I wish we were doing something lighter... something like... "The Wizard of Oz."
Those of you that know me know that I have sworn that I would NEVER do WOO with folks under 12 years old. But... "Coraline" is feeling a bit dark, under the circumstances. Our community recently suffered the tragic loss of a young woman. While our campers are holding up magnificently, I can't help but feel my stomach flip flop when we discuss the dark plot of our show.
Of course, "Coraline" has a happy ending, the child succeeds in winning back her parents AND freeing the souls of three ghost children, no small feat for a spunky little girl- but throughout the day, I wondered if it wouldn't be more appropriate to have tiny folks with helium voices singing that all will be well if you just follow a bright yellow road that's been conveniently laid out through an entire world.
Oh, Oz.
Wouldn't that be easier than dealing with a dimly lit stage, a terrible Other Mother who steals the souls of children after sewing on button eyes, while we are smothered with music that's locked in a minor key and sung only in jibberish?
I wonder.
But as I looked around at the end of the day, I was met with faces of twenty-seven strong and defiant adolescents.
"They'll beat this," I thought. They're going to stick together, lean on each other.
They'll make it through this. We'll make it through this.
Maybe it's great that we're doing "Coraline." Because like yesterday's quote says, Dragons can be beaten. Especially in our community. The campers will get me through this one, I'm not worried.
No comments:
Post a Comment