Positive Thoughts, Cool Memories, and Words of Hope and Promise!
Word on the Square was our blog during the summer of 2020, sharing thoughts and memories from across the years. The entries were posted from July 6 to August 21.
As the Summer Ends...
This would have been the day of our final performance. To wrap things up here, we close with one more group of pictures—a few more smiles, added to this collection of thoughts and memories.
Thank you to all who traveled this journey with us: remembering the joy, treasuring the friendships, reliving the incredible moments, and singing the songs of summer. Together we walk on, into bright landscapes filled with promise, vision, and hope.
Blessings and love from all on the Ocean Grove Children's Show team. Keep singing, keep dancing, and keep praising... for an Audience of One!
~ Summer Staff and Cast Memories
Friendship and Smiles
Being in the Ocean Grove Children's Show has meant so much to so many of us! The friendships, the challenge of working together to present a play, the adventure of being in a story as the summer days flow by—these and so many other facets all add up to a million memories. Here are a few smiles from the past.
~ Cast Memories
Closing Words from Jen
As summer 2020 comes to a close, so many memories from past years flood my mind. It’s truly hard to believe that we didn’t work together to present a show this summer. Although I am sad to not “move in” to the Youth Temple this week for show week, this website has been a wonderful way for us all to relive many moments from days gone by. The songs of summer have a special place in all of our hearts.
On Monday, we celebrated our 15 year-olds and honored them for their years of dedication to the Children’s Show. Although it wasn’t on stage in front of a full audience after the Friday night performance as is traditionally the plan, I can tell you that the laughter, smiles, and joy were still present. At its core, Children’s Show is about love. Working to make sure our cast members feel supported, encouraged, and loved is most important. When love is at the center of what you do, incredible things can happen.
I am praying for all of you as you navigate the days ahead. I look forward to when we can all come together under those bright stage lights and present a gift to the audience once again. But for now, I leave you with this quote.
“Still I keep on wondering things I cannot know
Love is high above me, yet it reaches far below
And I am caught in Love’s strong, pure embrace
Everywhere I am, and every place
That’s where Love is, that’s where Love is
And it’s a mystery beyond words”
We hope you feel the love we have for each one of you, no matter where you are. You are a special part of our Ocean Grove family. I thank you for being part of this journey.
~ Jen
Play Week
"Play Week" is an amazing week—when the work of all the rehearsals finally comes together, and the story we've been working on all summer finds a receptive audience.
It has to be that way. Gifts must first be received in order to be given. Lines have to be learned before they can be delivered. Messages have to live in a heart before they can be communicated from a life.
And a stage is just a platform, a blank space, until someone walks across it, breathes into the air, speaks into the silence, and fills the imagination of everyone watching with a cupful of storytelling.
There is something majestic about it, soul-stirring, and powerful: the songs, thoughts, and images, the capturing of a thousand elements in one sweeping vision, the collective experience of those who speak and those who listen breathing together in unison, sharing the same emotions, longing for the same dreams to come true.
Theater tells but it also teaches. Plays are presented and at the same time received. Moments that are imaginary overlap moments that are real. We are, in some measure, transformed by the experience, no matter which side of the curtain we are on when it opens. There is destiny woven through it all, and honor.
So, this week, when our performance space would usually be filled with anticipation, energy, singing, dancing, and storytelling—we remember other years, and think again how magical it has been to be part of something so meaningful.
~ Steve
Happy Times
There are so many spontaneous moments in a Children's Show summer. While in the Costume Room, Vinnie, Cherie', and Allyson decided to take on a bit of royalty.
(This moment was captured while it was being captured!)
~ Staff Memories
Beginnings and Endings
There are front covers on books, and back covers. Each summer day has a sunrise and a sunset. A race has a starting line and a finish line. Between all these beginnings and endings is an unfolding story.
A Children's Show summer is an unfolding story too. There's adventure in it. There are new possibilities, opportunities for expression, and a million memories!
Sometimes, after going through the story together, just seeing the front and back cover can bring many memories back into focus. This sequence of photos is like that. The first picture is from May 31, 2016. The late afternoon sun is shining through the Youth Temple windows. Jen, Cherie', Vinnie, Haley, and Allyson are sitting on the stage. It may be the first staff meeting of the summer. The play is Peter Pan.
The next four pictures were taken at the cast party on Friday night, August 19, 2016, after the fourth and final performance of the show.
Two scenes captured; two snapshots in time. But between these two snapshots, the first staff meeting of summer and the last moments when we're all together, is an incredible, unfolding story filled with life, and friendship, and love!
~ Staff and Cast Memories
Story Lines and Life Lines
In 1900, L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published. Interestingly enough, in the story he wrote, characters like the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Lion are each seeking something they don't realize they already have.
Woven through the plays we do in the Ocean Grove Children's Show are themes and ideas, life principles and concepts, thoughts and parables. It isn't that we try hard to work them in—rather they are there for the taking, part of the fabric of each story, hidden sometimes but impossible to miss. They speak through the characters, the situations, and the story lines.
Maybe that's one of the reasons why we come back to these same stories over and over again: they have a meaning deeper than just what's on the surface. And when we travel through a summer together, we go away with more than just a story—we travel on with realizations, and friendships made, and life lessons observed.
This photo is only one moment in one of the stories we share, but it represents many moments taken from the collection, moments when each character must face the realization of who they are, what they have, and what they are meant to be.
And, when love and life flow through a theater program, real people learn the same kinds of things!
~ Steve
What a Colorful Space!
