volunteering backstage for a show: need advice

[morningcoffee]

I've volunteered to supervise children (5-11 yo) backstage for their show.

 

I need lots of ideas to keep the children quiet (ish) and to prevent them from running around wildly before or after their turn on stage. To keep it easier I am thinking things that don't require materials (eg. paper, pencils) but more things like riddles, thumb wrestling etc. 

 

Any ideas??  

Edited September 7, 2016 by morningcoffee

[Anne in CA]

I don't have any ideas that don't involve keeping their hands busy with coloring, or puzzles, ect, but it is important to keep back stage noise to a minimum. It really takes away from a show. I don't envy your task, but I wish you good luck!

[SebastianCat]

When my DD took ballet classes, there was always a monitor backstage where the kids could watch the dance currently onstage while waiting their turn. It seemed to keep it "real" to them, like, "Oh, I have to be quiet because I don't want to mess up that group."

 

They always had a separate area for longer waiting periods, where they could talk, play games, or watch a movie. Backstage was only for immediately before their group's performance.

[redsquirrel]

I watch the little lambs for Nutcracker.  I have to keep them quiet for hours and we have 6 shows. By the last one we are always wrecked,lol

 

I bring mad libs, books, my kindle with a couple movies downloaded, we use my phone and take wacky pictures, we play hangman.  I also tell parents to send them with books and quiet games. 

[PinkInTheBlue]

As a youth and children's theater founder, owner, and operator I thank you from the bottom of my often overwhelmed heart. LOL

[justasque]

I've volunteered to supervise children (5-12 yo) backstage for their show.

 

I need lots of ideas to keep the children quiet (ish) and to prevent them from running around wildly before or after their turn on stage. To keep it easier I am thinking things that don't require materials (eg. paper, pencils) but more things like riddles, thumb wrestling etc. 

 

Any ideas?  

 

Do you need to keep them quiet as well as occupied?  Best approach is to ask them to bring some thing quiet to play with - ideally something that can be lost without it being a crisis.  I am not a fan of electronics, as they are expensive and with space at a premium in most backstage areas, often left on the floor vulnerable to being stepped on.  

 

Decks of cards are good old-fashioned fun.  There's a wide variety of dice games that are fun and require little in the way of equipment.  The classics - seek-a-word (perhaps about theater), mazes, and dot-to-dot keep kids occupied and quiet, but that's not what you're looking for.  Origami - print up a few easy instructions and put them in sheet protectors and perhaps tape them to the table where they'll be used.  

 

There's often more time than you'd think fussing over the actors/dancers - costume changes, making sure shoes are tied and hair is secure, fixing make-up, and so on.  And the older kids like to chat amongst themselves and practice their parts.  

Pretend play - making up their own Sugar Plum Fairy dance, etc, can be fun.  Classic paper-and-pencil games include tic-tac-toe, boxes, etc.  Nine-mens-morris games are easy to draw.

 

Our Recital dancers are usually pretty content with coloring pages.

  

[morningcoffee]

Do you need to keep them quiet as well as occupied?  Best approach is to ask them to bring some thing quiet to play with - ideally something that can be lost without it being a crisis.  I am not a fan of electronics, as they are expensive and with space at a premium in most backstage areas, often left on the floor vulnerable to being stepped on.  

 

Decks of cards are good old-fashioned fun.  There's a wide variety of dice games that are fun and require little in the way of equipment.  The classics - seek-a-word (perhaps about theater), mazes, and dot-to-dot keep kids occupied and quiet, but that's not what you're looking for.  Origami - print up a few easy instructions and put them in sheet protectors and perhaps tape them to the table where they'll be used.  

 

There's often more time than you'd think fussing over the actors/dancers - costume changes, making sure shoes are tied and hair is secure, fixing make-up, and so on.  And the older kids like to chat amongst themselves and practice their parts.  

Pretend play - making up their own Sugar Plum Fairy dance, etc, can be fun.  Classic paper-and-pencil games include tic-tac-toe, boxes, etc.  Nine-mens-morris games are easy to draw.

 

Our Recital dancers are usually pretty content with coloring pages.

  

Thankyou for all these ideas! I will look up some dice and card games and some of the paper and pencil games. 

 

re "Do you need to keep them quiet as well as occupied?" .... I haven't been told to keep them occupied but from experience some of them need to be occupied to be quiet. :lol: Ideally they would bring something to do but floor space is at a premium so even paper and pencils on the floor would get in the way.  And good point about the electronics too.... 

