by Cassandra Curran

Every year during Catholic Schools Week one day is set aside for “Student Appreciation.” Activities on this day have ranged from “wearing pajamas” to “dress down” to special lunches. This year Sister Gail asked the Interactive Children’s Theatre “Imagine That! Productions” to come to the school for several performances of their production, “The Singing, Ringing Tree.” This is an interactive play which reinforces some of the central values that Catholic schools teach, while supporting the language arts curriculum. The twelve characters in the play are students recruited from the audience. The performance is structured to allow for and encourage the uniqueness of each student’s imagination. The performance was repeated two times to accommodate different grade levels.

The main character is a spoiled Spanish princess who is transformed by the power of love. The performance I attended was for sixth, seventh and eighth-graders. Student volunteers were Katy Carchedi, Jessica Desire, Ayana Green, Gustavo Hernandez, Danielle John, Giftson Josephs, Stephen McGee, Emily Matthews, Darryl Noncent, Caitlin Powell, Max-son Isidore St. Louis and Damien Sloan. The theatre had brought big masks for them to wear.

Each child was assigned, and had to give, some qualities to the character played. Jessica was the mean princess. Next came a panther, a panda, and a pig. The panther, Katy, was a musician who could play the trumpet and the piano. The panda, Emily, was a sportsperson. She could hit a baseball to the sky, throw a basketball very far and swim in the deepest ocean. The pig, Caitlin, was the cook who could bake a cake with so many layers it would reach the sun and bake a million cookies.

Then there were three gentlemen from different countries and they had to say how they got to the princess’s castle in Spain. Damien had traveled 50 years from the Congo in Africa. Gustavo flew in from outer space, in fact from Mars, to the castle. Max-son swam over from Haiti. Next the prince, Stephen, came. He was Jamaican, and he had come to give his love and affection to the princess,but she said she didn’t want it until she got a Singing, Ringing tree.

The Singing, Ringing Tree, Giftson, was guarded by a monster, Darryl. The monster gave the tree to the prince and said that he could have it if the princess wanted to be nice. If, however, she doesn’t show love for him, the prince would be turned into a bear, and the princess would become ugly! Only when she falls in love with the prince would everything return to normal.

He built her a shelter, and he found her food and then she fell in love with him. As she was walking in the woods one day, she came upon a fox, Iana, stuck in a trap and she set it free. The fox was thankful and ran away. Next, as she was walking by a frozen pond, she saw a fish, Danielle. The fish was trapped in a layer of ice and she helped to free it; thanking her, he swam away. She learned her lesson and was not mean anymore. Then she lived happily every after.

We found this production to be interesting and hilariously funny. It was a great way to spend the afternoon on Student Appreciation Day. Thanks to Sister Gail for making this possible.