School days come and school days go … but we wanted this to be special for children and their parents. So we, the staff of this little school in a remote corner of India, decided to put on “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”.

One of the most challenging and delightful roles of a teacher is preparing children for a play … especially if the children are in elementary school … The experience of training them and having them practice defies description.

Snow White and the rest of the cast were fifth grade or less. A pretty and talented third grader became Snow White more because she was relatively less mischievous. The role of the evil queen went to a clever fifth grader who was really good at acting.

The seven dwarfs were chosen for their bright eyes, exuberance and general optimism above all … as you will soon see … The prince, who appeared alone in the last scene, was a quiet child who learned his lines and recited them when asked. I asked him to do it. , a redeeming quality … as you will soon see …..

With minor and minor setbacks, we managed to give the children the perfect word for the play. They got really excited, even the seven little kids … as they had to be themselves, funny and in a good mood.

The big day arrived … Everyone was excited. The children were angels in terms of punctuality and dress rehearsal. With the play scheduled for 7 pm, the children were taken to the green room at 5:30.

As the costume of the dwarves was not complicated, they got ready first, put on their beards, mustaches and wigs and left to line up, waiting for their big moment … This was a big mistake …

They waited, 10 minutes … like good little children, quiet and happy … The next 10 minutes they looked around and drew the attention of others to their costume … Some posed for photos … They started talking. .. softly, louder … louder until they were commanded to stand with their fingers on their lips.

It was then that the tallest of the boys noticed a beautiful hole dug just behind the green room. He gestured silently to the other boys and said, “Let’s see who goes in and out first.”

Those who couldn’t jump simply slid inside, screamed in victory, and then scrambled back to ground level. This seemed like a good game to pass the time … By the time they were lost and seen, each dwarf could be credited with at least 3 attempts to jump and climb out …

His attractiveness was a faithful testament to this fact … The suits were terribly muddy, the mustaches and beards were sideways, there was no trace of makeup, and little fights had broken out from a superior man … Of course they were lucky to They have the pretty silver cardboard axes we made for them to start their skirmishes. “Bang! Shock!” they spoke to simulate a well-fought ax duel …

However, the axes had not been designed for this eventuality and they withstood the brunt of the fights … all the axes fell evenly and then some snapped …

The teachers quickly arranged the seven young children, making them presentable for the play. Mustaches were glued back, clothing dusted, spare axes were given, and makeup was reapplied …

The play began … The queen, the king, Snow White and the queen’s henchman were unbelievably good … Now our little boys were sent on stage … They all braced themselves with their axes on their shoulders and a happy smile. .except one .. This little boy didn’t want his mustaches. no more .. they tickled his nose! He cried for his mother and kept moving his nose and sneezing until it fell … now you could see what it was … a third grader …

Although he took the stage without a mustache, he played his role well, as did the other six guys … We were almost getting complacent when the other surprises that awaited us were revealed …

It was the scene of Snow White’s happy domesticity in the dwarf’s hut … She sang, danced, dusted and cleaned … The parents of the girl who played the role were so proud of her that her father decided it should be photographed / video graphed / captured on mobile at the time … So, like any loving father, he asked his other daughter (three years old) to get on stage and pose with his now famous sister Snow White …

Snow White loved all the attention, stopped singing and started posing for photos … I mean … how often did this moment repeat itself for her? She did the best she could …

The game started after 10 minutes when one of us lifted the three-year-old from the stage and politely informed the father, now beaming, that people were waiting for the play to continue, so could you please take the rest of the photos? after the play? ? … Being magnanimous of heart, he complied and leaned back in his seat to watch the rest of the drama …

It was quite a drama now … the evil queen came with the pretty bows and bows … the parents applauded her for her acting prowess while the children gaped at her evil … Then the stepmother disappeared .. .

It was the scene where I had to give Snow White the poisoned apple … Well … Snow White was singing and weaving and dancing and cleaning, waiting for the queen to appear, we too … there seemed to be some commotion behind the scenes … .

What actually happened was … the basket of bright red apples (five of them) tipped over and the apples were gone … no one could be traced … A first grader wanted to help find it … all around and then he ran back to the principal. “It’s okay?” he asked … he had a red ball the size of a melon in his hand, which he had found somewhere … It also had wide white stripes …

I will not dwell on the director’s plight, nor will I stop to consider whether he considered using the huge plastic ball … for the apple … because at that time an apple was drawn … He had shot on stage and was installed under Snow White’s chair …

An enterprising 4th grader, who was the host for the evening, jumped onto the stage happily, said, “Hello, Snow White! How are you? I’ll be back …”, deftly picked up the apple and returned to the stage …

There were no problems after that … The prince brought Snow White back to life and the dwarves cheered and the curtains were drawn down …

Much later, as the main guests and the school leadership warmly appreciated the teachers’ efforts to make the play a success … I wondered if we would be willing enough to direct another play next year … Maybe … and the 40 thieves “? Do you want to direct it to someone?