There are times when "The Costume Room" could almost be renamed "The Costume Realm," for it is partly here that a summer-enjoying, beach-going, skateboard-riding, ice cream-eating Ocean Grove youth member is transformed into a Pirate, a Princess, or a member of the Castle Court!
It is surprising sometimes, after weeks of preparation, how much of a change happens when the costume is put on, the makeup is applied, the house lights go dim, the stage lights come on, and the curtain opens.
The faithful work and service that happens in the Costume Room is quite often an untold part of the story, but the results are on display when performance week comes!
Cathy, who directs this part of the challenge, spends a lot of time here each summer, and the rest of us, because we meet in this room every morning, also share many memories from this colorful space.
This picture was taken June 21, 2019, at the start of another awesome summer!
~ Staff Memories
Important Lines (3)
At the beginning of the Children's Show adaptation of Pinocchio, there is a unique narration designated "The Image Painters." It's a three-part narration: the first and second parts are at the start and end of scene one, and the third part is just before the final scene.
I remember working on these words. The Pinocchio play was being written for the summer of 1998. We had a computer in the corner of our family room. It was by the window looking out on the side yard and across the street. I spent many hours there by the window, working on various projects.
I think back now, and it seems a long time ago. Times have changed. Technology has changed. Ocean Grove has changed, too. The location where we rehearse and perform was an empty lot then, and most of what we know of the current Children's Show sequence of plays hadn't yet been written.
Sometimes important moments come and we don't understand their significance until years later. It was this play, Pinocchio, that Jen Fitzgerald (who had been an assistant in 1998 and was now director) asked to bring back in the summer of 2006. Other plays followed, written from 2007 to 2012.
So those quiet moments by the window were the start of something none of us saw in advance. It was the beginning of something that would someday be transformative for many of us—which makes these words even more compelling.
The Image Painters
So soft the wind before the silent dawn
And you and I as still, as still can be
We come to catch a glimpse before it’s gone
A glimpse of what is past, and yet to be
A story comes, a story goes, and then
Around and round the story flows again
Stand still with me, look far, look far from here
Come see the shining pinnacles, the spires
Catch your reflection in the stream so clear
And feel the warmth beside the blazing fire
Then tell me, tell me softly what you know
Of memories untouched since they were drawn
Of childhood lands so long, so long ago
Of whispered echoes in the silent dawn
The story comes, the story goes, and then
Around and round the story flows again
In the first scene, the audience meets Geppetto and the other characters in the Toy Shop, and watches as Geppetto applies the finishing touches to the new wooden boy: the boy they named Pinocchio, the boy who wants to be a real boy, the boy who asks the Blue Fairy that came to him that night if he can have the chance to prove himself worthy, and promises he will.
When the Blue Fairy leaves, and he falls asleep, the Image Painters pick up the story.
So there you have it: where, and why, and who
The sleeping toys, the angel dressed in blue
A dream within the heart, just like a seed
A wooden boy, his promise guaranteed
And this shall be just like it was before
A million times the story comes around
And we shall see what we have seen, and more
And we shall find what other hearts have found
Of course the challenge proves bigger than he thought it would be, and along the way there are many lessons to be learned. Nevertheless, when all was said and done, the dream was true, not as a result of merit or achievement, but as a gift given.
The Image Painters begin the closing scene with these words:
Colors, thoughts, a word, a song, a prayer
An image here, an image over there
A little bit from this, a bit from that
A wooden boy, a girl, a tall dark hat
A father’s hands, working while it’s day
A father’s love, at night he sailed away
A friendship deep, and stronger as it grew
With promises and hopes and dreams come true
A thousand times it was, and yet shall be
The story is the same for you and me
So soft the wind, so still the silent dawn
With memories like shadows on the lawn
With echoes like reflections in the stream
And we who catch them watch as in a dream
And wonder what we saw when in our hearing
The songs that danced away were disappearing
The story comes, the story goes and then
Around and round the story flows again
Perhaps for us, who have lived in these stories each summer, who in our hearts have danced in castles, sailed the seas, walked through forests, climbed hills, learned and shared songs of love and hope and promise, and slept for "years" while waiting for the moment when all would be made right again—perhaps for us these words have even more meaning than they did when first they were written:
Stand still with me, look far, look far from here
Come see the shining pinnacles, the spires
Catch your reflection in the stream so clear
And feel the warmth beside the blazing fire
Then tell me, tell me softly what you know
Of memories untouched since they were drawn
Of childhood lands so long, so long ago
Of whispered echoes in the silent dawn
The story comes, the story goes, and then
Around and round the story flows again
~ Steve
Staff Surprises
There are many talents that come together to make a Children's Show summer. Working as a team, we learn the value of each person's skill set, and watch as the sum of the parts adds up to more than we might have understood at the beginning.
But even when we think we know what's there, being on staff has moments of surprise—moments when someone steps up in a way we hadn't seen before.
While preparing for summer 2015, when we were working on the Snow White audition sections, Haley surprised us with her interpretation of the wicked queen's lines. This video recording was made of Haley reading the part of the queen and Cherie' reading the part of Snow White.
It's another memory in our collection—a moment when we see again how beautiful it is to be on a team where each has been given so much to share!
~ Staff Memories
A Very Good Place to Be
Most of the time, our staff responsibilities involve teaching and directing, but once in a while the opportunity comes to perform with the students.
In this rehearsal video clip, Krista and Vinnie are filling in for missing students in the front row. So they're having fun being part of the action.
