It's Friday!

TGIF. Or however you want to show your weekend love. I hope you'll have some time to kick back and take in some you time. I know I will.

Yesterday:
We made the trek all the way down to Fort Myers. And had a blast. We had this one play about an electric snake named Electric (he likes to dance to "the hustle" while zapping the water with mini-bolts of lightning) and he was angry because his skateboard was stolen. So Electric confronted his friend, an electric eel (the way it was suggested was such that we were two different species), and asked her if she took. "No", she said. But she offered to help him find the skateboard, so off they went.

They made their way to the skateboard store and started admiring all the cool stuff inside, when a pinching crab was found, holding Electric's precious board. They tried to get it from the crab, but the crab pinched back. Finally, the crab ran away, with the two electric water reptiles fast on the crab's trail. They get the crab cornered and throw all their electric power into the crab...until she finally released the skateboard. They all decided to make it up after the crab apologize and tried to ride the skateboard together. But, alas, it broke. The end.

Now what makes this play even better was the volunteer we got for the crab. These are part of the one to two plays that we completely improvise out of the kids' suggestions. Naturally, we also make sure to give the kids as many opportunities to get in on the fun onstage. The guy we got was arguably the best volunteer actor we've ever seen. When he came out as the crab, he came out a-pinchin'. He fought back against us for the skateboard, he ran and ducked and dodged us. Then, he lied down and did the most beautifully exaggerated fake electrocution I've ever seen. We all almost lost it. And that's saying something from actors who are supposed to be prepared for the unexpected. It was great. Afterwards, we were all so impressed we gave him a signed postcard congratulating him. We were assured that made his day. And I'm glad. He certainly made ours.

Today:
No electrocutions, thank goodness. It was a very quick tour day. We were in and out before 10 AM had a chance to catch its breath. This was another local school where we did a play about these two very frightened girls who were trying to hang on for dear life while this roller coaster stopped-and-started and swooshed its way to the finish. We also did a play about a girl who couldn't come out of her room until it was clean. But when she started to pull everything together, the dog (this was me) came in and pulled everything out again; making an even worse catastrophe. The girl was mad, but the dog was very ashamed and she forgave her beloved pet. She went back to cleaning when the hard-nosed mother returned. She was furious the room was not cleaned after only one hour.

Before the girl could give a reply there came an answer from this British voice: "You're a very mean mother!"

The dog was talking!

The mother couldn't believe her eyes...so instead they rolled back into her head, and she collapsed on the floor. When the girl and the dog have to awaken her twice before she recovers from the shock. The mother quietly demands the dog to be put outside. The girl and the dog beg desperately on the opposite side. The mother thinks long and hard. At last, she gives in. They all reconcile, everyone is nice to each other, and the family finally becomes tolerant of their very special dog. The end.

-Ben