By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The students worked on their timing for a fight scene Thursday in the 12th Street Gym.
Some mimicked karate moves, others put up fists and others froze like pouncing tigers as their play came closer to the moment when the children captured an evil magician.
A group of kids will be performing a one-act play Friday they wrote and choreographed all in a week.
The performance of “The Phoenix School of Magic” at 11 a.m. Friday at the 12 St. Auditorium is the culmination of the Hays Arts Council’s Dramatic Arts Workshop for children 9 through 12.
The play is set in a magic school for youth in South Dakota. Although the youth agreed, that some were inspired by Harry Potter, the plot and all the characters are original.
Catherine Trieschmann, a world renowned playwright who lives in Hays, is teaching the course.
The teaching technique Trieschmann is using with the children is something she perfected with other top playwrights and arts educators10 years ago while working with youth in Washington, D.C.
The youth start with a topic and brain storm then vote on options for plot.
Trieschmann guided them through writing, improv and movement exercises that helped them develop the script and choreography for the play.
“I help shape what they give,” she said. “It is very creative and very intense.”
The children learn a variety of skills through this process, some which include cooperation, confidence through performing, teamwork and literary skill.
“They learn they have to accept one another’s ideas to build a cohesive story,” she said. “It is a full mental and physical process.”
She said she was very proud of the students and what they created.
“They have had to accept the collaboration and that no one actor or actress is more important than another. … “I am proud of them. They wrote, created and choreographed a one-act play in only a week.”
The students admitted the workshop was a challenge, especially learning all of their lines.
They also had to learn new theater terms, such as stage left and stage right.
However, the kids said there have been rewards, including the practicing the fight scene, getting to pretend a position blew up in your face, singing a solo and learning to fly brooms.
The students performance is open to the public, and there is no admission charge.
Although this was the only section of the Dramatic Arts Workshop, Hays Arts Council youth classes will run through July. Enrollment is still open for some classes, including two more drama classes for students 8-14, which start Monday.
For more information, call the Arts Council at 785-625-7522 or visit the council’s website at www.haysartscouncil.org/contact.html.
The students participating in the class include: Jordan Aschenbrenner, Eleanor Bittel, Kamryn Daniels, Dominic Hernandez, Kimberly C. Herrick, Emmaline Leuschner, Sophie Miller, Kimberly Sack, Trevor Stults, Clare Tholstrup, Keira Vilaysing and Jacob Wente.
The assistant director is Jacinta Carter.