It's the M-U-N-C-H-K-I-N-L-A-N-D song, and everyone who's been there knows Munchkinland is "a very good place to be!"
~ Staff Memories
"Learn by the Urn" - A Random Ocean Grove Moment
We have several shows where narrators (or storytellers) play an important role, guiding the audience from one scene to the next, and we have been grateful for the excellent communication that has been demonstrated.
The lines for these roles usually come in paragraphs. One of the ways we rehearse the lines is to read them over and over again, sometimes everyone reading at once. On July 12, 2017, we walked outside of the Youth Temple as a group, and read our lines in some nearby places.
This video clip combines quite a collection of sounds and images—the painted doors and stained glass windows at the back of the Great Auditorium, a green urn with bright flowers in it, a summer morning with a gentle seaside breeze, the voices of eleven girls reading their lines all at once, and the whole scene accompanied by the mighty sound of the Hope Jones pipe organ!
Now that's a truly random Ocean Grove moment!
~ Rehearsal Memories
Another Favorite Tradition – Overacting
During the first few days of rehearsal, when we are learning the songs and explaining the story in preparation for the audition process, the staff demonstrates each of the audition readings.
However, we've noticed over the years that sometimes kids make "classic mistakes"—reading with the script covering their face, or speaking really fast, or possibly overacting the part.
To help our participants understand what we are looking for, and also what we are not looking for, we try to demonstrate these mistakes.
Our annual demonstration of overacting has become a favorite tradition. In this video clip, Vinnie and Allyson read the audition section for Duke Windsworth and Snow White. Duke Windsworth is telling Snow White why she cannot return to the castle at this time.
~ Staff Memories
Friend Across the Years
We have a Children's Show friend who has been there for us time and time again. If my memory is correct, he first came to help backstage on a Saturday performance of Snow White in 2008. Some time later he stepped in to help with running lights, and that's where he found his place. Year after year, when tech and performance weeks came, he was up in the booth.
What a great and encouraging friend he has been to all of us. This photo with Krista was taken when he stopped by one of our Yellow Brick Road rehearsals at St. Paul's UMC on August 11, 2017.
Thank you, Brian. Thank you for being there. Thank you a million times over!
~ Staff Memories
Life Lines (1)
Sometimes lines come along that seem to transcend the action on stage. Sure, the characters are interacting, and it's natural that some of the dialogue may have a wider meaning—but still, there are some extraordinary places where the lines almost jump off the page.
In the Children's Show version of Pinocchio, when Pinocchio visits the school for the first time, he teaches the class the "Toy Shop Groove," a sequence of steps and turns that is part of the magic of the Toy Shop. But, in the middle of the song, while teaching the moves to a new friend, suddenly these lines take over:
It's not enough to just pretend it
Every move has a reason
All part of the action and the storyline
Don't stop with half of your heart
Throw everything in it
When you play the part that's yours
it makes you shine
You do the part that's yours
and I'll do mine
Then the song goes on, the words and motions match up again, and the play continues to develop. If you didn't see the words printed out, like they are here, you might not even remember them. They seem almost like a side comment, a momentary diversion, a secondary thought.
But you and I know that sometimes a momentary diversion (like this one) holds in it a perspective far-reaching, not bound by time, stretching to every horizon we've ever known, and running to meet us on the path we're on today.
Why do lines like these come? When writing, they appear in front of us, as it were, and we put them down on the page because they fit the rhyme and meter. Then we go on, looking for the next sequence of thoughts, until the song is complete.
Writing, learning, rehearsing, performing: they are all steps in a sequence. But there are times, as the song goes flying by, when we are captured by it. Haven't I heard these words before? Why do they speak to me as though I were hearing them for the first time?
Don't stop with half of your heart
Throw everything in it
When you play the part that's yours
it makes you shine
You do the part that's yours
and I'll do mine
~ Steve
So There You Have It
By now, I'm sure you realize that we love laughing when we work during the summer. We have funny phrases every year that get passed around, and we enjoy all kinds of unexpected happenings.
One evening while preparing for Pinocchio 2014, we decided, since the costume room was right there, to borrow a few things and make a "Welcome to Summer" video.
It was wonderful—but not necessarily perfect... which made it even more wonderful. Yes, this was another amazing Children's Show moment hidden away in the archives!
~ Staff Memories
Teamwork
This picture was taken downstairs in the Youth Temple on May 22, 2017—the first Children's Show staff meeting at the beginning of a new summer.
What an amazing gift a team can be! Working together, we travel to places none of us would find if we were traveling alone. The combined skills, the friendship, the laughter, the prayers, the caring and sharing: who can measure it?
Sometimes a picture captures a thousand thoughts without saying a single word.
(L to R: David, Jen, Cathy, Cherie', Allyson, Krista, Vinnie)
~ Staff Memories
Ice Cream (1)
As you can imagine, the staff and students spend a lot of time each summer in the Ocean Grove Youth Temple. That's where we rehearse and perform. But there's another place, just one block to the south, that draws a lot of attention too—the one and only DAYS Ice Cream!
Children's Show staff and participants go there a lot. It's a unique place, with a brightly-colored shop, lots of flavors, and an outdoor seating area with tables and chairs. Families often go there after performances.
The line extending out the front door and down the block can be quite long on a summer evening. (This picture was taken late at night on September 2, 2019, after the crowds had gone.) Just looking at it brings back a bunch of Children's Show and summertime memories!
~ Staff Memories
Aye, Aye, Sir!
