The Class Play in a Waldorf-Inspired Co-op: Choosing a Play, Parts, Silk Costumes and an Audience

Pick a play from the stories your children are already hearing. In grade 1 that's a fairy tale, in grade 2 a saint's legend or a fable, and in grade 4 one of the Norse myths. The youngest children are the chorus, and the older ones take the single parts. Costumes are play silks, a belt and perhaps a crown. Rehearse a little at each meeting for a few weeks, then perform for the families on a morning of its own.

Why a co-op suits a class play

Waldorf Publications calls the annual class play "an essential feature of the life of every Waldorf class," from grade 1 to grade 12. The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) says the plays follow each grade's curriculum and bring together "music, recitation, memorization, acting, and visual arts." It also says the performance itself is "secondary to the process of learning."

A play is one of the few things you can't do at the kitchen table. A brother and sister can act out Thor dressed as a bride, but a village, a wolf and a saint need a group. That's what a co-op has.

Sunrise Waldorf School's class 5 teacher says a play "really unites everyone, all working on a project together."

For a co-op, where the children may only see each other once a week, that shared work can be what turns a group of families into a class.

How do you choose a play by age?

Start from the story, not the script. Waldorf Publications describes the plays as dramatized versions of "the fairy tales, Biblical stories, tales of saints, and the myths, legends, and historical events" of the grades curriculum. So the question is what your families are telling at home this block.

The Online Waldorf Library has a free ebook, 25 Plays, edited by David Mitchell for Waldorf Publications. Its scripts for the early grades include:

Grade	Stories	Scripts in 25 Plays
1	Fairy tales	The White Snake, The King's Advisors
2	Saints, fables and animal tales	Brother Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio, The Magpie's Nest, Stone Soup
3	Old Testament stories	Joseph, the Dreamer; The Twelve Sons of Jacob
4	Norse myths	The Theft of Thor's Hammer, The Fate of Baldur

Waldorf Publications also lists Hawthorne Valley Harvest, 24 plays written by teachers at Hawthorne Valley School for grades 1 to 6. Its titles include Saint George and the Dragon and The Death of Baldur.

In a mixed-age co-op, choose for the oldest child who'll take a main part. The younger ones can join any story as the chorus.

A grade 2 play: saints and fables

Grade 2 children hear two kinds of story side by side: animal fables, and legends of saints and other good people. The grade 2 stories guide explains the pairing and has choices for families who'd rather tell the lives of real people.

Brother Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio is a natural first play. Picture it in a co-op: a village of 6 and 7-year-olds in brown silks, huddled at one side of the room. A wolf in a gray silk cape prowls the other side. Francis walks between them, speaks to the wolf, and the wolf lays his paw in Francis's hand. The villagers speak their lines together, and the wolf needs only a few.

A fable works the same way. The grasshopper and the ant needs two speaking parts and as many ants as you have children.

Keep it short. For grades 1 and 2, aim for a play of 10 to 15 minutes. In the lower grades, Sunrise Waldorf School says, the play often takes "the form of a poem or story spoken in unison." Short lines said together can be easier for young children to learn than long speeches said alone.

A grade 4 play: the Norse myths

Sunrise Waldorf School's class 4 acted the Norse myths they'd been studying, so the children could live inside the stories rather than only hear them. The Theft of Thor's Hammer is funny, which helps 9 and 10-year-olds who feel shy on a stage. The Fate of Baldur is darker and suits a group that's heard the whole cycle.

The grades 4 to 6 co-op guide has a six-meeting plan for a Norse play. For the stories themselves, see why Waldorf teaches the Norse myths.

How do you give every child a part?

Pasadena Waldorf School says that in the younger grades "the parts are often a chorus." Individual roles grow as the children do. AWSNA says the same: parts begin mostly as chorus, and expectations for single characters rise with age.

For a co-op with 4-year-olds and 10-year-olds in the same room, that gives you a plan:

1. The chorus is the under-8s. They're the villagers, the birds, the sea, the snowflakes. They speak and move as one, with an adult among them who knows the words.
2. The speaking parts go to the older children. Give each one a real part, even if it's short.
3. Narrators are useful when you have more older children than roles. A narrator can hold the thread between scenes.

In Waldorf schools, the class teacher casts the play. Pasadena says the teacher sometimes gives a part "suited to their personality" and sometimes a bigger role to a child who'd benefit from the challenge. Sunrise's teacher found the play "helped some of the quiet kids come out of their shell."

In a co-op, let one adult cast the whole play, and let it be someone who isn't casting their own child in the lead. Tell the families how you chose, so no one is surprised.

Mixing ages is covered more fully in running a mixed-age co-op.

Costumes from play silks

You don't need to sew. Saha, a playsilk maker, suggests tying a silk "around their shoulders as a cape," wrapping it "like a skirt," or using it as a hat. It also suggests using "different colors to represent characters." A blue silk is the river, a red one the king, a gray one the wolf.

A co-op costume basket might hold:

• 10 to 15 play silks in different colors, for capes, tunics, rivers and walls
• Soft belts or cords to tie them
• 3 or 4 felt crowns
• A few cardboard props the children make: a hammer, a staff, a shield
• A large sheet or silk to hang as a backdrop

Collect them once and keep them in one place, so every play draws from the same basket. Play silks and play stands covers sizes and care. A play stand, if someone has one, makes an instant stage door.

Rehearsing in a co-op morning

A co-op may meet only once a week, so bring the play into the parts of the morning you already have:

• Circle time. Speak the chorus lines as the circle verse for the block. The little ones learn them without a separate rehearsal.
• Story time. Tell the story again, in full, before each rehearsal. The children act better when the picture is fresh.
• Handwork. Sew a simple belt, felt a crown or paint a backdrop.
• At home. Send the older children home with their lines.

A rehearsal of 15 to 20 minutes at each meeting is usually enough for a short play. Stop while the children still want more.

Performing for the families

Pasadena's classes perform for their parents and the whole school. Sunrise says class plays "bring friends, parents, and other family members into school life." In a co-op, the audience is every family, grandparents, and the younger siblings on laps.

Keep the morning simple:

1. Families arrive and sit in a half circle.
2. A parent lights a candle and says a verse.
3. The play.
4. The children bow, take off their silks and fold them back into the basket.
5. A shared meal.

A play can also sit inside a festival. The Princess and the Dragon is the story on the Michaelmas festival page. It turns easily into a play for late September, with a dragon, a princess and a chorus of knights.

If your co-op wants a shared program to build plays around, Starpath for co-ops is free to run. It gives every family the same Waldorf-inspired stories and festival year.

What to do this week

1. Ask each family which story they're telling at home this block.
2. Choose one story, and find or write a script of 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Name one adult to cast and direct it.
4. Start the costume basket: ask each family for one silk.
5. Pick a performance date, four to six meetings away, and tell the grandparents.