BUZZon - The Play’s the Thing

Rag Tag Players Patrick MacDonald gives an order and his young troupers instantly obey. It’s rehearsal day for the Rag Tag Players, a group of apprentice actors from the after school program at the Murphy Community Centre. MacDonald has been leading this program for almost 20 years. He saw the need for—and the benefits of—arts programming for his young charges. And thus, on a shoe string—The Rag Tag Players were born.

On this day, the players are going over their lines for A Christmas Carol. Scrooge contorts in fear on the stage as he is confronted by one of his ghosts. MacDonald lets the scene finish and then explains to Scrooge that he has to look really, really afraid. “You’re an actor, “he says. “That’s what the audience wants to see.”

Upstairs, Erin Arsenault is making last minute alterations to costumes. Through she studied painting at NASCAD, she discovered that her real love is sewing. For weeks, she has been trooping around the second hand stores, plundering her collection of fabric for materials for the costumes. The children rush into her sewing room to try theirs on and, as they do, something interesting happens. They become a little more still—and a little more serious.

And that, explains Arsenault, is part of the point. The Rag Tag Players have given the students something to be serious about, something to concentrate on, something to be proud of. Not all of the students take part, she explains. “It takes some dedication. They rehearse every day, instead of playing in the gym. But the ones who get into it really like it and really benefit.”

MacDonald agrees. He points to one small girl and says “She used to be very shy and had a hard time fitting in.” This, about an enthusiastic little blonde who is racing joyfully across the room. She was in the Rag Tag Players production of Where The Wild Things Are and, with that, her confidence began to blossom.

If you ask the actors, though, you get another story. “Why do you like this?” I ask the little guy who is playing Tiny Tim. “It’s, um, really fun.” “Yeah, “ chimes in the Ghost of Christmas Present. “It’s fun and you get to meet new kids”.

“Are you learning anything? “I wonder. “No!” they say scornfully, as if learning was something that only took place behind a desk.

But here they are, memorizing lines, projecting self confidence, working behind the scenes on props and sets, solving problems—being a team. Both MacDonald and Arsenault see these benefits—this learning—every day. That’s why they are working with a group from the larger community to [expand arts programming at The Murphy Centre. The hope is that arts instruction and participation can be offered to children beyond those who come to the after school program—that the children of Charlottetown can experience the advantages the Rag Tag Players are already seeing.

Numerous studies have been released recently that talk about the good that comes from an arts education—even to young people who don’t plan to be artists, per se.

But the Rag Tag Players don’t need any study to tell them this. The benefits are as obvious as their intense concentration, as the smiles on their faces.

Greg Hughes Dies ←		Sugar Plums Dance →

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Meet the Rag Tag Players from the Murphy’s Community Centre

In Her Own Writeby Ann Thurlow

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In Her Own Write
by Ann Thurlow