Actually, we’ve done two things.
Firstly, we achieved our fundraising target!!
A very special thank you to Miranda, Craig and Edie, whose generous donation to the Project has meant that we have officially reached our goal!!! Amazing!
We have dedicated todays show to Miranda, Craig and Edie because notification that their donation meant we’d reached our goal came through at the same time as we were contacting Day Star School to arrange this last minute show. It seemed especially appropriate as we know that children with autism have a special place in their hearts.
Thank you so so much to everyone whose support has helped us to make the Yak Pack Theatre Project the best it can possibly be. We have been humbled by the generosity of so many people.
Secondly, we did our first show in India!
All 16 students from the special education unit, plus 350 children aged 6 to 14 squeezed into the main hall at the Day Star School in Manali, along with their teachers, for our first show in India.
Yak Pack children with nerves of steel backstage, despite the mayhem going on the other side of the curtain...
It was such a pleasure to share our first show with such an enthusiastic and welcoming bunch.
It was so interesting to see what the children found funny – Alfs entrance as the Traveller got a huge laugh! Ben and Petes ‘Married couple Spat with Baking Tray’ scene is proving a hit too - it seems to have universal appeal! The audience loved having selfies with the actors after the show.
After we'd packed up, we spent about an hour chatting to various teachers about the activity pack we gave them, whilst drinking delicious chai and eating biscuits. Exactly the kind of informal discussion about creative education we are looking for.
Since today's show was originally for special needs kids, we popped into the special education unit after lunch to say hello.
The unit is a self-contained building at the side of the playground. It has 3 linked mini classrooms for about 4-6 children in each, a separate classroom with a door for a quieter space, and a big classroom that everyone can fit in together with cushions and a soft carpeted floor. There’s 16 students and 4 teachers.
We talked to the children about the show – what were their favourite bits? They all said ‘the monster’ and the baking tray scene! Ben had sat with them before the show to tell them that he was playing a baddie but he was just pretending. He showed them the Troll mask and let them feel it so they knew what to expect and could enjoy the scene without being frightened.
We also talked about riches, and what were the things that made them feel happy. Was it having money or something else? Every one of them rated ‘family’ as the thing that made them most happy.
We gave little creative activity packs to each child. Just for our SEN audience members, they contain a pencil, a pack of crayons, modelling clay and a specially written colouring book to go with the show. The colouring book has the Jambhala story in English, Hindi and comic strip versions, illustrations of the story (goats, trolls etc), and some simple art activities such as drawing a troll onto a picture of a bridge.
The children were so sweet, edging closer and closer to Ben as he showed them what was in the bags, and exclaiming “oooo colours!” at the crayons, and “yes! Clay!” at the modelling clay (that was voted the best thing in the bag). We also gave the special unit a copy of the audiobook, and the school as a whole our main resource pack.
After the children went back to their lessons, we chatted for a bit longer to Ipsha Dasinka, one of the teaching staff.
She was a really wonderful lady, so dedicated and caring.
She said “It’s rare that you see children, especially children with autism, so involved in something…. I felt so happy seeing Autkesh being so happy, because he has autism and he is always lost in his own world most of the time…. but today he was, with all the acting and the masks and all that, he was enjoying so much, he was laughing out loud, I really felt very well”
The SEN children had joined in really well duringthe show, and enjoyed being fish traders in the market scene
The activity packs will be useful to the unit, and Ipsha said “With one group we have started short stories, we did two stories in the previous semester, this semester we’ll try to do this one. So we’ll simplify the sentences, shorten it up, and with the pictures and colouring and all that we can use it. Both the English story as well as in Hindi”
As you can imagine, we left this school feeling so positive and excited about the Project ahead in Spiti, and so inspired by the children and staff here.