manrymission.com

Zeke has been the Manry Clan song and dance man since birth. He is always singing, humming, lalalaing, screeching, singsonging, spinning, twirling, sliding, and sashaying. The majority of the Manry Clan prefers a quieter existence. Most days, the following can be heard in the house: “Mom, tell Zeke to be quiet;” “Zeke, shut the door;” “Zeke, that’s enough noise;” “Zeke, please stop.”

The pleas for quiet rarely deter him. If you are blessed with a theater kid, you will sympathize with our dilemma. If you were a theater kid, you’ll think, “I don’t see the problem here. Everybody loves a song and dance routine.”

We have a terrific youth theater organization (CYT) near us. They perform musicals several times a year, and also offer classes and camps for children under the age of 18. This summer, Zeke’s long awaited moment finally arrived. He attended theater camp for a week.

The camp was entitled Willy Wonka JR. It was a shortened version of the play based on the Roald Dahl book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

When I sent Zeke, I expected him to get a small part, hopefully an Oompa Loompa (my favorite). Instead, he came home to tell me that he would be Willy Wonka.

He spent the daytime hours working at camp on his parts and the nighttime hours working with Herr Direktor Gabe Manry on his parts. By the final morning, he was a mess.

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked.

“I’m tired, ” he said.

The Song and Dance Man had finally worn out. After taking a 30 minute nap on the drive to the camp, he was sufficiently revived to go on with the show.

Here is Zeke as Willy Wonka in the Christian Youth Theater (CYT) Summer Camp production:

httpv://youtu.be/OiydPrtrxl8