Young students deliver message of sharing during holiday play ‘Stone Soup’
Comical, clever and full of spirit are words best used to describe the little actors and actresses at Lodi Montessori Preschool and Kindergarten.
Students (ages 3 - 6) from Ms. Setsuko’s class recently delivered a fantastic holiday show for their parents and families. Every single one of them worked extremely hard to prepare for the special holiday play held on Friday, Dec. 16.
The play is called Stone Soup. It is an old folk tale that derives in various versions.
The storyline from last Friday’s performance takes place after the Civil War, in the United States. It is about seven hungry soldiers who happen to stumble upon a small village.
Food is scarce and everyone is starving. The seven soldiers make friends with the villagers. They then decide to boil a stone, and look for ways to convince the villagers to add their meager food scraps to a communal pot.
In the end, everyone enjoys a warm bowl of soup made collectively by all.
The moral of this story is that we are all better off when we share and work together as one.
“Children always become brighter and more confident after the show. I am saying that because I have seen how much they have grown and what they have become after the show. They learn their limits and capabilities,” Setsuko Geary, head teacher of classroom 101, said proudly after the performance.
Ms. Setsuko was the mastermind behind it all. This was her eighth show in her 25-plus years of teaching.
From writing the script, to making the costumes and building the set, Setsuko put in a lot of energy into the program. As a result, families and school staff had the pleasure of reaping the benefits.
“This is not about me, it is all about the children. I could not have done this without them, and that is the truth,” Setsuko said.
For being as young as they are, the children were able to follow every one of Setsuko’s directions. They memorized their own lines, and also remembered their classmates’ lines in order to help out if someone stumbled or drew a blank. As the parents would attest, the efforts and the collaboration of these young children was something to admire, and truly deserve to be recognized.
Cast Members (ages 3-6): Elle Ergonis, Amanda Walker, Hattie Walker, Gianna Toledo, Juliana Wright, Cali Ezell, Reese Vaccarezza, Kaighton Berghold, Genevieve Johnston, Siena Latta, Tessala Wentzel, Quinn Ergonis, Matthew Nathan, Kason Villarin, Gavin Latta, Dylan Lee, Ezra Nino, George Zins, Darren Mueller, Cash Jones, Kristian Nabors, Devan Bambhra and Torsten Danielson