by Natalie Tuttle

Imagine that you are ten years old, and one day your teacher tells you to write a story. You do as you are told. You may do so enthusiastically, putting forth a lot of effort and tirelessly working your bursting imagination until  your masterpiece is complete; or you may do so begrudgingly, finishing quickly and turning it in half-heartedly. Now imagine that this story, your story, made from desire or obligation, is going to be brought to life by a group of college students. How exciting! This scenario is exactly what went down for seven area youths. 

photo contributed by DARYN MCCOMB

Last weekend, the Loras Players brought to life the stories of seven Dubuque children. It began back in January, as the project for the Children’s Theater J-Term class, and culminated this week with four performances of the play which came to be called “River Writes.”  The total performance consisted of seven acts—seven stories—and eleven actors working their hardest to bring these stories to life accurately. 

The stories were action-packed, highly imaginative, and energetically performed by our Loras Players. As an adult viewer, I was able to get a lot of giggles out of the program, but it was nothing compared to the reaction of the child viewers. At the beginning of the show, director Doug Donald informed the audience that we, for the next hour, would all be ten years old. He demanded that we leave our adult mentalities behind and return to childhood; and as such, we must think and respond like a child would to the show.  

However, I think that it was still the kids in the house who really got into the show with full participation and full-hearted laughter—as it should be!  This was, after all, a show by kids and for kids. “A lot of the kids I talked to told me they really loved the show,” said Loras Player Levi Boyd. And that is what the show was really about, stimulating the imaginations of our youngest generation of Dubuque thinkers.