Auditioning more than 100 kids is a challenge. We take selected script portions and rewrite them (if necessary) so they can be read by just two voices. Each participant auditions with a friend. Together they perform two of the readings. Then they each sing an audition excerpt from one of the songs in the play.
This audition, with two actors reading the parts for Captain Hook and assorted pirates, became one of our "forever memories." It started out usual enough, but by the end we were all laughing, partly because of the whimsical way it was presented, and partly because of the spontaneous voice impressions used for some of the lines.
This Children's Show moment happened on Friday, June 26, 2009, shortly after 10:00 AM. To this day it remains one of our favorites!
~ Staff Memories
Staff Plus!
There are some people who are just there for you. They might not be on the Children's Show staff exactly, but it wouldn't be too much of an exaggeration to say they are part of "Staff Plus!"
Staff Plus! is that amazing group of people who come together to help set up the stage before performance week, run lights or sound, assist backstage, build props, create costumes, apply makeup, shoot photos or video, provide food—the list goes on and on.
How grateful we are for this team of people, and for all the moments they gave and gave and gave again. This photo below is "some of us plus!" But it stands for many, many more who played a part indescribable. Thank you to all who have meant so much!
~ Staff Memories
Important Lines (2)
Behind the scenes in Children’s Show there are a lot of wonderful moments. We’ve been sharing a few of them in these blog posts this summer. Some of them are a lot of fun—spontaneous moments where the unexpected happens. But there is another kind of behind-the-scenes moment that has so much meaning it’s hard to put it into words, and at times there is an element of Divine mystery.
We are very intentional in Children’s Show about honoring God. We sing “Blessed Be the Name of the Lord” multiple times through the summer. The programs we hand out at performances sometimes have the phrase, “Dedicated to the Glory of God and to Kids Everywhere!” And often the challenge of writing the play, trying to wrap a script around a story, seems to have a spiritual element to it.
I remember a very interesting moment that happened while writing “Beauty & The Beast.” I was in my room, sitting on my bed, working on the part of the play where a banquet is held in the castle. The entire banquet, with dancers, singers, food being served, and Yllona-Belle dancing with the Beast, was all going to take place during a musical piece called “Song of Wonder.” While writing the lyrics for the final section, as the song was coming to a close, I had the following words:
Song of wonder
Joy and wonder
Two hearts opening and finding each other
First a glance and
Then a dance and
Dreams that are planted grow
Take it on faith and
Leave it for a while and
Maybe love in its own time will answer
_______
_______
_______
But I didn’t know what the last few thoughts were.
Sometimes you sense a line is important, but you don’t know what the line is yet. My heart was searching. I recognized that it would be nice if the last syllable rhymed with “grow,” and I knew that somehow the remaining syllables needed to capture or express something in a significant way—but the words were not there, and I didn’t know what they should be.
I remember feeling very tired, a tiredness that kind of swept over me. So, because I was sitting on my bed, I just leaned back and lay down to rest for a while. Soon I was asleep.
I don’t remember how long I slept. It was probably like one of those power naps—maybe 15 or 20 minutes. What I do remember is this: when I woke up, and sat up, and realized again that I was searching for the closing words to capture what seemed like a significant moment in the play, that this phrase was suddenly there in my mind:
Growing up strong like
Trees in the wood and
Red as the wind-kissed rose
It was the right length musically, and “rose” was close enough to “grow” to have a rhyming vowel sound, but what surprised me most was that the imagery and the collection of syllables was something I don’t think I ever would have found if I had been asked to manufacture it on my own. Instead, when I was too tired to think about it any more, it was given to me as a gift.
As it turned out, that line was not only in the song for the banquet—it was also on our summer play T-shirts, on our programs, and, in a musical reprise, it was sung as the last line of the play. The line I had been searching for, sensing that it was important, needing to capture something significant, but not knowing what it was, turned out to be one of the defining lines of the story.
Experiences like this, and others that shine from a million different angles, lead us to believe, on staff, that we are sometimes in a play and sometimes in a miracle! With grateful hearts we echo the song we sing through the summer and across the years: "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord!"
~ Steve
Behind the Curtain
On Sunday evening, August 11, 2013, the staff met at the Youth Temple to set up for performance week. The play was Cinderella. Shortly after 9:00 at night, as we were finishing up, Vinnie and Haley turned one of the Cinderella sets into a spontaneous game show! It was only 33 seconds long, but it was another wonderful behind-the-scenes moment in Children's Show history!
~ Staff Memories
Laugh with the Staff (2)
Every summer, selected short sections of the script are used to create audition readings. Our version of Peter Pan has a pirate named Cecco (pronounced "Check-o"). Vinnie and Cherie', both very creative, decided to do this particular audition reading with a Brooklyn accent! (It was another favorite staff memory that until now was a secret.)
~ Staff Memories
Another Adventure in the Rain
I'm 14 and I get a call from Jen—our new backdrop has arrived and she's asking for my help to get it into the Youth Temple.
“Sure,” I say, “I just got back from the beach. I'll be there in a minute.”
Should be pretty easy, right? Well... apparently the driver got lost and decided to just leave the box with the backdrop near Nagle's (about 2-3 blocks south of the Youth Temple). And then the sky opens up and rain begins to pour, meaning that the cardboard box will not make it too long, and it's very possible our new backdrop will be ruined before we even get to see it.
So I sprint barefoot in the pouring rain the few blocks to Nagle's, and I am trying to carry a box that is twice the size of me as fast as possible so the backdrop does not get ruined.
