There is nothing quite like sitting in on a performance attended by a grade school audience. Young people in a theatre environment are going to react at whatever you present on stage, in ways you may not expect. For example...

At a show I just attended: A full house of students entered talking (as they are wont to do) sat in their seats, and kept talking as the house filled. The preshow music changed tracks about 5 minutes before curtain, and the brief lull caught someones attention. That someone hushed the audience, and like wildfire, the kids were "ssssh!"ing each other, and silence fell as if the show were about to start. They sat and listened, and when that track ended, there was a smattering of applause, like for a concert or dance. The preshow music for this show consisted of short tracks (2 minutes or so each), and at the end of the next track, once again this young audience applauded at the end of the track as if it were something that had been performed live performed by an orchestra.

That same young audience acted much more predictably during a black out - they screamed and whistled when the theatre went to black.

But that's not the point of what I want to write about. It's a young audience that will show you if you (the big general YOU as a theatre person) have successfully done your job - in other words, have you told the story of your play clearly. They'll also tell you if you've told that story in a way that's interesting, funny, or frightening, suspenseful, or sad. If you're working on a piece that contains controversial materials, the gasps, the murmurs or the stark silence that a young audience responds with are telling.

If you have a chance to talk to those young people, or to have them ask questions about the show, they may surprise you with what they notice, or what makes them curious - besides wanting to know if things are real or how old actors are.

Sure, there are things that kids find funny that adults won't - especially when dealing with Elizabethan English or other dated language - or kissing or anything that remotely involving sex. They're also not going to understand some humor either by context, history, or experience. They're going to react differently to seeing other young people on stage, or to animals. (There are going to be lots of "aaaawwwss" if the young person is really young and for just about any animal.)

But if young people will catch a plot, understand, follow, and stay with you till the end, you have done your job. When a young man begins a show leaning back in his chair, eyes rolling, fiddling with his jacket zipper or hair, and by intermission is watching, and by curtain is leaning forward engaged, you have most certainly done your job.

There are young audiences (or parts of an audience) that don't fit this bill - they're distracted, restless, would rather be outside or on the computer, at the controller of a gaming console. You know you've really done a good job, when you find that your production can win that kind of an audience over.

Until next time,

Cheers,

~R