Students' creativity on display
BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer

MARLBORO - Seeing the fruits of their imagination performed on stage by a touring theater group was a dream come true for three creative young ladies at the Robertsville Elementary School, Menzel Lane.

On May 2, members of the Child's Play Touring Theatre visited the school to perform works that were created by students around the country and at the Robertsville school.

The activity was brought to the school with the help of a grant from the Marlboro Educational Foundation, an organization which provides grants to Marlboro K-8 School District teachers to help ensure educational excellence and innovation.

More than 250 budding authors and poets in the second and third grades at Robertsville have spent a large portion of the current school year creating a writing portfolio.

Students submitted their favorite work and teachers Ilene Brudner and Barbara Garber chose the best. Out of the more than 75 stories submitted, the Chicago-based theater company chose the best, surprising the authors of the two winning submissions during the May 2 show.

Marlboro Superintendent of Schools David Abbott was present for the performance and said the event was wonderful. He said this gives the students confidence to see that they can really accomplish things in their school work.

"Boys!" was the first of Robertsville's winning pieces to be performed. The poem was crafted by third-graders Anika Dinger and Cameryn Tepper. It was about a girl's disinterest in boys because of their mean ways and dirty habits, until she discovers that a certain boy has a crush on her.

Anika and Cameryn were overjoyed at having their poem selected to be performed.

"I was so excited I felt like crying," Cameryn said after the show.

"It was out of this world," Anika exclaimed at seeing her poem performed.

Second-grader Maymun Mohuiddin thought up the second winning Robertsville story, "The Time Adventure," which features two friends who travel back in time and encounter dinosaurs, including a Tyrannosaurs Rex decked out in a pink tutu.

Maymun said that what she saw acted out on stage was a bit different then what she had imagined, but said she liked it just as much.

"It was great," Maymun said. "They made it funny."

Fourteen other students were honored for their writing excellence and received special certificates. The talented students were Nikita Patton, Selena Nandiwada, Nathaniel Rascok, Jenna Pargament, Salvatore Morreale, Alex Yao (who won for three different stories), Owen Zhang, Victoria Minucci, Elyse Kennedy, Lexi Rosen, Megan Wang, Ryan LaRocca, Michael Veit and Susan Xie. Two class submission prizes were awarded to Brudner's class. All of the students in the second and third grades received certificates of participation.

Parents were welcomed to share in their child's big day.

The theater group's Dan Sherer, Judith Lesser, Joe Lewis and Erin Schultz entertained students in the first, second and third grades with an array of stories and songs written by their peers. Student and adult volunteers were selected to help act out the comic skits.

The students and adults were laughing at colorful characters such as Sir Hannah of Montana and references from the film "Back to the Future."

The four actors are out on their 13th tour, Sherer said.

Schultz said all four performers had moved to Chicago from various points around the country and ended up working together with Child's Play Touring Theatre.

Sherer said it depends upon each individual piece as to how much will be edited. He said that in the case of the "Boys!" poem it was read just as it had been written.

Schultz added that the young poets had also included stage directions in the poem.

Sometimes characters may be cut or molded together depending on how it fits with the cast, Sherer explained.

All four cast members said it is always amazing to see what types of stories children create.

The actors have even performed a story about a pair of talking underwear, Sherer said.

The main emphasis of the program was to encourage children to use their imagination to become better writers and readers. Schultz told the students that if they have other stories they may be submitted on Child's Play's Internet Web site www.cptt.org.