Actors Create Village Scenes, Songs, Choreography & Walls – Princess Shayna Musical

Previous Post: 9. Singing Visit to the Brain Color Villages – Princess Shayna Musical

This is the 10th Princess Shayna Musical journal entry/blog post from director Kim Woycke. I was eager to see this rehearsal after missing the last two because of Spring Break, Good Friday and the 1st night of Passover. However, I had the 24 hour “crud” (feeling lousy and chilled). I was very disappointed that I was unable to attend the rehearsal, but I did not want to share my “crud” with the cast. When you read Kim’s journal below,  you will understand why I am very excited and eager to attend this week’s rehearsal.

“Rehearsals have been going extremely well for Princess Shayna.  I am excited to say that we have almost written/staged the entire show!  Time has been the biggest obstacle with this process, as we only meet for 2 hours each week and a 15 chapter book worth of material, plus composing and writing lyrics for songs!!- but luckily we have worked quickly and have successfully finished chapters 1-12!  This coming week we’ll be wrapping up chapters 13-15 to complete our play!  We will then have several weeks to be able to refresh, polish, and rehearse the material that we have created.

This week, we worked on our songs for our last two villages, the Green Village and the Orange Village.  We followed the same process as last week, starting with a chorus for inspiration and then splitting up into two groups to finish the lyrics and staging/choreography.  I am very excited about what we were able to create- we have some very cute songs complete with humor, dancing and even gymnastics!  We have a few finishing touches left with the Orange Village song, but in general we made a lot of progress.

This week, I also held an optional Scene Painting Day for the cast.  Any actors that were available and interested were invited to join me to work on painting our flats on Saturday afternoon.  (For non theater people, flats are exactly what they sound like-  They are large, flat pieces of theatrical scenery that are painted to convey buildings, backgrounds etc.)  In our case, we use 4’x8′ sheets of foam insulation (they’re lightweight for portability!).

We had 6 actors that were available to assist with the painting.  Our actors worked to paint 4 brick walls using a 3-step sponge-painting technique.  They also created several signs, and assisted with a few other pieces.  The afternoon was a great success, as we accomplished much more than I thought we would!  I usually paint all of the scenery for my productions myself, so it was exciting to have some extra hands.  It also adds such a nice touch to the show – knowing that these creative actors have been involved in the behind-scenes parts of the production as well.

Our story continues to come to life with each step in the process.  We are getting closer to our performance day, and I can’t wait!”

Just like Kim, I can hardly wait to see the performance on… Saturday, May 19th!  The performance will presented at the Lake Zurich Middle School North in the late afternoon or early evening. Reserve the date on your calendar and I will tell give you the exact time in the next Princess Shayna Musical post.

Below are the previous Princess Shayna Musical blog posts.

8. Characters’ Back-Story & Staging Scenes – Princess Shayna Musical

7. Young Song Writers Compose Original Music & Lyrics – Princess Shayna Musical

6. Building A Strong Collaborative Community – Princess Shayna Musical

5. Students Plan, Compose & Connect Emotions to Music & Lyrics – Princess Shayna Musical

4. Students Create Their Own Kingdom of Kindness – Princess Shayna Musical

3. Auditions, Rehearsal, Casting & Music – Princess Shayna Musical

2. Diabetes, An Actress & A Royal Wizard – Princess Shayna Musical

1. Princess Shayna – A New & Original Children’s Musical

“Sigmund the Royal Wizard says, “Rimsiyavyo,  Discover 5 Ways To Boost Your Brain Power… scroll up to the right-hand column on this page!

1. Like Us On Facebook – this is Sheila Brain Color and Princess Shayna Facebook Page

Don’t forget, 10% of the royalties from the sale of Sheila’s books is allocated to JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) .”

Please Spread the Word