DRAMA REPORT 1974—Mary Toburen, Director and Val Unger, assistant,

“This year I attempted to give the girls a general ideal of what drama is. Most of them greeted the thought of drama with “Ick”. During the week of class I kept things light and fun. There’s so little time that I figured if I could open their minds to the subject, so some one else later on could start without the prejudice feelings, it would be time well spent,” Mary wrote.

She included plays and skits, which were usually taken by the older campers; creative drama with an emphasis on creativity; and one puppet class. “I only offered one puppet session because I found very little interest in the class,” wrote Mary. “It was a difficult class for the younger ones, who were the most interested, because it made great demands on voice control and coordination. The lack of enthusiasm may have stemmed from the fact that I personally disliked the class.”

Judging by the size of her drama games class, Mary found it to be popular and well-liked, perhaps due to the fact there were no performances. Occasionally the girls did commercials for the theatre nights. A second week class was rehearsal, which was needed and freed up other hours for other classes.

The classes were held on the west end of the north porch and the costumes were in cardboard boxes for easy access. There was imaginary staging, improvised costuming and borrowed materials to bring the performances to life. The tables were pushed against the walls and benches were used for seats. They obtained permission to use lodge rooms for dressing rooms, and scene changes were done by a “stage crew”, dressed in work shirts and bib overalls to look like workmen.

The last session drama night was “A Night At The Theatre”, with a meal served and unattached staff acting as waitresses. “It was a dress-up occasion,” she wrote, and they used black sheets hung over binder twine for curtains and had a printed program.

Mary usually scheduled ten to a class and based the play selection upon the age and number of students, citing “What appeals to nine year-olds will normally leave Senior Village cold.” The plays she used were “Is This Heaven” for first session, “Make Him Smile” for second session, “Adam and Eve” for fourth session and none in third session since it was only one week long.

The puppet show in second session was “The Drummer Boy”. The creative drama in first session, which was a monologue, was “Baby Dolly”. The skits in fourth session were “Say Dad” and “The Dagger”. The drama games included “King With a Terrible Temper”, which was done in first and second session and had audience participation.

There were pantomimes on making pizza, a clown applying makeup, making a peanut butter sandwich and various commercials. The “Loon” staff also did a skit “Pepper” in the first session. Mary wrote, “Also various toasts were initiate by class performances, the favorite being Val’s interpretation of a monkey.”

Mary and Val shared responsibilities and duties, but during the second session Val went to primitive camp and was replace by two willing waterfront personnel who taught one class each for one week. During the second week, one stayed and the program director taught a class, which was “a pleasant change for all them and got me out of a bind”. Val typed most of the plays and taught some classes especially before a production, while Mary handled scheduling, material selection, class motivation, and production arrangements.

Lesson plans were listed for the plays, with each day of the two-week class itemized. The creative drama included pantomimes, telephone skits, acting out animals or inanimate objects and even finding new uses for other props. (Ping-pong paddle could be a mirror, canoe paddle, guitar, shoe horn, tree, etc.) There was also expressive dance and readings, charades, monologues, puppet shows, and audience expressive dance and readings, charades, monologues, puppet shows, and audience participation stories. She also had a jungle hunt through camp.

Her rules included no more than five minutes late, no one on drama porch unless in class or with permission, on use of costumes without permission, and noise could be toned down when class was in session. (piano, record player) She wished the staff would keep to the same rules as the campers, which they were supposed to do, but rarely did.

Her recommendations were to repair all torn costumes, acquire sewing materials, find a better storage cabinet to hang costumes for protection, more books, more paper on hand, and buy a basic supply of stage makeup. She was disappointed in the unasked for borrowing of equipment by staff without permission and hoped for a more secluded spot for supplies in the future.

Were you in Mary’s drama classes? What do you remember?