apple was located…it had rolled onto the stage and installed under Snow White’s chair…
An enterprising fourth grader, who was the host of the night, jumped up on stage happily and said, “Hello, Snow White! How are you? I’ll be right back…” and skillfully picked up the apple and came back on stage… .
There were no mishaps after that… The prince brought Snow White back to life and the dwarfs cheered and lowered the curtains…
Much later, as the main guests and the school management were warmly appreciating the teachers’ efforts to make the play a success… I wondered if we would be prepared enough to direct another play next year… Maybe time… “Alibaba and the 40 thieves”? Does anyone want to run it?
