It hasn’t been an easy fall for Riverfront. While some theatre companies have shut down to wait to see what happens next, world-wide, others are struggling along on Zoom, trying to keep things moving forward. That’s what Riverfront is doing on Saturdays. We’re having Zoom rehearsals and games every Saturday. It’s not easy, but we’re doing our best!
At the moment, we’re rehearsing No Complaints in the mornings. This is a Riverfront original play, that we workshopped into existence with a core group of students this summer. It’s the story of a kids’ drama club at a private K-12 school, grumbling their way through a production of King Lear. When the drama teacher, fed up to the teeth with all their moaning and complaining, walks out on them, it’s up to the kids to make sure that the production still goes on, and they have to figure out how to pull together to accomplish this.
In the afternoons, we muddle along in even MORE of a mess, as we try to pull together a musical – we’re going to be bringing you The Secret Garden once we can get back together! This is even a bit MORE challenging, but by heavens, we are a determined lot!
The most important thing here is that we’re still getting together with the kids. They still “see” each other, and play and laugh together, and it’s worth it. We don’t know our timeframe right now, but the whole world is moving together in vast uncertainty; who are we to be any different?
We ache to really be together, but that’s not possible. So one very loving RTC husband and dad found a way to bring all the Riverfront penguins together. They’re all sitting on a front lawn in South Windsor now, available for any REAL RTC Penguins to come for a photo shoot – all welcome (and so is anyone else) to come visit the penguins and take a picture.
We miss our kids desperately. We miss the fellowship together. But we are genuinely and lovingly making space and time for one another in the very best ways we know how.
The Riverfront penguins all hope that however your Christmas may be affected by the circumstances, you find new and unique ways to let the people you love know it!
Or, as our dear Perla, Stage Manager extraordinaire, puts it…
The RTC Front Lawn(To the tune of Winter Wonderland)
Cell phones ring, are you listenin’?
Just some rain, snow is whisperin’.
A beautiful sight, we’re happy tonight,
Waddling in a penguin wonderland.
Gone away, is the church room
Here to stay is the zoom room.
We sing garden songs as we stream along
Waddling in a penguin wonderland.
In the backyard we can build a snowman,
And post it with a selfie upside down.
You’ll say “Did you build that?” We’ll say “Yes ma’am!”,
And send the image all over the town
Later on, we’ll conspire,‘
Bout our memes ‘cause they’re fire 
And face unafraid the scripts that we made
Waddling in a penguin wonderland.
In the zoom chat we can draw a snowman,
And count how long it takes for Lin to come around,
They’ll say “Are you kidding!?” We’ll say “Yeah man!”
Then rehearse until 3:30 comes around.
This whole year was went to chaos,
With the holidays here to save us.
But we’ll frolic and play, the RTC way,
And waddle in our penguin wonderland
Waddle in our penguin wonderland
Waddle, in our penguin WONDERLAND!
