Live Performance is a PARP Tradition!
When Amelia Bedelia carefully spreads dust over all of the furniture in the house, the children watching at Katonah Elementary School can’t help but giggle. They know what’s coming next—Amelia Bedelia is going to “draw the drapes” on her sketch pad.
Jinjee Denner, a high school student, was on stage playing the literally-minded maid. The storybook character made her laugh when she was a child. That’s why she chose it as material for her Advanced Acting Class at John Jay High School. She and classmates Angelina Cerami and Ava Goodstein also performed “You Read To Me, I'll Read to You,” “Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go To Sleep,” “The Giving Tree,” “Leo the Late Bloomer,” and “The Dot.”
This is the seventh year that the acting class has performed at the district’s elementary schools during PARP—Pick a Reading Partner. They visited Increase Miller Elementary and Katonah Elementary at the beginning of PARP. They will perform for Meadow Pond Elementary students at the close of PARP.
Storybooks on Stage
Learning and Sharing Together
“The students choose the books; create scripts; design and make or find the costume, prop and set pieces; and cast and direct the plays,” said Bill Friedman, a high school acting teacher. “Over the years, we’ve staged over twenty-five different books."
After the performance, there was time for the students to ask the performers questions. Both the high school students and the elementary-aged audience reflected on why some books become favorites and the lessons they offered.
