Lessons Part 2

This past Thursday, after a very disappointing performance at church the night before, I woke up rested and very optimistic about the show I was going to do at the local daycare at 10AM. My audience would be a bunch of preschool children; a relatively easy audience to please.

Because of having to learn the script for AWANA on Wednesday I didn't write an "official" script for the daycare. I just created a show in my mind decided to just relax and improvise using a basic plan. I was going to use 4 puppets: Kroaker, the frog; Cecil, the turtle; Sandy the sugar glider; and Ruben Nathaniel Young, my little boy vent figure. I also took along my automated singing ventriloquist frog with his sock puppet (named Marcel and Marcel Jr., respectively). It was a birthday present from my wife. I figured it would be a great ice breaker and the kids would love it.

The show included a birthday song for Kal, the birthday boy, a flying lesson for the sugar glider, Cecil thinking the alphabet was a 26 letter word, and Ruben singing a song about his messed up mop of hair.

As disappointing and upsetting as my church performance was that's how good the daycare center experience was. The pure excitement, genuine enthusiasm and laughter of the 2 dozen preschoolers and the adult workers was a great lift for me as a ventriloquist.

The improvisational aspect of the show felt so natural. I followed the basic plan for each characters segment but most of it was just the enjoyment of entertaining the children. That may be something I'll start using more and more in my future performances.

Also the show helped me to realize, once again, that performing is supposed to be fun. I can't get so caught up in worrying about the techniques and if the audience likes me or not that I don't have fun.

I'm very thankful that God chose to show me where I need to be in my ministry. His answer to my distress was quick and loving. There are a lot more lessons this 2-day even experience has taught me; especially when it comes to commitment and discipline in ventriloquism. Perhaps I will be writing more about that in the future.