On March 13 in Ryan Little Theatre, the students of Neena McLain\u2019s Children\u2019s Theatre Practicum course told stories to children. There was an excitable energy in the air as kids shifted in their seats awaiting story time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This story time event wasn\u2019t initially planned for the public, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were going to do it over a video-call for a friend of mine in Louisiana for their class,\u201d Professor McLain explained, \u201cBut with Covid restrictions softening, I wanted our new young storyteller\u2019s to experience the children\u2019s energy first hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before story time began, Erica DiGiacamo, a student, led a game of Simon Says. The children giggled and relaxed a bit before sitting down on their respective carpet squares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Professor McLain warmed up the audience by telling Mercer Mayer\u2019s Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp<\/em>. As McLain told the story in exaggerated movements and funny voices, a two year old little girl in pigtails walked up to her to participate in the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[My daughter, Lyric,] loves listening to stories,\u201d said her mother Zoe Leal, \u201cWe have a huge shelf full of books and are frequents at the library.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After Professor McLain finished, I told Aesop\u2019s \u201cThe Honest Woodcutter,\u201d a story my father used to tell me before bedtime. It was a different experience telling the story as opposed to reading it from a book. Just as I practiced, I made big gestures with my arms and dramatic voices to entertain the children, and even got some laughs from the adults. It was exciting to interact with the audience and connect with them through this fable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, Hayli Isbell told another Aesop fable, \u201cThe Boy Who Cried Wolf.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen I say \u2018Wolf! Wolf!\u2019\u201d she instructed before the story, \u201cYou guys are going to put your hands to your head in the shape of wolf ears and howl.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every time the boy cried wolf, a collective howl would echo throughout the theatre to much of the audience\u2019s splendor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next Erica DiGiacamo told Judith Viorst\u2019s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day<\/em>. Instead of sticking to the exact character names in the book, Erica personalized it and included audience members\u2019 names. It was a nice touch paired with the character\u2019s grumpy persona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To finish the story time, Madelyn Melbourne told an African folktale called \u201cThe Caterpillar\u2019s Voice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the cute wiggly caterpillar had a tiny voice, every time Madelyn said, \u201cIt is I!\u201d all the children would chime in, \u201cThe biggest and the strongest of them all!\u201d simulating the caterpillar\u2019s big echoed voice in the cave throughout the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy favorite was the caterpillar story,\u201d Logan Goff, age eight, said, \u201cThe lesson is that you can stand up for yourself if you\u2019re small or tiny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Professor McLain said, \u201cThe students did fantastic and far exceeded my expectations, and my expectations were high already. I was impressed how each storyteller adjusted to the energy. It\u2019s a give and take and that\u2019s why I like it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStorytelling,\u201d said Zoe Leal, \u201chelps you bond with kids and educate them. They learn about empathy and how to interact with others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Professor McLain looks forward to her students\u2019 upcoming children\u2019s production of Dinah Toups\u2019 Totally Red<\/em>, a fantastic retelling of \u201cLittle Red Riding Hood\u201d in different genres!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On March 13 in Ryan Little Theatre, the students of Neena McLain\u2019s Children\u2019s Theatre Practicum course told stories to children. There was an excitable energy in the air as kids […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","clearfix"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/storytime.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":770,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768\/revisions\/770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}