Date: Fri 07-Feb-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: LIBRAR

Quick Words:

schools-HOM-creativity

Full Text:

Head O' Meadow Writers Get A Creativity Booster Shot

Storyteller Joshua Kane led a series of creativity workshops for Head O'

Meadow third, fourth and fifth graders, January 30 and 31.

-Bee Photos, Evans

An innocent cat's cradle soon turned into the "horrible, terrible string

monster."

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

They say imagination rules the world, but where do all the creative ideas come

from?

And how does someone who lives by his creativity, like master storyteller and

writer Joshua Kane, start the juices flowing - especially if he's feeling "old

and creepy" first thing in the morning?

"At 5 am, I jump in a hot shower," Mr Kane told an audience of Head O' Meadow

third, fourth and fifth graders last Thursday morning, January 31, during a

special PTA-sponsored cultural arts assembly.

"That's when the best ideas come, when you don't have anything to write with,"

Mr Kane said, showing the humor that would keep his audience chuckling

throughout his "Firing The Imagination" talk.

Surprise and exaggeration also proved effective.

Mr Kane is a classically trained actor who has performed at the Covent Garden

Street Festival in London. In 1993, he was named master teaching artist by the

Connecticut Commission on the Arts.

"So I bring a magic marker into the shower with me and I watch my words cry

down the shower wall!" he said.

Right away, though they might not have realized it, the children were learning

how words could be put together in an unusual way to form a powerful image.

Seated on a tall stool, gesturing with arms and hands for emphasis, his voice

rising and falling, Mr Kane launched into the dramatic telling of three

amusing and suspenseful adventures. Each one was centered on a seemingly

everyday thing: a daffodil, a piece of string, a pumpkin. Always, it was the

humor and the level of detail that kept his audience rapt.

"I'm a good king!" Mr Kane insisted, playing the part of a fairy tale monarch

who felt slighted because his subjects had forgotten his birthday.

The king talked while he was getting dressed with the help of his loyal

servant Matthew Muggeridge, and both of them were struggling to button each

one of his "9,986 buttons" and tie his "9 miles of shoelaces."

The next moment, the king began mumbling about "cutting off their heads" - not

at all what a " good king" should do.

In his next story, Mr Kane promised to tell a tale tame enough to bring home

to "your little brothers and sisters." It would only be about a simple piece

of string.

But the string turned out to have a life of its own, devouring everything in

sight. Its demonic purpose was illustrated by Mr Kane brandishing a length of

twine over his head, transforming a cat's cradle into a variety of different

shapes to fit the action.

Saving the best for last, Mr Kane told a tale full of horror and gore that

featured an exploding owl, a crafty wizard and a pumpkin that turned into a

vampire's skeleton rising out of a snowy churchyard, running at passersby and

wailing, "Ooooooaaaaoooh!"

"Slower than a turtle," the frightened villagers crept past that haunted

churchyard, Mr Kane whispered so as not to awaken the vampire.

"Quicker than deer," they fled to the safety of their village, he gasped with

relief.

At the end of the vampire story, the Head O' Meadow children heard all the

usual cautionary lessons about not going out alone at night, and Mr Kane

reassured them their parents or someone who cared would always watch out for

them.

But the scary images were what they seemed to enjoy most.

One parent was heard to remark to a teacher that the vampire story was "pretty

gruesome." They both agreed, however, that children of this age were old

enough to distinguish fact from fantasy.

"And, besides, they're thinking about these sorts of things all the time,

anyway," the mother added.

Being imaginative just comes naturally to children. As Mr Kane pointed out

earlier in his talk, it isn't until they have had negative experiences about

their own creative efforts that they become inhibited about expressing

themselves.

"There's no such thing as a false story," Mr Kane had said.

"We must celebrate" the stories and "cheer on" the writers.

To help this process along, he met with the Head O' Meadow language arts

classes in smaller groups later that day, and the following day as well.

This time, the students would come bearing pencils and paper, and he would

show them ways to "break down those writer's blocks."

Mr Kane concluded by saying that encouraging young writers is all about

"building them up."

"It takes no talent to knock things down," he added.