During the next 28 years we traveled to the conferences every other year. We primarily presented workshops on children’s theatre—see our recipe below developed from the 25 children’s shows we performed over a span of 20+ years.
CHILDREN’S THEATRE RECIPE
6 Cups of Ingenuity, Imagination, & Invention
Ingredients
1/2 C A strong opening
1/2 C Color (mix this very well throughout the production, including set, costumes, & makeup)
1/2 tsp. Setting
1/3 C Moral
21/2 C Movement (this must include dance and music)
1/2 C Animals
1 2/3 C Audience involvement (doing chases, asking for help, holding imaginary objects/animals)
Mix all ingredients well. Let marinate about three to four weeks
Time: 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Yield: A very successful play.
On several occasions we performed shows that were not written for children, using more clever traveling ideas. For Thurber Carnival we purchased the slides along with the scripts. However, we did not want to worry about a slide projector and screen so we transferred the drawings from the slides to white poster board and created boxes. Each box required six pieces of poster board, all the same size (a top, bottom and four sides). We copied, in black, Thurber’s line drawings, one for each piece of poster board (giving us six different settings). Five holes were punched on each side and the posters were then laced together with black yarn. As each new story was presented the boxes were turned to illustrate that story. The cardboard laid flat when not laced, making traveling a breeze. This would work well for designs of walls or trees, as well.
The set and costumes for Elizabeth 1 were created out of “found” objects our drama department had acquired over the years. See The Drama Teacher's Survival Guide for a detailed account of that production. Below is an excerpt.
All wore leotards I had on hand, the boys wore sweat pants and running shorts, and the girls wore muslin rehearsal skirts. For Elizabeth we used a child’s inner tube to add fullness to the skirt, a cut off sweatshirt for her top, and a paper crown we had gotten for our production of Cinderella.
You can find a picture of Elizabeth 1, Mary Queen of Scots, and Burley under Photos To Enhance Your Reading on my web site www.margaretfjohnson.com. | 