Backdrop: Saved. Cardboard Box: Ruined. David: Drenched.
~ David
So Many Hats
Everyone knows that Megan Faulkner, Director of Student Ministries, has a job with a million different aspects—or, to borrow the phrase, she "wears a lot of hats." Most of the "hats" Megan wears are easy to understand and explain, but every once in a while something happens that requires a little Children's Show imagination. Let's just say this hat was the result of winning a seafaring contest with the infamous Captain Hook! Megan, having come through victorious, values this hat highly and models it on very special occasions. (Now, ask any Ocean Grove youth member who their fearless leader is!)
~ Staff Memories
Learning the Box Step
We've adopted the box step as a signature Children's Show move, and it's quite likely it will appear several times in every Children's Show performance! One day a large cardboard box was in the space where we rehearse, and David saw this as an opportunity to demonstrate the "Box Step in a Box."
~ Staff Memories
Favorite Moments
One of my favorite moments from last year was playing through the show songs right before each performance. Everyone’s energy was building up, nerves were probably at their highest, and the excitement was palpable. Hearing the laughter, seeing the smiles, and feeling the joy during those moments is something I will never forget.
~ Elizabeth
Behind the Scenes (Vinnie and Krista)
In 2010, when we needed a movable figure for Oz, Bill and Tasha Asay created one for us. It was Bill's idea to create a balanced assembly that could tilt and swing in multiple directions. It took two staff members to control Oz, one to tilt and swing the assembly and another to operate the moving mouth mechanism. This picture, taken during a dress rehearsal in August 2017 (when the play returned—seven years after the original performances), shows Vinnie and Krista all set for another frightening portrayal!
~ Staff Memories
Summer Rain
One of my favorite Children's Show memories was the first year we did Beauty and the Beast. That year I was cast as the Beast, and the part included a duet between the Beast and Yllona-Belle. There was one practice when a few leads stayed after to go over the song, but we took a quick break first. It began pouring rain outside—one of those really heavy summer rains, where it still seemed sunny while the drops came down. We all went outside, running around in the rain, getting soaked and laughing jumping through puddles. Then we came back inside and sang a duet on stage, soaking wet from the rain. So now every time a summer rain comes by again, I think back on that day: running through puddles and singing songs.
~ David
Memories
Children’s Show has been a part of my life for 32 years. My first year in the show was 1988, and we performed Wizard of Oz. I was thrilled to be playing a munchkin under the direction of the incredible Mr. Dexter Davison. I can still remember exactly what my costume looked like, and I can even hear the music echoing through the Great Auditorium.
When I was a child, we rehearsed at St. Paul’s Church across town. My daily schedule was to go to Thornley Chapel in the morning, walk with my friends to the candy store on Main Avenue to get some delicious treats, and then continue on to play practice at St. Paul’s.
Our performances were in the Great Auditorium, and still to this day when I enter that magnificent building, I am transported back to my days dancing and singing on that stage.
My love for music and theater began in Ocean Grove. I am so grateful to still be part of such a special program each summer.
~ Jen
Opportunity
Although I was never a cast member in a Children’s Show, I had the opportunity to be an audience member multiple times. Amazingly enough, of all the shows I got to watch, my favorite, Sleeping Beauty, was the one that I had the opportunity to play piano for last year.
One thing most of y’all probably don’t know is that when I originally accepted the job to work in Ocean Grove with the Children’s Show, playing piano was not a part of the job description.
Thankfully for me, (someone who has not acted too much), I was given the opportunity to accompany the show on piano and help teach the songs instead of attempting to teach acting!
~ Elizabeth
Show Time
Most people probably know that for the past 7 years I have been the audio person for Children's Show, turning on mics and making sure everyone can be heard. What you probably don't know is what happens right before every show up in the sound booth.
Let me start by saying I am usually a nervous wreck. I get more nervous running audio for shows than when I'm in the shows. So, to shake off the nerves, a tradition was created. In the few moments between the opening prayer and the cast singing “Blessed Be,” I lead the audio team in warmups. We jump up and down as quietly as possible, and shadowbox out our nerves. The curtain opens, I turn on the mics, and the song begins. As soon as the last line is sung, I say out loud two words: “Play Ball.” There's no more turning back—it's time to muster up all the courage in our system and go for it. Mics on. Show time.
~ David
Laugh with the Staff! (1)
Being on staff with the Ocean Grove Children's Show has some amazing and unexpected moments. Here Haley and Allyson used part of the Cinderella set to model a different play altogether!
~ Staff Memories
Studio on the Highway
There were two pianos in our home. One was in the family room. It was an old upright. The other was a baby grand. It was in the living room. We also had an electronic organ. These were the instruments on which I learned to play and write.
But technology kept making progress, and musical instruments started appearing with knobs, buttons, and displays that lit up. An assortment of synthesizers and synthesizer modules, a sequencer, a drum machine, and a 4-track cassette tape recorder took over a corner of my room. This enabled me to explore and write music upstairs, surrounded by electronics and wires.
But there was one song I’ve always liked that started out in a very unexpected place.
Our family was driving one weekend to New England, to sing in a church there. A pastor who was a friend had invited us. It was a long ride made even longer by a winter snowstorm that blanketed the northeast. We were traveling in a van with front, middle, and back seats. The back seat was nice if you needed a little extra space for something you were taking along—like maybe a three-octave, battery-powered, Casio keyboard with miniature keys. Yes, that’s exactly right. Snow was falling, we were traveling north, and someone was sitting in the back seat of the family van, with headphones on, exploring chord progressions on a three-octave keyboard.