[mamakelly]

I run one of the dressing rooms for our ballet school with 50+ kids in it. It's an exhausting volunteer job, but I love it. Most kids will be prepared and bring their own stuff to do. Most bring iPads lol. I bring a basket with some games that they all know they are allowed to use. I talk to all of them at the beginning of the run and make they know to put everything away when it's their turn to go on stage. Last show I brought;

 

Cards games like old maid, and go fish from the dollar spot at target, even the teenagers like them.

 

Themed coloring pages for whatever show were working on nutcracker coloring pages during the nutcracker show etc. and colored pencils- no markers!

 

A bag of cats cradle strings and instructions.

 

Games like Connect 4, Set, Digital scrabble

 

Target has paper pads with that dot game where you take turns making lines to make a box.

 

 

I bring a large flat sheet and two hangers with clips on them to make a changing area. Typically the girls just change in the dressing room, but my younger ones (9-10) tend to be pretty modest, so I try to hang up the sheet to give them some privacy. I also bring a large fuzzy blanket because the floor in our dressing room is tile.

 

My biggest issue is kids not keeping their stuff together. I've had to find an extra leotard to send kids home in, because somehow they lost theirs. It ended up in someone else's bag because they dropped it on the floor instead of putting everything back in their bag. The last show I did I had one girl missing a shoe and had to go home with only one shoe on. The director of the program makes me a fill in the blank type note that I keep in the dressing room. When I have kids forget things like a bag big enough to hold all their stuff, their lipstick etc.… I write a note home to the parent to remind them. The kids are kept fairly busy, with getting their costumes on and off, and performing. Oh that's another thing, make sure you teach them all how to hang up their costumes. The experience ones will already know but the new ones may not know what to do. I've had some kids just drop their costume on the ground and think that they can go home. We've had costume pieces get misplaced, so I've had to be extra vigilant about costumes. It's a wonderfully rewarding job and I adore all the girls in my dressing room. Hope it goes well for you.

[justasque]

I run one of the dressing rooms for our ballet school with 50+ kids in it. It's an exhausting volunteer job, but I love it. ...

 

Everything mamakelly said!  

 

For the littles at Recital, we have them leave their coats and their jewelry with their parents, to minimize lost things and clutter.  For the bigs at a musical, well, some are more organized than others.   We also ask if they've eaten, and if not, have the parents give them a snack before they head backstage.  (It's surprising how many kids will show up for a 2-hour long show that starts at noon without having had any breakfast!  Those kids are going to be a mess by the end of the show if they aren't fed.)  

 

We do try to put the littles as early in the show as possible, and get them out of there at Intermission if they are finished so they can watch the rest of the show with their parents.  For Nutcracker, littles are often towards the end of the show.  Depending on the theater, sometimes we can take littles who aren't in the first Act into the auditorium to watch the show, which cuts their backstage time in half.  

 

If they have a quick change, it's best to have someone who can be there to help gather that which was taken off, but if not it's nice to have a paper grocery bag with their name on it for them to toss stuff into.  With that in mind, we teach them how to pre-set their costumes, making sure everything they will need for a change is laid out neatly so they can find both shoes, their hairpiece, etc.  If it's a quick change you can lay the clothes out so that they're easy to pull on or slip into.  It's the performer's job to pre-set things (either in the dressing room or in the area where they will have to change - stage left or whatever), and they can learn that early.  Don't forget shoes!!!    

 

I tend to grab a few things from home that may come in handy in a backstage crisis, but I don't want to be too loaded down either, so it varies by show.  For Recital, I bring extra hairpins, bobby pins, hairnets, and sometimes hair gel.  I sometimes bring a bag of extra dance shoes, various headpieces, as well as any costume pieces that may come in handy.  For musical theater, I bring a bag of character shoes and black dance shorts.  I always bring my sewing kit with extra-strong thread, good quality safety pins, a few buttons, and the usual bits and pieces.  More than once I've had to sew someone into a costume because of a zipper failure; the extra-strong thread comes in handy!  I also bring a small set of wire and pliers - I learned that after having to mend a crushed tiara with twist-ties salvaged from everyone's lunches. 

 

I usually wear a black knit dress with an apron that has several large pockets which I fill with hair supplies along with a couple of threaded needles.  The black helps minimize my being seen backstage, and if I have to go out to the front of the house, I can lose the apron and fit in with the audience.

 

Can you tell I've been doing this for a while LOL!  

No worries, you can also just show up cold and have the experienced mamas (or kids!) tell you the routine!

[mamakelly]

Oh and baby wipes! Baby wipes are a must. I encourage all of my kids to do their own makeup and lipstick (mine are level 2 and up, so 9 ish). They are supposed to have full make up done but not lipstick. They put that on after the costume is on. Some kids are great with lipstick, others need it fixed lol. Baby wipes come in handy for lipstick fixes.