Being a Good Neighbor

I’ve been pondering what to say about the kids last week for a few days now because they were a pretty special group; wildly talented, 100% committed and even more impressively, full of wonderful acting choices that added so much to the show.

The audition was one of the toughest yet, 154 kids crammed onto the stage all dying to be a part of the show. The first thing we do in the audition is have them say their name and age as loud and clear as they can and after the first 50 had yelled their names, we knew it was going to be difficult to cut 90 as the majority of them had bright clear voices and wonderful smiles. At the audition there were 2 mentally handicapped kids. We immediately knew these kids didn’t get many chances like this so they were put in the “yes” pile of kids and cast in the show.

On WednesdayI taught the Seahorses, the 5-7 year olds including Leah, a mentally challenged girl who I was very excited to get a chance to work with. The Seahorses have several song and dance numbers that required them to execute a series of moves while singing and then form two pretty difficult circles while “neighing” as loud as they can. I decided to give Leah a sea horse buddy to help her out even though she was doing quite well learning the steps on her own. I assessed the kids and decided on a bright faced, very intelligent girl named Lucy. It’s amazing to me how much you can tell about a kid’s character simply by looking at their face and Lucy did not let me down. All throughout rehearsal whenever Leah started looking lost, Lucy would grab her hand and say “C’mon Leah! It’s time to make our circles!” and Leah in turn would follow right along singing and galloping as loud as any sea horse out there.

There were points during the week when I knew that Lucy was feeling a bit overwhelmed, but at the age of 6, she was exhibiting qualities that most adults struggle with…being a good neighbor. And as I looked around back stage during show day I saw the older mentally handicapped girl receiving high fives from the other kids in her group having just successfully completed a difficult scene. Perhaps what was most impressive about the kids of Bartlett, TN was that not once did any of them talk down or avoid Leah or the other girl, but instead treated them just like any other kid in the show.

Lucy and the cast accepted these two girls without any judging or stereotyping resulting in one of the best productions of “The Little Mermaid” I have ever seen.

Here is a clip from when the Sinister Soldiers storm the kingdom
To the kids of Bartlett: You seriously rock my purple socks off!