Now there are some limitations to this kind of setup, but if you have a sound you can work with, and a simple bass and chord pattern that works on miniature keys—well, you just might start to hear some lines in your head. And that’s where the following lines first came to me.
Every little toy in the Toy Shoppe
It doesn’t matter where you’re made
Every little toy in the Toy Shoppe
Join the parade
It was the chorus, in the key of E. Other lines came too.
The girl in red is a China doll
The señorita arrived from Spain…
These words and more started to fill up the verses, in the relative minor key.
It was cool how it developed. But even more interesting to me is the idea that when I was far away from the instruments in our home, and the collection of electronic devices in my room, and all I had was a small, inexpensive, battery-powered keyboard, that there in the "studio on the highway" a song was born that I still treasure today for its simple but profound statement of how valuable each one of us is.
Every little toy in the Toy Shoppe
It doesn’t matter where you’re made
Every little toy in the Toy Shoppe
Join the parade!
~ Steve
Friendships
My first time in Children's Show was in 2004, 16 years ago. That means some of the oldest kids in our program were just born when I received my first role. It was a summer filled with Tamogatchis and Gameboys. I got my first cell phone that summer—it was a flip phone with no camera and an antenna.
A lot has changed since then, but one of the things that has stayed consistent is Children's Show. Not the show itself, we do a different show every year, but the friendships that are made there. The friends I have made in Children's Show are the same friends I will have for life—the kind of friends that you run into at the beach after not seeing them for a while but it's like nothing has changed.
These friendships are now over a decade old and the reason I had them was because we happened to be cast on the same night in Children's Show. I was even able to meet friends that went to my school that I never would have met if it wasn't for the show.
So if you're older, think about some of the friends you have made throughout Children's Show. If you're younger, think about all of the friends you are going to make. Because guess what—ten years from now you might run into them at the beach and it will be like nothing has changed.
~ David
Favorite Memories
Some of my fondest memories of the OG summer Children’s Show do not actually happen on stage. My favorite memories happen behind the scenes in certain moments. Moments when a vocalist taps into his/her “10 seconds of incredible courage” to sing “for an Audience of One” and reach for the high note they thought they couldn’t hit successfully. Moments that include mentoring to a troubled teen, drying the tears of a scared 8 year old, or speaking encouragement into the 11 year old who just got their first lead. It’s these little moments when you can connect with 1 out of 120-150 children that stand out in my mind.
But I think my absolute favorite memories are the moments before a show, when we arrive and get into costume and makeup. There is such a wonderful energy that takes over the Youth Temple basement! Children are happy, excited, nervous, and scared all at the same time. The room is buzzing with emotion and anticipation and prayer for a wonderful show. I sit at the piano to warm the cast up, and it’s in that moment when I realize what really happened during weeks of rehearsals: friendships were formed or deepened and true connections were made between cast and staff members. Encouragement, truth, and love were spoken all summer, and this was the moment you could actually feel the unity that we all shared. After warm-ups, we all sing a medley of the songs of summer and line up for prayer.
Prayer is the glue that holds the entire summer process together. God is present in the Youth Temple in real and tangible ways. HE has guided our process and watches over all who enter. When we pray just before the show, it’s as if we’re giving God this performance as an offering to Him for guiding us and giving us such wonderful moments throughout the summer. It is a wonderful feeling to praise HIM for those wonderful memories.
Finally it’s time to walk up the stairs to assemble as a full cast on stage to begin the show with “Blessed Be." This song, written by our own Steve Mugglin, has been a pre-show musical offering for many years! It’s in this moment that my heart feels full. To watch these young 8-15 year olds praise God through music usually brings me to tears every show night. I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for another summer, another performance, and another cast of children who we got to minister to for another summer.
Although this summer is very different, I hope to come away with the same feeling of gratitude for having spent some time with these children in summer workshops, where we can still speak truth, give encouragement, and strengthen our skills, all while making connections and acknowledging that HE is with us. During the summer, we sing “Blessed Be” at the beginning of some of our rehearsals. This year, we will sing it at the beginning of every musical/vocal workshop as an offering to God, thanking Him for another summer! It’s a different kind of summer, but God is still with us. Let’s still remember to have “10 seconds of incredible courage” to do the things that we don’t think we can do, and to live this summer “for an Audience of One.”
~ Cherie'
Audience of One
When she conducted the “Anointed by Hymn” youth choir during the summer back in 2010, Cherie' would always remind us to sing for an “Audience of One.”
This summer, when it is all but impossible for us to gather for performances with traditional audiences, this phrase becomes even more important. As a performer, it can be hard to perform when it feels like no one is watching. But it helps me to remember that we have a God who is always watching, who is so proud of what we accomplish, and who loves us no matter what—and that’s the best kind of “audience” there is!
So this summer, sing and dance your hearts out for the most attentive, loving, caring, and forgiving audience you will ever have—God will be so excited to watch you enjoy and develop your gifts!
~ Allyson
Pieces in the Puzzle
You know that moment when you put the final piece into a puzzle and step back and look at the big picture? It’s amazing to think that all of those little pieces work together to make something so beautiful.
That’s what happens each summer when we put together a show. Each piece in the puzzle is essential, and when you are missing even one the picture isn’t complete. Each cast member is essential; when one is missing the show’s message isn’t the same.
If all of the puzzle pieces were exactly the same shape, they wouldn’t fit together to create the bigger picture. If each actor played the same character, they wouldn’t come together to create a show.
