REACH Play Robin Hood

We will begin rehearsals for our Spring play in January. We will be doing Robin Hood! We have chosen a script that is designed for a school play so that we can accommodate as many kids as possible. ALL AGES AND ABILITIES ARE WELCOME!!! We will have something for everyone! acting, sets, costumes, music, lights, sound……our goal will be to see that every child who wants to participate will have a way to do so. We will provide a challenging and meaning experience for the older kids and make sure the younger kids are able to participate and have fun without it being a stressful experience. Nora-Lee will be our director. She has many years experience in theater at a professional level as well as in the schools directing and acting. I think she will do a fabulous job!

We will begin on Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 12:30 with auditions. Please note this audition information!!
For Highschool ages – come prepared with a very short monologue (less than one minute) and if you are interested in singing, be prepared to sing something (again, less than a minute in length). We don’t intend for this to be stressful, but auditioning is a part of the theater experience! 🙂 Auditioning for middle schools will be optional (but helpful for casting) and the elementary kids will do some theater games and some (depending on age/ability) script reading. No stress for the little ones!!! If you have any questions, let us know.

Here is a list of characters. It will help if the kids look this over and come with an idea of a character they might like to play. We will also want to know if a student wants a large or small part. ALL parts will be gender flexible (not just the ones noted in the list). The script is very flexible and we will use that flexibility as much as we need to.

Characters:
Robin Hood
Little John
Will Scarlet
Friar Tuck
Sir Guy Gisborne, the Sheriff of Nottingham
Oswald, the Unready, the Sheriff’s aptly named assistant
Lady Marian Fitzwater, daughter of Sir Richard of The Lea
Midge the Miller
Nell Stately, Innkeeper at the Sign of the Blue Bell
Alfred, the Saxon
Alfrieda, his wife – Alison, Alice, Albert(a), Alyssa, Alvin(a), Alwyn, and little Alfie Jr, their children

Other Members of Robin’s band:
Alan(a)-a-Dale
Daisy and/or Davey of Doncaster (written as two roles but can be combined)
Brave Beverly
Clever Cordelia
Gil (either Gilbert or Gilda) Whitehand
Georgie Greene

Villagers, Tradespeople, Feast and Faire Attendees:
Penny (or Peter) the Trinket Peddler
Rowena, an outspoken elderly woman who doesn’t hear well
Edward (or Edwina), an impoverished farmer, Rowena’s friend
Lucy, Ethel and Kate, employed by Nell at the Blue Bell
Sheriff Duputies:
Barney Bardolph
Randie Randolph
Fergie Ferguson
Lady Gwendolyn of Glendower, the Sheriff’s sife
Gwyneth, her loyal maidservant

Also needed for a production of this size….Backstage people!!
We are looking for students or adults (or a combination). If you are interested in these…Nora-Lee would like to meet with the set/stage people before the 8th! We need:
A Stage Manager
Costumer designer
Sets
Props
Light designer
Assistant Director
Sound manager

We want music in our play! If you write music, play an instrument, sing….we want your involvement!!!! This will not be a musical, but we do want music to be a part of the play.

*****Another important job that we MUST have a volunteer for to make this work********
We will need a parent who will coordinate an activity each week for the kids, especially the younger kids who will not be in rehearsal the whole time. This person would not necessarily be responsible for doing the activity each week, but coordinating. Some ideas would be a dance lesson, acting lesson, history lessons (to tie in with the time period of the play), crafts, set projects, a stage combat lesson, etc. The kids must be involved in the actual rehearsal or this other activity, it’s important that we don’t have kids just wandering or playing unsupervised. With that in mind, we want parents to know that this will not be a drop-off activity for kids under 6th grade. We need parents involved and helping out! If you cannot be there, please have another parent in charge of your kids. We do understand the need to get errands done occasionally, but for the most part, we expect parents to stay around and help. If this is not possible, please contact me off-list to make arrangements. (I don’t want anyone to not participate because of this…so we will work with you).

Cost information:
We will be charging $20 per child for the first two kids in a family, each additional child will be $10. Payment needs to be made by the 8th unless other arrangements are made. You can mail payment to me (email me for address) or bring payment on the 8th. Checks can be made out to REACH.

Days and Times. This is a big commitment, but one we think will be lots of fun. We will rehearse on Thursdays from 12:30-2:30. We will not have any additional rehearsals. (so no worries about a crazy tech week or anything like that) The only variance will be that on Thursday, April 23 we will have a dress rehearsal and we will probably go longer than 2:30. We will perform on Friday night, April 24 and Saturday afternoon, April 25. (exact times to be determined).

Please let me know if you will be participating in our play. We need to know your kids’ ages and if they are interested in acting or backstage (if they already know…or they can decide on the 8th). If you or your child wants to be involved in the directing/sets/stage managing aspect, please let us know that as well. We want to be prepared for the number of kids and their involvement!

We are looking forward to lots of fun with this!