Orphans Find a Way- A Play by 776 Gals

Thanks to dedicated, creative, and energetic girls, taxi moms, and a great script by Chena, the "Orphans Find a Way" play was performed at last!

Our little girls' club, the 776 Gals, decided a few months ago that they wanted to produce and perform a play. Because Chena loves to write, she was asked to write the play. Of course, the other girls gave her lots of ideas, and they all decided they wanted it set back in history, with "lots of action" and of course a part for each club member.

So Chena wrote the play. I never thought about letting her do it during her school day, so she wrote the whole thing on her own time, and edited it too. She never asked for help, and I didn't give her any, so I was surprised when she finished and it was so long and well done! I really loved the story, it drew me right in.

They practiced as often as possible, and had a ball getting the right costumes together for each cast member. I did a lot of thrift store shopping!

It was decided that the play would take place in our friends' garage, and there would be no charge, but only moms were invited to attend. They had a very serious club meeting, and decided that "donations welcome" would be the perfect sign to hang at the entrance of the play!

On performance day, they handed out playbills, and had carefully included the warning "No flash photography, please." (they were not impressed that I cheerfully and consistently ignored the rules, and took lots of pics...)

The play was three acts long, with three scenes in each act. Quite impressive! The most amazing thing to me though, were the set changes. I do not believe seven adults could have ever done a better job! The set changes were quite involved, and in the dark, but happened almost seamlessly! I was seriously in awe.

Although there are seven 776 Gals, a little sister, age 5, was invited to be a cast member, and she took it quite seriously, memorized her lines, and did them with gusto. Adorable.

The play is about 6 orphan girls who travel with their teacher by train to go to another part of the country in the hope of being adopted. There is lots of action on the way! There is a fire aboard the train, a thief who must be chased and tackled, and trouble at every turn.

Here they are on the "train" (complete with sound effects and whistles)

Hoping to be adopted!

A bout with Scarlet Fever...

Gathering eggs in the barnyard: (I love how they made those "chickens"!)

Praying for their sick friend

Eating pie at dinner (they made a real pumpkin pie for this scene!)

Their teacher, Miss Kelly, (Chena) makes sure they are ready to be presented to a potential

adoptive mom

Our youngest cast member

Great news! The play ends as they hear they have all been adopted by one lonely widow woman!

The cast takes a bow. Well done!

All the girls had a wonderful time doing the play, and they are already hard at work on the next one, a sequel.

(as I have heard by eavesdropping, but its all a secret so shhhhhhhh)

Disclaimer: no paper chickens were injured during the making of this play.

*Note* Don't believe it if you hear that the moms insisted on being served pumpkin pie during intermission. But it was very gooooood.