Last week we celebrated an event that will go down as an epic night at our house. It will be remembered as the night that our backyard became a theater.
Starting at the beginning of summer 2020, these two girls started spending a lot of time together through virtual sleepovers while our family was still shut down pretty tightly due to COVID. They formed a precious friendship. During these sleepovers they began talking about putting on a play.
They spent MONTHS adapting a script for Willy Wonka. After finishing the script they made fliers and placed them in the mailboxes of our neighbors, as well as recruiting friends.
They were able to get enough interested kids, so they conducted virtual auditions and began having rehearsals every weekend through Zoom.
After an entire YEAR, they were vaccinated, the world looked a little brighter, and we began hosting rehearsals in our backyard, while still masked initially.
It was almost like starting over when in person, but the kids quickly got into the swing of being together, and worked diligently on putting this production together.
It was such a coordination of talents with shirts being made, dances being choreographed, and songs being written.
They played theater games, they ran lines with each other, and they created the sets (with some background support from some siblings).
It was a tough final week, with multiple rehearsals and lots of experimenting.
Finally, it was time. We turned our back deck into the stage, complete with stage lighting.
The kids decided to charge $5 per ticket, and voted on the charity that they wanted to donate the proceeds to. They decided they wanted to donate to a charity that befitted families and children who were experiencing homelessness. They decided on Nicholas House in Atlanta. https://nicholashouse.org/
The show went on, and it was FANTASTIC!
My dad made a good point that someday their kids will ask them what they did during COVID. These kids will be able to have such a great answer! I hope they will be able to tell this story with a great feeling of pride and accomplishment. I know my heart was full to bursting. It was a night to treasure for sure.
