Georgia as Petronella - March 2, 2012
Photo by Amy LV
Students - have you ever been in a play or seen a play that moved you to tears? Last Friday, I saw my daughter perform in Newbery Award winner GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES! VOICES FROM A MEDEIVAL VILLAGE by Laura Amy Schlitz. This beautiful series of word-portraits of children from Medieval times is by turns funny and sad, poignant and hopeful. The poems are incredibly beautiful, and the characters made me think about the struggles of that time and also how today's struggles are similar.
Throughout the performance, my heart felt choked up, and I walked around holding those characters inside all weekend. It was an exquisite play, and the actors were thrilled to receive a letter from author Laura Amy Schlitz right after eating their medeival feast of meat pies, fruit, root soup, and honey sweets. She wrote about many of the characters, about writing the play, and about winning the Newbery. The students were tickled and moved, and Georgia read her letter to us all right away!
That night, as I tucked Georgia in, she said, "The hard thing about being in a play is forgetting all of your lines when it's over." Hope replied, "Yeah, I don't remember any of my lines from last year's play." I remembered this same feeling from plays I have performed in, and a couple of days later...on Sunday...this poem grew. Sometimes poems or other pieces writing come from a feeling of losing something, a bit of sadness at goodbye. Can you think of any goodbyes that might make for good writing? You might consider big goodbyes like the death of a beloved person or pet or smaller goodbyes such as the end of a good book or play.
Thank you to Laura Amy Schlitz for writing such a gorgeous book and for her generosity in writing back! Highly recommended as a play, reader's theatre, or silent reading.
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