Have you ever heard someone teasing a classmate about being different and wished you could do something...but didn't know what?
Sarah, age 16, has firsthand experience with the challenges of being a kid with a disability. This is a personal issue for me, because I have a younger brother who is deaf and I feel very protective towards him. In eighth grade, she learned about The Kids on the Block puppet troupe and decided to get involved. I was very interested in this program ,because I wanted to help educate children (and adults) about disabilities. I also love working with children and performing for other people. This seemed like the perfect way to combine everything!
The co-director of Sarah's KOB troupe, Mary Dennison, says Sarah has been a real asset to our group. Not only has she been able to master the puppeteering skills, but her skill in ASL (American Sign Language) has helped to facilitate many a practice session.
The purpose of The Kids on the Block organization is to provide educational puppet programs which enlighten all children on the issues of disability awareness, medical/educational differences, and social concerns. Through frank, humorous shows, the puppets communicate facts and feelings. The theory behind all this is that kids are less likely to tease and stare when they understand what another kid is going through. And the kids whose differences are featured also benefit from seeing that they are not alone.
One little disabled girl was so engaged by the puppet show that her aide said she'd never seen her come alive like this at school before. They had to actually carry her away so that we could start packing up...!
The Kids on the Block, Inc. originated in 1977 in direct response to US Public Law 94-142, which required that children with disabilities be educated in the least restrictive environment. For many children, this meant being included in a classroom with their non-disabled peers. The first puppet character, representing a child with cerebral palsy, successfully helped non-disabled students understand and accept their disabled peer.
The approachable and engaging puppets helped bring the issues to life in a way that caught kids' interest.
KOB, now internationally acclaimed, has continued to grow over the years and offers programs on disabilities such as visual and hearing impairment, medical differences such as leukemia and AIDS, educational differences including learning disabilities and ADHD, and social concerns including sexual abuse prevention and alternatives to violence.
KOB uses hand and rod puppets. The puppet kids are a realistic three to four feet tall. Some of the puppets have a disability and use aids that make their character distinctive and realistic. The style of puppetry is based on a Japanese style of puppetry called Bunraku (Boon-rah-koo). The puppeteer, dressed in black, stands behind the puppet with one hand in the puppet's head. The other hand manipulates the puppet's arm using the black hand-rods. The puppeteers seem to disappear and you see only the puppet, creating an atmosphere where the audience feels comfortable asking questions directly to the puppet kids.
Two Bunraku-style puppets performing - can you see their puppeteers?
After three years as a member of the troupe, Sarah is quite an expert puppeteer. She has traveled all over her state performing in schools and at special events. There are so many rewards to doing this that it's hard to narrow it down to just one thing. One experience that sticks out in my mind was at a school which had requested the deaf performance. They had a young student who was not deaf but learning to use sign language to help with some other disabilities.
After the show she came up to me (I was still dressed up as Mandy, my full body puppet) with a huge smile on her face. She started using her limited sign language to talk to the puppet. Her aide said that she had never seen her come alive like this at school before. They had to actually carry her away so that we could start packing up because that little girl did not want to leave us! It really touched me that we could make such a difference for her.
Sarah loves her work with KOB, but she says it hasn't always been a snap to balance schoolwork with the troupe's rehearsal and performance schedule or to learn a new part quickly or have all the answers to every audience question.
Her toughest moment came early on when she debuted in a script called Making the Right Choices about peer pressure, alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
Not only was it a brand new part but it was at her own school! I had my first and only case of stage fright and I kept saying the wrong lines and just messing up everything. I knew every single person in the room and they all knew it was me. All day long people kept coming up to me in the hallway replaying every single mistake I made. Even my teachers were laughing at me! It's much easier to perform in front of strangers!
A less determined person might have given up right then, but Sarah stuck with it. I think that the most important thing I've learned is that if you believe in something, you should stick with it, no matter how hard it is to keep going. If you truly believe in something, then it's worth it to keep trying.
Want to know if KOB is for you?
Sarah definitely recommends the experience for any interested Girl Zone reader. The time commitment will depend on the troupe you join (see below for how to find out if there is one in your area or how you could start a new one). Rehearsals, learning basic puppetry skills, and memorizing scripts all take time in addition to the actual performances and travel. You also have to learn a lot about the subject of the script. For example if you are the voice for a puppet who has cerebral palsy, you need a really good grip on exactly what that means.
Sarah thinks that any type of girl could enjoy being in KOB. This is great for girls who are really outgoing, but it's also great for girls who are shy or nervous about performing because nobody is watching you -- they're watching the puppets!
If this type of volunteering sounds right for you...
There are thousands of Kids on the Block troupes throughout the United States and in 30 different countries. The majority of these troupes began with one or two committed individuals who may never have used a puppet before. Volunteers have been the heart of The Kids on the Block for over twenty years. Recently, a growing number of junior high, high school, and college students have joined the ranks as KOB puppeteers. While many join troupes already in existence, some are made up exclusively of young people. A middle school Health teacher in Connecticut started a troupe of 6th, 7th and 8th graders. A high school sophomore in Pennsylvania formed a new troupe with 30 fellow students.
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Check out the KOB website at KOB for more information and for a list of all existing KOB troupes. |
Other ways to contact the KOB National Office:
Email: KOB@smart.net
Call: 1-800-368-KIDS (5437) or 410-290-9095
Write to: Kids on the Block, Inc.
9385-C Gerwig Lane
Columbia, MD 21046-1583