Upcoming Summer Camp Final Performances

Create-A-Play Summer Camp Final Performances NEXT WEEK:
Join us for the BIGGEST Kids Creative Performances of the Year

Come see FOUR brand new musicals created and performed by the Create-A-Play campers, Grades K-7

Tuesday, August 5, 5:00-7:30 PM
Wednesday, August 6, 5:00-7:30 PM
Thursday, August 7, 9:30 AM-12:00 PM
Friday, August 8, 9:30 AM-12:00 PM
in the Auditorium at PS 191, 210 West 61st Street at Amsterdam Avenue
Suggested donation of $5

The Four Original Productions
“The Adventures of Simon Petrusky”--Simon is part of a reality TV show where everyone in his world is turned into a Monkey. How will he cope?
(Tuesday and Thursday)

“Yuckyman and the Power of QIOS”--A wild strain of Poison Ivy is making everyone itchy and scratchy and they must all turn to Very Clean Guy, the Undercover Secret Agent Dentist and more to help. Will they succeed?
(Wednesday and Thursday)

“Lettuce World, The Musical aka The World Food Shortage and the Cumulative Effects on Monsters, Ultimate Ball and the People of Earth”--
Our story begins with some world class reportage
about ultimate ball and the world food shortage
word on the street is that people are sad
we need to do something, things are looking quite bad
Will a journey from Monster World to Lettuce World save the day?
(Wednesday and Friday)


“The Story of the Mystical, Organic Milk from Mars”--Good and Bad Mermaids, Kings, Queens, Princes, Princesses, and more are in a fight over Organic Milk from Mars that has special powers and they need the Wolf Spy to come help solve their major conflict.
(Tuesday and Friday)

Also featuring a Public Service Announcement about Women's Rights from Create-A-Dream/Border Crossers and amazing videos by the Rock Stars.

Snippets of What We've Created

The Following are scenes from the After School Plays we're performing this June, written and performed by the kids

"THE SQUARE HEAD AND I", SCENE 2:

On Tishonka and WitCo Airlines

Buddy:  I sure hope nobody sits between us.

In walks Norman, a large individual with a strangely square head.  He pushes his way into his seat between Buddy and the other passenger.

Over the Loud Speaker:  Welcome to today's flight.  It is a full flight, so please stop asking for open seats.  For our meal service, in First Class, anything you want.  In coach, moldy bread.

Cue fashion model, walking in, talking loudly on her cell phone, looking at Norman in disgust.

Fashion Model:  To Norman. That outfit is hideous.  To the person on the cell phone.  Oh, no, not you darling, though that outfit was hideous.  Oh, I don't know, some enormously fat bloke with a huge square head.

Norman:  Hey, it's just a haircut.  Everything on stage freezes and Norman stands up.  It's not a hair cut.

SONG: MY HEAD IS SQUARE (by the Dirty Sock Funtime Band)

My head is square (His head is square)

It ain't no fair (It ain't no fair)

It's really rare (It's really rare)

Unless you count mon petit freire

"DONUT-A-LICIOUS", SCENE 4: 

Donut Princess Josephine: Boy, where are we?

Donut Princess Josephina: A mess or a giant garbage can.

Donut Princess Josephine: Look at how dirty the ceiling is, it’s all covered in dust, I don’t even think this place has a real roof!

Donut Princess Josephina: Why did the popcorn man send us here?

Donut Princess Josephine: I am really smart but that is a question I have no idea what the answer is.

Suddenly, the place becomes alive. It turns out it's a Secret Laboratory.

SONG: Secret Laboratory (by the Dirty Sock Funtime Band)
THERE IS A PLACE WHERE MONKEY’S LIKE TO TALK
AND MAGIC POTIONS GROW ON TREES NOT A BEAN STALK
HYPNOTIZING MACHINES ON THE SIDEWALK
IT’S A SECRET LABORATORY


"LEGENDS OF THE FAT CASTLE", SCENE 1:

SONG: Phat Castle (By Jon Roberts)
This is a story bout a lilypad and a princess and a dog and some frogs
and a little Phat Castle in Australia
(Dance Break)
and a little Phat Castle in Australia WHOAHHH!
and a little Phat Castle in Australia WHOAHHH!
and a little Phat Castle! Hey!

Before we get started now I got a question bout how
All the frogs keep on jumping on the lilypads
When the lilypad's so small and the frogs are as big as a log

What's the Deal?
What's the Deal?

Why don't they all fall in the water? WHOAHHH!

They must be magic frogs!
They must be magic frogs! Yeah!
They must be magic frogs!
They must be magic frogs! Yeah!

This is a story bout a lilypad and a princess and a dog and some frogs
and a little Phat Castle in Australia
(Dance Break)
and a little Phat Castle in Australia WHOAHHH!
and a little Phat Castle in Australia WHOAHHH!
and a little Phat Castle! Hey!

(In the forest)
Frog: Oh no! The evil Wizard and the cockroach are going to catch us!

Frog Princess: Let’s split up.

(Frog hops off stage. Princess frog continues to hop around. After a count of 10, the Wizard appears.)

Wizard: Ahh! I got you! (Wizard captures the Princess Frog) I’m going to smash you and grind up your bones and turn you into soup! Ha ha ha!

Princess Frog: No! Let me go! Please!

Wizard: Oh, okay.

(Wizard lets Princess Frog go for a count of 3 and captures her again)

Wizard: Ha, ha ha! I tricked you! Now your going to my secret lair!

Princess Frog: No, no! Let me go!

THE TSUNAMI STRIKES: FASHION DESIGNERS AND SUPER HEROS SAVE THE DAY", SCENE 3:

Syreta: Lets take a bus to the tsunmai.

