Arts for Kids, ETC Performance Review — Save the Rainforest for Me.

Arts For Kids Performance
Category: Art and Photography

The Grand Hall of the Community Arts Center was transformed into a dense jungle this morning as Arts for Kids, ETC prepared for their performance of Save the Rainforest for Me, a production that has been the focus of their summer camp at the Community Arts Center.  For the past three weeks, kids from ages six to ten have been hard at work in the basement of the Community Arts Center building the elaborate set, creating costumes, learning songs and dances composed for specifically for the production, and researching information about the rainforest and its many creatures.  I was constantly amazed at how much of the work the kids did themselves, especially in the set and costume construction.  Rebecca Ryland, the Director of Arts for Kids, ETC, says that in working with children for so long, she has, “Just learned to trust them.”  Kim Nicholson, a local advocate of recycling, served as the visual arts director for the rainforest environment.  It was great to see how great a role recycling played into the construction of the set.  Pointing to vines made of twisted paper, she added, “That paper came from the Dell computers delivered to Camp Dick Robinson Elementary.” A back drop sheet with printed leaves on it: “I found that at Goodwill.”  Other recycled elements pop out, if you take the time to analyze the scene: Cardboard tubes came from carpet stores to make bamboo, a turtle that the kids named “Yertle” has a head built around an old shoe.

The performance was equally charming.  An introduction of “Who’s Who in the Rainforest,” allowed the children to introduce themselves as a rainforest creature that they selected and researched themselves.  A tree frog, a gorilla, a bumblebee, a swarm of six-year-old monkeys, snakes, a panther . . . (I could go on but it would take a while) each emerged from the rainforest to tell a brief fact about themselves.  Some were as simple as, “I’m a boa and I eat rodents,” while some intros included great trivia facts, like: “A butterfly cannot fly unless it’s body temperature reaches at least 86 degrees.”  This is all incredibly cute coming from kids in costumes they made themselves.  After the intros, the audience was treated to a version of “The Lion Sleeps tonight” aptly retitled, “In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle, the Jaguar Sleeps Tonight.”  This is fitting because there aren’t any lions in the rainforest.  Small groups of animals sang solos that were followed by the boisterous sing-along “A-whim-a-wah, A-whim-a-wah” parts until the Jaguar awoke to scare them all away.

The popular children’s story “Caps for Sale” was used as the source for a great skit called “Monkey See, Monkey Do” with Rebecca Ryland playing the part of the tired hat salesman.  The six year olds, wearing paper monkey masks, quickly stole her inventory of brightly colored caps while she slept.  She awoke to find the group of monkeys wearing her hats, mimicking her every move.  Growing ever more frustrated with their refusal to cooperate, she threw her hat on the ground.  When the monkeys followed suit, she collected her hats and went off into the jungle, leaving the playful monkeys confused.

Other parts of the production included the children drumming on plastic buckets and cardboard tubes and a very nice dance piece called “Peaceful Butterfly Dance” that featured butterflies made of pipe cleaners mounted onto sticks.  The kids sat in three different circles and had some detailed choreography that had the butterflies weaving through the air.  Brian Pavloff’s original music really set the mood for the piece and if you used your imagination just right… the children disappeared and became the butterflies that they held.

“The Great Kapok Tree” was a short skit that featured a lumberjack (played by Brian Pavloff) who ventured into the forest to chop down a tree.  He unfortunately selects the great Kapok tree and after taking a few swings with his ax, gets exhausted and falls asleep beneath its branches.  During his slumber the animals approach him one by one and plead with him not to cut down this great resource.  It is the hive where the bees live, where the ocelot hunts for food, every animal has its own need of the tree.  When the lumberjack wakes up, he realizes how foolish and selfish he was to try to destroy the tree.  He is convinced that he should be the spokesperson to save the rainforest and tells everyone to tell the person next to them to save the rainforest, to pass it on.

The hour-long program ended with a group song by Brian Pavloff.  This song, in my opinion, was the highlight of the show. A very touching, stick-in-your-head, minimalist song that featured a softly sung chorus of “Save us, Save us” with all the animals lined across the stage.  The song, although simple at first, revealed itself to be quite complex as several children had solo parts before merging back into the group. 

The performance was very well attended as the crowd became standing-room only once the show began.  I thought it was a great,entertaining show even though I didn’t have any kids in it (which is saying a lot for a children’s production).  I did make sure that my six-month-old, Jillian got a chance to see it and she loved it, giggling along for as long as a six-month old can stay awake.  She fell asleep during “The Peaceful Butterfly Dance,” due to its peacefulness, I suppose.  If you didn’t get a chance to see the show, you can at least check out the set.  The environment that served as a backdrop for the production will be on display in Studio Two, the elevator gallery at the Community Arts Center until July 20th.  It’s quite a treat to step off the elevator and into the jungle.

 

Thanks,
Brandon Long
Executive Director
Community Arts Center