Earlier this week, we were treated to a performance of Sleeping Beauty by the Windy City Players. This Chicago-based touring group has come to us several times and is a wonderful addition to McGuffey’s Theater program. Our students were not only delighted by the performance, but it was also an opportunity to learn from the production; they watched terrific acting, they saw how simple props and sets can be very effective, and the actors generously offered a question and answer time after the show. During the days preceding the show, students were asked to think about and discuss what makes good audience etiquette and to remember actions they appreciated from an audience when they performed in the McGuffey musical.
Even though our first-semester Music classes are devoted to music theory, it is ever-present in our students’ minds that our next big musical production will be gearing up soon. How wonderful to have this opportunity to refresh the mantra of our musicals—that we are giving a gift to the audience—since our students were well aware of the gift they were given from the Windy City Players.
