“OK, everybody, today we are going through blocking,” says Aspen Dail to her peers. “We need Hazel, Iris, Markus and Harold to enter from the left,” Dail directs her fellow actors. The students are rehearsing during their lunchtime a play written by Dail, a sixth grader at Gateway Preparatory Academy. The play is not for an assignment in any class, she has written the six-scene play on her own time, complete with stage direction.
One month ago, Miss Dail began by arranging for space in a teacher’s classroom. She arranged to work during lunch on Mondays and invited friends to try out for a part. She held tryouts over two lunch breaks and cast the play. (Everyone earned a part, some as tech crew.) The script is projected on the wall as they rehearse. Miss Dail gives clear, positive feedback after each scene is rehearsed with every cast member getting direction on where they should be in the scene and what the expectations are for acting.
In an interview with Miss Dail, she shared she began writing plays in second grade, although she doesn’t remember finishing a complete play until fifth grade when she wrote, cast and performed, “The Librarian’s Secret.” Participating in local theater with CCCMT has helped. This is where she learned about the audition process, blocking and rehearsing a play.
To enlist actors, she asks her friends if they want to be in a play. “It’s fun! You learn a lot and I’ve made friends,” she said.
This week they are rehearsing, “Entity.” It is a play about a young girl who encounters good and evil entities and learns to recognize them and their interactions in her experiences. When asked how she comes up with ideas for her plays, she said, “I get ideas from peers and YouTube.”
She said she thinks about the storyline and then writes it out, filling in details as she revisits the working script. Miss Dail wants to be a writer, like her dad, when she grows up.
Written by Amy Thorpe
Teacher at Gateway Academy