What Ever Happened to Once Upon a Time?

ASA Drama Elective Performs!

The middle school drama elective, after eight weeks of practice, performed “What Ever Happened to Once Upon A Time” during March is Reading Month. “ It was a team effort. This group of twenty-three sixth, seventh, and eighth graders chose a play, auditioned for parts, honed their characters, and created costumes and props. They were very concerned with the authenticity of their characters, asking many questions as to how they should act or say certain lines. This was a very dedicated group of kids,” Mrs. Zimelis stated.

The play began with four substitute story tellers who were each excited for his/her first day on the job. Having grown up loving reading and listening to fairy tales themselves, they could not wait to share their enthusiasm for these beloved classics with other children.  Their enthusiasm quickly turned to dismay as they encountered a forgetful royal family, pigs with asthma and bad backs, a wolf more concerned with winning a Tony award than finishing a fairy tale, and other wacky, misguided characters from many of their most beloved classics!

Margaret N., one of the four story tellers, explained, “ Memorizing all my lines was challenging and time consuming, but it was worth it. I proved to myself I could do it because I was really nervous about it at first.”

“ I think we all felt that way, “  replied Morgan A., another story teller in the performance.

“ What I  really enjoyed was working with everyone, and I liked being the character that I was. As the king, I was supposed to be forgetful and clueless, “ commented Aidan M.

Developing the characters turned out to be a favorite part of many. Meagan J. agreed with Aidan. “ The freedom of being able to change the accent of the Big, Bad Wolf was nice. I decided to make him British!”

The fourth graders especially enjoyed the production. Mr. Kress shared that after returning from the performance, his students asked if they could make thank you cards for the drama club. The older students really enjoyed reading them all, and they were especially touched by one fourth grader who commented, “ You were great role models because it would take a lot of courage to do that! You all showed me that maybe I could do that some day.”

Ideas are already being batted around for next year. “ We should write a play about all the holiday characters, you know, like the Easter Bunny, Santa, and a leprechaun all getting together to create a new holiday, ” suggested Jessica M. Who knows? It may happen!

Monica H. added, “ It was really fun, put a creative twist on some stories, and was just really original. “