We tell our cast members each summer that they are such a significant piece in the puzzle. Together, we have the opportunity to give a gift to the audience, and every character is needed for the big picture and message to be conveyed clearly.
Encouraging each cast member, making sure they feel loved and supported, is one of our goals. We hope they will all understand that they are truly an important piece in the puzzle. When this is realized, we can then come together to create something beautiful.
~ Jen
The Journey
Each summer we stress to the children that although we are working towards a common goal, it’s truly the journey that is the most important. Each day when the kids arrive for rehearsal, the staff and I are excited for what that day has in store. Watching the children learn, grow, and develop lifelong memories is such an amazing gift.
Before each performance we present a slideshow of pictures from the summer. It is incredible to look back at those special moments. These are the moments that the cast members remember the most: the fun they experience and the love they feel while being part of our program.
The performances are a celebration of that journey, not the only goal. The true goal is for the journey to be one of joy and love.
~ Jen
Important Lines (1)
Some moments are never forgotten. This one is a vivid memory.
George Robson IV, director of the Ocean Grove Children's Show in 1990, had asked me if I would be the music director. Planning was essential, so several months before summer, George scheduled a meeting. It was hosted by Steve and Leigh Ross, and was the first of many wonderful evenings we spent at their home. Along with a warm welcome, they always provided something to eat. (A big bowl of grapes was quite often a part of the evening.)
The play that summer was Peter Pan, and we talked about it during that first meeting, but the question on my mind when George and I left was, "Is there a way to capture the personality of Peter Pan in a song?"
George and I traveled back to his house, and then I was driving home from there. At the time, George lived close to the beach in Ocean Grove, on a street called Broadway. I was driving west, away from his house, still wondering what kind of song would capture the blazing personality of this boy who never grew up.
On Broadway, some shuffleboard courts and a tennis court were about a block and a half from where George lived. Just as I was passing them, a phrase went through my mind, along with a melody line. The phrase went like this:
"I like who I am. I like who I'm gonna be."
That was it. Eleven words, and the musical notes to go along with them. I heard it clearly in my mind and heart, and it stuck. I hadn't had time to work on it. It was just there, all of a sudden, like a gift given, received at an unexpected moment.
Even all these years later, I remember where I was when the thought first came, and the instant awareness I felt—that the phrase was part of the answer to the question I was asking.
The meetings at Steve and Leigh's home continued (where I ate more grapes than can be counted), and eventually summertime came. There are photographs hidden away somewhere that tell part of the story, and memories in many grateful hearts from that blessed summer. But along with all the other memories there is one line in particular that shines very brightly across the years, a line for which I am forever grateful, that came just when it was needed, at an unexpected moment, while driving through the night on Broadway in Ocean Grove: "I like who I am. I like who I'm gonna be."
~ Steve
Songs in the Heart
Music and life go together. Music can bring joy. It can lead to peace. It can be filled with love. What a blessed avenue it can be!
The songs of summer have played not only in our minds, but also in our hearts. We sing them to ourselves. We sing them with friends. We sing them on the beach, in the park, while riding in the car.
Sometimes our souls are like a great cathedral, and the echoes of songs that played a part long ago in our lives are reflected back to us. Words we learned as a child are suddenly there again, like friends sharing the path with us, holding memories born in another chapter, still treasured.
The Psalmist said, “Sing unto the Lord a new song.” Music is a part of who we are because it is part of who God is, and we are made in His image.
Today, let there be music in our hearts—the music of life, love, joy, and peace.
And this summer, may music that plays in heaven be reflected here on earth!
~ Steve
Building Memories
A title like this can be very misleading. It sounds like “the making of memories,” but actually what I’m referencing are memories associated with certain buildings.
I’ll never forget my first week working with the Ocean Grove Children’s Show. It was late June 1990. George Robson, the director, asked me to meet him at his house for breakfast on Monday morning. We talked, and ate, and then went across town to the first rehearsal.
Most of our rehearsals that summer would be held at St. Paul’s UMC, but the church was needed that week for another program, so our first week of rehearsals happened in Thornley Chapel. Back then, Thornley Chapel didn’t have the pews that are there now. Instead it was filled with wooden chairs, most of them just the right size for a child to sit in. An old upright piano stood at the front left, facing the south wall. An old pump organ was on the opposite side of the room, facing the north wall.
I wish there were photographs from that first week, but I don’t remember if we took any. Those were the days of film cameras, and no one in the room had ever thought of coming to a rehearsal with a phone in their pocket. No, our attention was on getting familiar with the script and learning as much of the music as we could during the first week.
The acoustics in that time-honored space were wonderful, and the voices of the kids rang out as we learned songs like “Kensington Gardens,” “That’s the Way a Mother Loves,” and “I Like Who I Am.”
Remembering those first five rehearsals in Thornley Chapel, I feel a little nostalgic, because no Children’s Show rehearsal (that I’ve been part of) was ever held there again. The next week we moved across town to St. Paul’s, and our summer adventures continued there.
It was the beginning of a much longer story than I would have guessed at the time. I’m thankful, looking back, that it started in such a wonderful place!
~ Steve
Part of You
One of the things I love about Children’s Show is how the songs, stories, and lines become a part of you. I’ll hear about some really delicious dinner plans and tell my mom, “you’re talking my language, sister!” (“More” from Beauty and the Beast). Or, helping my dad with his tools in the garage, I’ll call out, “I’ve got the hammer!” and then proceed to sing the whole chorus of “Build a House” (Peter Pan). My brother and sister and I will cry out “splash one!” (“Danger in the Deep” from Pinocchio) while jumping into the pool or the ocean. I hope these songs become as much a part of your life and your family as they have mine!
