Second Grade Classes Collaborate with Stage Left

Second graders at William O. Schaefer Elementary School have spent the last several months working with Stage Left Children’s Theater Teaching Artist Andrea Seigel and leading up to the spring recess, each class hosted productions of “Frog and Toad” for their families to enjoy!

As part of the district’s theater enrichment program, all second graders have been working with Seigel since the beginning of the school year alongside WOS Music teacher Beth Fox, who has been helping students learn the music and lyrics. Leading up to the performance, a class mom from second grade teacher Jaclyn Nandlal’s class was able to organize a special Q & A with the original creators of the Tony nominated play adaptation of “A Year With Frog and Toad” via Zoom! Robert and Willie Reale met with all second grade classes via Zoom for 30 mins and had an opportunity to perform a song and ask questions. 

Before Richard Lozada and Pamela Bartell and Samantha Cordone’s classes took the stage on Tuesday, Seigel visited with the students to remind them to speak loudly and clearly, use their facial expressions and, most importantly, to have fun! 

Prior to the performance, she explained to the parents what she has been working on with each class this school year. “We have been working on skills that actors have but they really translate into their everyday lives. They worked on articulation, collaborating as part of a group, brainstorming ideas and understanding their characters,” explained Seigel. Each character from the show was played by three or four students so they had to work as a choral character team by matching their movements, saying their lines at the same time and they brainstormed how they wanted to portray their characters.