Theatre, and the Writing and Producing of Children's Plays

318 /v' /S CINDY'S FELLER: AN ADAPTATION OF CINDERELLA THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS By Mary E. Starcher Denton, Texas May, 1985 Starcher, Mary E., Cindy's Feller: An Adaptation of Cinderella. Master of Arts (Drama), May, 1985, 151 pp., 2 tables, 1 illustration, bibliography, 8 titles. The problem with which this thesis is concerned is that of writing and directing an adaptation of the classic fairy tale, Cinderella. This study is a culmination of research on children's theatre, and the writing and producing of children's plays. The research led to the writing of the first draft of Cindy's Feller, an adaptation of Cinderella, beginning with a scenario which utilized a country-western theme. Upon completion of the first draft, the play was produced at North Texas State University during the summer of 1981. Stage directions of the play, a director's log of daily rehearsals, and an evaluation of the final productions were recorded to provide a stimulus for the writing of a final draft of Cindy's Feller and the preparation of this thesis. Copyright by Mary E. Starcher 1985 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES.......... .......... LIST OF -ILLUSTRATIONS... .. ... .. Chapter I. INTRODUCTION,...a.0............... .. i Survey of Children's Theatre Producing a Children's Play Writing a Children's Play Purpose Definitions Methodology II. ORIGINAL SCRIPT AND PRODUCTION NOTES OF CINDY'S FELLER..-.-.........-.............*. .. 25 Scenario Cindy's Feller Costume List Prop List III. DIRECTOR'S LOG AND EVALUATION.. .. ..... 62 Script Staging and Blocking Scenery and Properties Lighting Costumes IV. FINAL SCRIPT OF CINDY'S FELLER..... 0.......93 V. CONCLUSION.......-...-.................... 126 APPENDIX.........-.-.....-...-.....-.-.-... .. 129 BIBLIOGRAPHY...........a...- ...-- ..-- ........ 151 LIST OF TABLES Table Page I. Survey of Proposed Adaptation of Cinderella Classified According to Age Level..........2 II. Sample of Survey Form for Children's Evaluation of Cindy's Feller . .. 92 i LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Flow Chart of Cindy's Feller..............*....23 ii CHAPTER I INTRODUCT ION The challenge of writing a children's play has excited many people in the field of theatre. Those who choose to write for children enter an exciting world of fun and fantasy that may provide children with new but relevant discoveries and experiences that enlarge their view of the world around them. Often this child's view has rekindled the imagination of a playwright who has become jaded by too-factual of an adult environment. The opportunity for the author of this thesis to write a play for children occurred during the New Play Workshop at North Texas State University in the summer of 1981. Being a graduate student and having studied and directed children's theatre, the author was asked to direct the play Cinderella for the first production in the workshop. After reading several adaptations of the fairy-tale, the author began to consider the idea of a new version. The conception of adapting Cinderella to a country-western theme developed from the author's study of children's theatre and her exploration of the new concept in her imagination. Having been an instructor of creative dramatics in the public schools, the author had a strong interest in the field of theatre for children, not 1 2 only from the standpoint of teaching a child to open his mind to the world of theatre and its value in his life but also that of stimulating the teacher's creativity. Several country-western songs were chosen at the outset, and a scenario was prepared. After writing the scenario, the author surveyed eleven-through-fourteen-year-old students at Bowman Middle School in Plano, Texas, to determine how many of the students felt the adaptation would be worthy of an audience of children. This age range was chosen because it included an appreciation of children's stories, and the ability to make a decision about a story's value. The students were given a brief oral description of the scenario and then were asked to give a negative or a positive response about their impressions of the revised theme of the fairy-tale. The results supported the author's concept. TABLE I SURVEY OF PROPOSED ADAPTATION OF CINDERELLA CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO AGE LEVELS AGE YES NO 11 97% 3% 12 98% 2% 13 97% 3% 14 100% 0% 3 Table I indicates that students were motivated toward children's theatre. The majority of the students who were surveyed attributed their positive answer to the fact that they would have liked to see the story, Cinderella, performed in the Texas style, or they just enjoyed attending plays. "The worker in children's theatre has been in a position to influence the young and to generate in them a love of theatre and of the arts in general. Children's theatre has become an important field, and a worthy outlet for theatrical talent."1 After the survey was completed, the writer continued with further research on the subject of children's plays. This research was focused on children's theatre in general and the opinions of experts in the field in particular. "Expert" meant someone who had written or directed plays for children. The ideas and opinions which were examined during the research stimulated the author's imagination, and she began to develop the first draft of the play. Realizing from the research that action rather than words played an important role in holding the interest of a child audience, the author had to imagine how each scene would tell the story through gestures, movement, and facial expression, as well as through dialogue. From the beginning however, the author wanted a . Oscar G. Brockett, Theatre and Introduction (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1974), p._626. 4 narrator who would tell the story to the young audience. even though the use of a Willie Nelson character as a story teller contradicted the principle of "less dialogue-more action". To play it safe, the author limited the narration to short but colorful passages. The speeches and particularly the character of the narrator had to be clearly defined enough for the children to identify with him. Since the play was an adaptation of a famous children's story, the other characters in the play had already been established in the children's mind, and their dialogue flowed freely even though the author utilized a Texas dialect. As the adaptation was developed, the addition of a villainous character created a new conflict within the original plot. Here the author was taking a chance since children often have rebuked any change in a familiar story. Yet the addition of the evil character brought more action to the play and created even more empathy for Cindy than the original story had had. Survey of Children's Theatre Children's theatre so-called has been in existence at least since the sixteenth century when Madame Stephanie de Genlis was writing and producing moralistic plays with and for children of the French aristocracy.2 Yet, children's theatre seems to have had continuity over the centuries until 2Ioses Goldberg, Children's Theatre, A Philosophy and a Method (Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1974), p. 62. 5 about fifty years ago when the Soviet Union, sensing an advantage in producing theatre for their children in order to indoctrinate them, made theatre an important part of their education. The success of children's theatre in Russia led all the Socialist nations to develop children's theatre either of their own devising or under Soviet guidance.) Because of the influence and success of children's theatre in Russia and the other socialist nations, theatre for the young began to spread into the western world. Yet children's theatre met with little success in the United States. Children's theatre had been introduced to America in 1903 at the Children's Educational Theatre in New York and expanded into other settle ment houses. These programs failed because of lack of theatrical interest This disinterest in children's theatre continued until the youth of America rebelled against "The Establishment". Adults in the United States had become increasingly concerned about the role of children and young people within the con ventional patterns of their country. Parents, educators, psychologists, and even politicians had focused their atten tion on their children. Experience of theatre could provide a kind of excitement which demanded a constant intellectual, physical, imaginative, and emotional growth, and the part of society which had recognized the advantages of theatre in the 3Goldberg, Children's Theatre, P. 73. 4 Goldberg, Children's Theatre, p. 74. 6 personal growth and aesthetic growth of all young people supported children's theatre to its highest potential.5 Parents and concerned members of the community supported Junior League groups and brought into the community touring companies of children's theatre. Summer programs of children's theatre extended into the parks and the recreation curriculum, and many community theatres supported theatre workshops for children. The children's theatre is a theatre where no distinction is made on the basis of economic class, race, sex, religion, or national origin; it is attended by a complete cross section of the population. This theatre brings joy to its audience and also helps them to become better human beings. And it does all this with only a fraction of the critical notice, financial outlay, or community support commanded by the more famous American theatres. The children's theatre is a theatre with little prestige, few artists, and not much dramatic literature.

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