A mother's poverty robs her child of their favourite part of the week: music lessons. While she mourns the loss of her lessons, a monster under the bed scares her out of the house and into the small forest outside her apartment. The voices of the forest tell the child that they have to grow up. But they're not sure they're ready.
Keywords: TYA, children, growing up, motherhood, mom, childhood, forest, dream, animals, monster, fear, horror, music, musical, squirrel, trees, school, youth
Drumming Lessons was first performed, in part, by child participants of the Resilience Project through Waterloo Region's Family and Children's Services in Kitchener, 2018. It was subsequently used and partially performed by teen actors at Star Performance Academy in Waterloo, Ontario.
Genre: Theatre for Young Audiences, Dark Comedy, Horror, Play with Music
Run time: 60 minutes
Suitable for all ages
Content notes: This play deals with poverty, running away from home, and fear.
Cast size: 3-6 actors
Male roles: 1
Female roles: 1
Other roles: 4
Casting notes: This play has six characters but can be reasonably performed by as few as three actors. One of the characters could be played by a chorus of multiple performers. For the most part, gender is not important. It helps if one actors is also a musician.