Sabbah: No lets take a limo.

Limo Driver: Watch out, everybody in.

Oprah: Let's go, let's go.

Fashion designer 1: okay!

Fashion designer 2: I think this is going to work.  We have to tell the world about the threat of the tsunami.

Fashion designer 3: I can't wait to see the wall that they put up to stop the floods.

Fashion designer 4: I'm scared.

Fashion designer 5: I can't beleive we're going to help save the world!

Narrator: Unfortunately the limo ride took a really really long time....

SONG: I'M SO SUPER BORED (By Jon Roberts and the kids of PS 191)

I"m so super bored
I wanna take a sword and stick it in the floor
I wanna call my mom on a calculator
And when I find her run down the escalator

I'm so super bored (Super bored! Super bored!)
I'm so super bored (Super bored! Super bored!)
I'm so super bored (Super bored! Super bored! Super Bored!!!)

(Dance Break)

I'm so super bored
I wanna play a chord and then I wanna roar
I wanna find my friends at the super store
and when I find 'em tell 'em I'm super bored!

I'm so super bored (Super bored! Super bored!)
I'm so super bored (Super bored! Super bored!)
I'm so super bored (Super bored! Super bored! Super Bored!!!)

ACT 2

Scene 1:

Saphire: Everything is destroyed, there is water everwhere.

Old Lady: Tsunami, you are evil, you have ruined peoples homes.

Old Man: Next time we shall be prepared.

Saphire: We'll spread the word and come up with a new design.

Scene 2:

Oprah: Today we have the fsahion designers back on the show and special guests the superheroes to help us prepare for the next disaster.

SH1: We have some ideas to help prepare for the next disaster.

SH2: Get fit so you can run!

Old Man: There is a special telephone you humans can use to reach us but old lady is the only one who can use it. Learn where Old Lady lives and also learn to find me as I can teleport in time.

Fashion designer 1 (Sierrah): Recycle!

Fashion designer 2 (Daphne): Save energy by turning off your lights before you leave the house.

Fashion designer 3 (Donice): Stop pollution, walk more and stop using cars...unless you have to go really far.

Sabbah: Donate clothes.

A visit from James of Peace Links, Sierra Leone

We want to share with you a special experience that happened recently at one of our schools, PS 191. We were lucky enough to have James Hallowell, a representative of the incredible group Peacelinks from Freetown, Sierra Leone, speak with our Create-A-Dream after school class. James told us about his work with local youth in Freetown, especially with former child combatants. Peacelinks was created by a former child soldier after the civil war in Sierra Leone as a way to give youth an alternative to returning to a life of violence. James was brought to New York City as a visiting scholar at the International Center for Tolerance Education (which is also where our office is located) to share his experiences and further the work of Peacelinks.

James spoke with 3rd and 4th Grade students at PS 191 who are creating a play about the causes and ills of war. They had the opportunity to ask James questions about Sierra Leone, the civil war there and the work that he and others are doing to prevent any further violence. In Create-A-Dream, the students are challenged to explore their current world--the things they like and the things they don't--and then to create a musical based on the issues they've identified to show how they can make change. The students began by exploring a wide variety of issues that they feel need to change in this world. After a lot of different music and theater games, they narrowed their focus to the issues of lacking water and the issue of guns in relation to war. They're in the process of creating two plays right now to express their views on these issues.

You can see the preview of these plays on Wednesday, March 12 at 5 PM at PS 191, 61st Street and Amsterdam.

Thank you very much to James and also to Veronique from ICTE for helping arrange the visit.

Off to the Mountain, Idea Mountain

Hi everyone. Adam here, Executive Director of Kids Creative (and Mr. Clown of the Dirty Sock Funtime Band). I'm not sure how to start this blog, seeing as I've never really written one, but since three of our schools recently finished their final Create-A-Play after school performances, I figure I'd start off talking about those.

We recently had final performances for our at PS 11, PS 87 and the Heschel School. All of the kids did a great job presenting the stories that they created to the audience and the audiences were bigger and more enthusiatic than ever.

I should explain that Create-A-Play is a process-based program, where the main rule is "All ideas are good." This is our key to teaching the kids skills in peace-building. Everyone has a part in creating the characters, the plot, the story outline and more. The structure that we create helps build a community where nobody is right or wrong, and is confident enough in their own ideas to be able to listen to the ideas of others in a positive environment. This creates a fun, challenging process and often a very surreal, esoteric story. Our challenge is to translate this story to the audience.

To get an idea of how the plays shape up, click here to read the synopsis of one of the plays, "Finding Nico: The Journey to Idea Mountain."

Here's a video of the kids singing the opening song from the play, "We Are All the Mountain, Y'all," which they wrote with the help of teachers Mike and Laurel because they decided that sharing all of their ideas was a bit like building a mountain. (The video starts off sideways, but eventually straightens).



That's all for now, but stay tuned. On this blog we'll be posting interesting things from teachers and kids in our programs. At times Brian, our Director of Education, or I will use this platform to start waxing philosophical on one educational topic or another, and at other times, we'll bring in guests to write us some posts.

Welcome to the Kids Creative Blog

Hey there, thanks for checking out our brand new blog. Kids Creative is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization in New York City that offers arts based, peace education programs for Pre-K to High School age students through after school programs, workshops and summer camps. During our main program, Create-A-Play, kids write original musicals completely from their imagination. This blog will serve as a voice for our kids and staff, where we will talk about the stories that the kids create, their unique characters, interesting literary conflicts, triumphs and difficulties during the group creation process and we will update you on all upcoming programs. We look forward to bringing you on this journey.