STORY NO.

200

"IS THERE KISSING?" What Ten Kids Taught Me That Hollywood Couldn't

by

Our plan

After a long, fruitful but dwindling acting career, I was in need of purpose. On my front doorstep a flier landed. It was a plea for parents and neighbors to consider getting involved with Walgrove Elementary School to make it the best environment for learning possible. My husband and I do not have children, so I didn't fit the parent category, but certainly we are people in a neighborhood. I became a Wonder of Reading volunteer and loved spending a couple of hours a week with two little kids. I became aware of the staggeringly high drop-out rates (50%) of the mostly African-American and Latino ninth graders in my area. These facts and my need for something to do made me suggest a crazy idea I called "The Shakespeare Club."

What we did

I asked the principal if I could start an after-school program I would call The Shakespeare Club for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. She asked how much it would cost and I said, "nothing." I wanted an exit if the whole thing went south.

Our results

My first year of the club was 2006. We did "A Midsummer Night's Dream." It was hard. I knew nothing of classroom chaos. I had a tricky group of 10 kids, but we made it! The second year I held auditions and eighteen kids joined. We did "Hamlet." The third year I had to turn kids away because my classroom is only big enough to work with 20, but we did "Romeo and Juliet." Two nine-year-olds ran lights and sound for the first time. This year, 33 kids auditioned, I picked 20 and we have just begun "Twelfth Night." I have a 10 year-old as a stage manager. 70 children have been involved over four years. These kids write in journals about the Elizabethan period, Shakespeare, the plays, the characters and their own lives. They do yoga and a vocal warm-up. They can scan iambic verse and they help each other on stage like real actors, because I stay out front and just take notes. They do four performances (the plays are adapted to 45 minutes) on one day in May. All of the kids involved, every single year, discover they have power by using huge language, taking chances and making an audience of adults sit up and listen to them. I have written a memoir about my experience, called: "IS THERE KISSING? What Ten Kids Taught Me That Hollywood Couldn't."

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Olivia Allen
Oakland, CA