GUEST BLOGGER-STUDENT REPORTER ALEXI VOGEL

Today’s blog post is brought to you by guest blogger, 11-year-old Alexi Vogel. Alexi gives her take on one of the recent Performing Live events here at Mesa Arts Center, where students from area schools often have their first experience with live theater. In a Story Pirates performance, the words and ideas of kid writers come to life. Young audiences are blown away when their own stories are performed onstage, through puppets, lively original songs and outrageous sketches.

Alexi spent time with the Producer of Story Pirates, Gabe Jewell, as well as with the actors who motivate students to pick up a pencil and dream up their own fantastic adventures. She tells us about one of the Story Pirates stories, The Magic Island.

The Magic Island is a very creative story by the Story Pirates written by several third graders. It is about 4 kids that go on an adventure and find a magic island with the help of a genie. 

It begins with four kids at the beach that decide to dig in the sand. In the sand, they find a genie lamp and get the genie out. They use their 1^st wish to wish for 10 more wishes. Then they use the 2^nd wish to wish for an adventure, so the genie makes a boat appear and they sail off.

They find a magical island and a treasure map on that island so they follow the instructions to find the treasure. They get stuck at a fork in the road but a monkey tells them to go left, so they do. They then find the treasure and the story is over.

I thought it was cool how all the stories including this one were written by kids. Another thing I liked was they did an improvised story where they had the audience make up characters and what happens. I love how kid-based this show is!

-Alexi Vogel

In an interview between Alexi and one of the Story Pirates actors, Josh, she learned that his favorite part about being in Story Pirates is making parents and kids laugh at the same jokes, and that to make a story good, the actors need interesting characters and a hard problem for the main character to solve.

The Story Pirates is one of many experiences at the Mesa Arts Center that touches the lives of area students. Later this season, students may attend the Salzburg Marionettes’ Alice in Wonderland, Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles, and/or Spirit of the Wild, a National Geographic Live presentation. For more information, visit http://www.mesaartscenter.com/index.php/outreach.