THE DAY I MET THE PRINCE CHILDREN THEATRE
Arts & Culture
Although, in general, arts is beginning to be accepted within the main streams of the socio-economic structures of society; we feel that, we can be part of that process, in aiding and quickening the spread of its acceptance within society. As such, it is essential to get children to be a part of this blossoming process, for it is in the future of our children’s education, that generations to come, may evolve to eradicate poverty.In fulfilling, Khind’s Starfish Foundation Project’s three pronged criteria of education, poverty eradication, cultural and performing arts; we are immensely thrilled to suggest a remedy that will encapsulate all three of Khind’s Starfish Foundation Projects for Happiness criteria into one act of love, which is, a Children’s Theatre performance, entitled; “The Day I Met the Prince”.In a world of ever growing socio-economic status, there are some fractions of children who are being left out. Therefore, the heart of the play is focused at these groups of individuals, while drawing the attention to this Project for Happiness by Khind, that is; education, poverty eradication, cultural and performing arts.We believe that by utilising the tools of drama in Children’s Theatre, which is essentially, a process of stimulating creativity, challenging perceptions of the world and themselves, and most crucially, it provides an outlet for emotions, thoughts and dreams, we believe that we can, spark the imaginative process of creativity in a child. For when we, nurture creativity, we give birth to imagination, and when imagination blossoms, the fertile process of seeking knowledge is awakened. This in turn, we believe, in time, will move toward a world free from poverty.
Overview of Issue / Background
Although, in general, arts is beginning to be accepted within the main streams of the socio-economic structures of society; we feel that, we can be part of that process, in aiding and quickening the spread of its acceptance within society. As such, it is essential to get children to be a part of this blossoming process, for it is in the future of our children’s education, that generations to come, may evolve to eradicate poverty.
In fulfilling, Khind’s Starfish Foundation Project’s three pronged criteria of education, poverty eradication, cultural and performing arts; we are immensely thrilled to suggest a remedy that will encapsulate all three of Khind’s Starfish Foundation Projects for Happiness criteria into one act of love, which is, a Children’s Theatre performance, entitled; “The Day I Met the Prince”.
In a world of ever growing socio-economic status, there are some fractions of children who are being left out. Therefore, the heart of the play is focused at these groups of individuals, while drawing the attention to this Project for Happiness by Khind, that is; education, poverty eradication, cultural and performing arts.
We believe that by utilising the tools of drama in Children’s Theatre, which is essentially, a process of stimulating creativity, challenging perceptions of the world and themselves, and most crucially, it provides an outlet for emotions, thoughts and dreams, we believe that we can, spark the imaginative process of creativity in a child. For when we, nurture creativity, we give birth to imagination, and when imagination blossoms, the fertile process of seeking knowledge is awakened. This in turn, we believe, in time, will move toward a world free from poverty.
Project Objectives (Vision & Mission)
This project aims at building:
- Confidence
With confidence, safety becomes a natural asset, this then provides a platform to explore emotions, which then creates opportunities for self development, in having the freedom to make their own choices
- Creativity and Imagination
Through the activity of role playing, we believe that Creativity and Imagination can set a person out of the cycle of poverty, as it will create a foundation to problem solve through various situations, providing pathways to different outcomes, in the hope of generating better living standards.
- Independence
When children are independent, they are intrinsically motivated to explore their own reasoning in creating their own activity. We believe, when this process of independence is achieved, they will have the clarity of self development in taking ownership to change their living standard.
0% of RM1.00 Goal
Project Information
| University name | : | Universiti Sains Malaysia |
| Project leader name | : | Kuo Pao Kun |
Section I
This grass root project, in promoting arts education, aims at bringing about significant change in a child’s educational and social development. Our goal is for children to be more confident, creative and independent.
Our financial sponsors besides Khind Starfish Foundation, were; U Hotel & Mystartr, and inkind product sponsor for the Goody Bags were; Julie’s Biscuits & Marigold. Mary-Kay, was our make-up sponsor, while; Occupy Beach Street and Penang Free Sheet, were our partners in publicising the event.
In our humble opinion, this event was a huge success with the support from our sponsors, and tireless effort from our entire team. Two shows had house-full audience capacity, while the other two had half-full audience capacity. Overall, we reached 71% of our target audience goal, which was 565 audience capacity out of 800.
One obstacle we faced was the timing of the event. Due to the school holidays, many homes/institutions and organisations were unable to commit, as their children were already on leave with their parents, while others had their SPM examinations on. The homes/organisations that managed to attend the performance were Penang Down Syndrome Association (PDSA), BOLD Association for Children with Special Needs Penang, The Ramakrishna Ashram, and Penang Cheshire Home.
To highlight our pursuit in encouraging children’s confidence, creativity and independence, we must draw your kind attention to a memorable occurrence in our final performance, which overwhelmed us completely. In that fateful performance, one child was so taken up by the actor’s portrayal of the Granny character that the child walked up to the acting area to assist the Granny in her enactment. It was such a touching moment. As such, this proves our philosophy that theatre has the possibility of becoming an excellent foundation to connect, and create a platform of interaction between the actor and audience; a relationship channelled through LOVE. The storyline, infused with love, humour, compassion, intrigue and thoughtfulness made the audience laugh while having a great time at the performance. The seed of our effort is in the LOVE that we planted in the hearts of the audience through our performance. One of the made many audience feedback, reads as such, “Great story, good lessons for the audience to take back. Good acting overall.”
From their feedback, we acknowledge that our aims in promoting education and poverty eradication through the performing arts has been successful.
The statistics below indicate the number of audience who were favourable and unfavourable to the production. There were 560 members of the audience, who favoured the production, while 5 did not. No matter the category (children, students and adults) of the audience, the results indicate a successful event. Some audience members have set their sights and are looking forward to our future productions.
In this project, various challenges were faced, in unpredictable situations. Fortunately, we clung steadfastly to the philosophy of learning how to love, serve and give unconditionally, through the process, of adapting, adjusting and accommodating, with the right attitude in assessing our actions. These were the most valuable “life skill” lessons that we have learned throughout this event from our Supervisor; Dr. D. Muralitharan Pillai, who constantly with his compassionate corrections, kept steering us back onto the path of service through the arts.
From the net income gained from this event, we are planning for a tour in 2016, at Penang Performing Arts Centre (penangpac), and to Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, and hopefully Singapore, to spread the LOVE of theatre.
In short, we believe this project, acts as a conduit for children as well as adults/students to explore multitudes of experiences more than what meets the eyes; reaching for the stars, the world brought into the palm of a child.
“I had prepared to be disappointed because this is based on my favourite book. However, I was pleasantly surprised! It was very well done, and plus points to live music. Very, very well done.” Mindy Loo, audience feedback from The Day I Met the Prince.
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