Pocantico Hills CSD

The lights dimmed and voices quieted, bodies settled in seats and lights on the stage burst on letting the audience know it was time.

As the afternoon wore on Pocantico third graders waited patiently to see their classmates work come to life. Pleasantville’s ARC Stages had selected several original pieces written by the students to perform as part of their Vision and Voices program.

They saw “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” written by Shay D., “A Super Cold Portal” by Vera H. and “Underwater Allies” by Lila O. and Victoria C., among other selections from students throughout the region.

Back at Pocantico the young playwrights were excited to have seen their work performed.

“There were a lot of kids to choose from, and they chose us,” said Lila.

“I had fun working on it,” Shay said. “I liked how they did it, most of it was done correctly. I just really had fun working on it.”

Vera said students worked in groups and they all had time to work on their plays independently too.

Victoria said it was fun to see her play come alive and liked how the actors incorporated big eyes on to the characters.

For ten years the theater has offered the Vision and Voices program, which include visiting students at their schools to put on a play-writing workshop and working with students in their classrooms where they review the elements of a play and help students get started. Once done, and edited, the plays are submitted, and the theater selects a number to perform live.

While at the theater the students were informed that more than 500 plays had been submitted from different schools and that each student who wrote and submitted a play would receive a certificate “because it’s very hard to write a play.”

The end!