Ben and I had the opportunity to help our ward plan, practice and perform in this years stake Play-in-a-say! A play in a day is when each ward gets a theme and must write their own script, plan a play, practice the play and then perform the play- all in one day. On Thursday night our ward was given the theme of 'The Lion King' with a standard of self reliance. Three of our youth got together and wrote the play. Then we all met Saturday morning; did reading and run through of the play, made costumes and sets (there were sister's in our ward who volunteered and did GREAT), one of the young women re-wrote the words to all the songs, they helped plan choreography and practiced, practiced, practiced.
They had some stage time to block it out and get it all to play out smoothly and in the amount of time given (we only had 10-15 minutes and when we started it was taking us about 45 minutes to get through it all). They circled around the piano practicing songs and then practiced dance moves, over and over. As the show approached the girls excitedly applied gobs of stage make-up and did their hair. The boys practiced their strip scene (more on the purpose of that in a minute- but here is a funny video) and they had fun just being with each other.
Here is the idea of our play: At the beginning of the play all the youth came out singing the chant part of the song 'The Circle of Life' from the movie, The Lion King. Then one of the older boys held up one of the deacons- like the all encompassing scene in the Lion King (when Simba is held above the crowd). It then flashed to many years later, set in a high school, when a young man (Timba, call me Tim) gets kicked out of the Speach and Debate club by the evil, Scar (dressed like Harry Potter- get it, scar). So Tim decided to find a new club. First he goes to the Glee Club (where there are jocks, dancing and even a kid in a wheel chair and sweater vest) but decides it is not for him. Then he goes to knitting club where they sing Acunna Mattata, describing the woes of high school, but again, not for him. He then talks to his love/girlfriend (enter during 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight') and she cries about how awful speach and debate is, he comforts her by ripping off his shirt to dry her tears (reference to Twilight- young girls proclaim 'I am for Team Edward!). He then is visited by Raffici (who didn't really fit into the scene at all- he was a man from the renaissance) and an old classmate (now in college) and get's the confidence to go back to speach and debate (hw pumps up during the Rocky song). He then goes and challenges scar to a debate, in the end scar/Harry draws his wand to kill Tim BUT Tim had his trusty light saber (a required prop from the Stake) to reflect the evil spell and defeats scar. Everyone cheers, Nalla cries (all the young men give her their shirts) and they end singing the Circle of Life. It was full of a lot of humor, lion puns and funny moments- the kids were great.
Ben and I helped behind the stage getting people out at the right time, curtains, ect. It was so much fun to see the kids perform and to have them accomplish so much. Then we got to sit back and watch the other wards in the stake do their performances. It was great to see the creativity and excitement of the youth of the stake. We are happy that we participated and were able to get to know the youth better!
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