~ Allyson
Lightbulb Moments
One of the greatest joys of working with children is watching those “lightbulb moments.” Whether it’s during the school year when I wear my “Algebra teacher hat” and a student suddenly is able to factor a quadratic equation or during the summer when I wear my “Youth Dramatics hat” and a child is finally able to convey a certain emotion when saying their line, there is no other feeling like it.
Watching a child grow in their craft each summer is truly a gift. Kids are amazing! They soak up direction like a sponge. When I watch them shine bright on stage in August each summer, I can’t help but think back to those first few days of rehearsal and smile.
Those “lightbulb moments” can happen at any time through our summer journey, and each one brings a new energy and excitement to the process. I encourage you all to celebrate the “lightbulb moments” this summer!
~ Jen
The Present
Some have observed that the present is a gift. This day, this hour, this moment, this season. Today I embrace the possibilities that are right in front of me.
Journeys can be long. Many chapters are in the book telling our individual stories. There are contrasts: mountains and valleys, highlands and plains. There is time: yesterday, today, tomorrow. There is continuity. Seen from above, it is one story line.
I love stories. Maybe that’s why the Children’s Show has been such an amazing adventure!
I remember an experience that happened to me as a young child. (I don’t remember my exact age—I’ll say I was in first grade.) My brother and sisters and I knew a fourth grade girl who lived down the street. She was visiting us that day, and we were outside playing. Whatever game we were playing was probably fun, but I remember a moment, or maybe I should say I remember a longing that came over me. I longed for a game that was filled with adventure, that was bigger and wider than just our backyard, where there was a sense of quest and challenge. I don’t know if I could have used those words then to describe the feeling. Even now, as I write, I’m not sure if these words accurately capture all I was hoping for. It was just a feeling, but the longing was so real—almost from another place.
Years went by, filled with all the activities of growing up, and the journey of life moved across a thousand landscapes. But have you noticed? There are some scenes you travel through that seem both new and familiar at the same time. After a number of years writing for the Children’s Show, it came to me one day that the deep, “impossible-to-describe” longing I remembered feeling in my heart, when I was a young boy, had a striking similarity to the stories of adventure, quest, and challenge that were playing out right in front of me on the Youth Temple stage!
I wonder if this is an example of the continuity mentioned before. Maybe it was that way because it needed to be. Maybe the dream is written in the heart long before the words are written on the page. Maybe the destination is waiting, and the soul catches the sense of it, as though the wind had blown from across far-away mountains, whispering a hint of a promise to come.
I'm grateful, though I don't understand all these things, that I have seen answers appear that corresponded to specific dreams in the heart, and adventures come to pass that were just thoughts years before. There is something majestic about it, these unfolding stories: born in a moment, treasured for a lifetime!
This summer, with all of its uncertainties, is still the present, and the present is still a gift. There are adventures that wait to be experienced. They may be partly hidden in mystery, but they belong to the story.
And I wonder—if the winds blow from across far-away mountains today, what treasures might wait for us around the bend tomorrow!
~ Steve
The Songs of Summer
Peter Pan is the story of a boy who keeps his childlike wonder and never grows up. I like to think of the songs of an Ocean Grove summer in the same way. When I hear songs from my years performing in Ocean Grove, my mind is immediately transported back to my childhood.
I still remember singing "Build a House" as a lost boy on stage in the Great Auditorium back in 1990 when we first performed Peter Pan. I hear "Ride the Wind" and remember singing it just moments before I took my final bow as a 15-year-old Children's Show cast member in the 1995 performance of Peter Pan.
I couldn't wait to direct this show and relive my childhood again and again in 2004, 2009, and 2016. The songs "I Like Who I Am" and "That's the Way a Mother Loves" are ingrained in me, and I can't help but smile when I hear those first few chords played on a track or piano.
That's what the songs of summer do to us all, even years after singing them on stage in OG. They help us to relive amazing moments from our childhood.
So, I encourage all who visit this website, whether you are experiencing these songs for the first time as a kid or you are an adult remembering days gone by and incredible summers spent in Ocean Grove, to sing out and smile. We love you, and we are so glad that you are on this journey with us this summer.
~ Jen
Hope
Summertime is filled with promise! I suppose every day is, when you stop to think about it, but here in Ocean Grove we view summer in a special way. Perhaps, because this summer is so different, we're missing some of the things we usually associate with an Ocean Grove summer.
But hope is like a river that flows toward us in whatever season we find ourselves. Go around a bend, to an unexpected place, and hope will find you there.
Promise is the same way. If it wasn't, it wouldn't be a promise. It lives on, regardless of circumstance or condition.
This summer, as unexpected as it is, is still the landscape of hope and promise. The river still flows; the promise still stands. Light shines in all directions. A smile is still a smile, meaningful words come to lift us up, and songs in the heart play on!
Where is your summer today? Is it in an unexpected place? Is it around a bend and going who knows where? In all this "unusual" do you sometimes wish for what the "usual" might have been? Probably the answer is yes. But there are some things that wait for us unseen, in places we never thought we'd find ourselves, with promises we didn't know we needed—and, in those places, joy seeks and finds the hope-filled heart.
Let hope arise, like a brilliant sun on a clear summer morning!
The promise of Life still stands. The river of Life still flows!
~ Steve
