Rock Solid, Part Two

In this post, I'll talk about the drama parts of "Rock Solid". I'll try to be positive and not put my "director's eye" to it.


This is the very first scene, where "Ranger Nick Hicks" calls all the hikers to the "25th Annual Summit Challenge". The kids did a great job getting up on that stage quickly, and I was so proud of them for crowding around the youth and not immediately getting into choir formation. My only complaint (and that is my complaint for the entire show) is that they had more enthusiasm. But, it was hot outside, and they had all been to school that day, and I'm sure nerves had a lot to do with it, too. Besides, they're kids , not professionals.


The Blue Team had the most scenes, so we gave those parts to older kids who could handle the heavy memorization. Hiker #1 was Matt, Hiker #2 was Ward, Hiker #3 was Kelsey, and Hiker #4 was Gabi. I really appreciated these kids because they had so much going on besides this musical, and there they were, constantly showing up. My heart really went out to them, too, because this was only their second play, so I know they were nervous.


Leslie and I called the Red Team our workhorses. They took whatever we threw at them and ran with it. THey were just the most earnest bunch of kids, and they continually surprised us. They only had two scenes to themselves, but they really did a great job with it, despite some of the sound issues we were having. Hiker#5 was Cathryn, Hiker #6 was Dalton, Hiker #7 was Brian Michael, and Hiker#8 was Jordan.


Here's Shelby (Aside #3) and Brooke (Aside #4) delivering their lines. They really did a great job and I don't think they needed the laptop at all! I can't wait to use them both at Christmas!

Here's the Blue Team again, this time meeting Claire, played by Savannah.

I was disappointed that we couldn't get the wireless mics on the kids fast enough, because this was a really cute scene where the Blue Team takes a lunch break after meeting Claire. Ward gets peanut butter stuck in his mouth, and they spend the rest of the scene trying to figure out what he was telling them.


This is the Red Team's final scene, and I think by this point the nerves had gotten to them, because they were quite fidgety, as proved by Dalton, who was inspecting the mountain in the background.

We began our play with Ranger Nick, and here we are ending our play with Ranger Nick! His faithful assistant, Hillary, is also there to oversee the Blue Team and Red Team arrivals.

And now everyone has successfully climbed the mountain! Wooo!

Tomorrow, we'll take a look at the kids busting loose on the songs of "Rock Solid".

Toodles!