Second Grade Play

This original play retells the classic fairy tales, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, from the perspectives of supporting characters, like Cinderella’s mice friends, and a reinterpretation of Little Red Riding Hood with humans and Bay Area coyotes. Filled with second-grade humor, the play drew a lot of laughs and applause from the audience.

Throughout the play-making process, the second graders challenged themselves creatively. Before they started writing the play with Theater Teacher Ms. Larsen, the second graders explored basic elements of dance and movement to embody the characters and theme and to learn to tell a story using their bodies on stage. They have also been studying points of view since December, discussing how someone can see something, like an object or color, differently from another and not be right or wrong in how they perceive it. 

Then, during the writing of the play, the second graders asked themselves thought-provoking and concrete questions. How does the “bad guy” feel about the “good guy”? And do mice really like to wear clothes?

“Don’t just think about the ‘bad guys.’ Think about the ‘good guys,’ too,” says one of the mice. “Little Red Riding Hood is spoiled and mean. Cinderella is annoying and nobody likes her. And mice don’t want to wear clothes! But Cinderella forces them to if they want their cheese.”