Of peas and princesses

Danette Goulet

There wasn’t a second of hesitation.

When 5-year-old Liam Murphy heard his camp group would be performing

“The Princess and the Pea,” he immediately knew which role he wanted.

“I want to be the pea,” he announced loudly and emphatically.

This elicited a chuckle from the adults in the room.

“I’d planned on making [an actual pea] -- but you can be the pea,”

said Lisa Cohen, the drama instructor for the summer camps at the Pacific

School of Music and the Arts in Costa Mesa, never considering dashing the

toddler’s dream of playing a pea.

Clearly used to working with such young actors and actresses, Cohen

granted the wish with no clear notion as to what made someone wish to be

a pea.

She also had to coax a stuffed animal from the fingers of one of the

11 princesses who kept announcing, “I want to be the princess.”

That was when I realized “The Princess and the Pea” was a great play

to do with little children.

In the group of 3- to 5-year-olds, there were 11 girls and four boys.

The boys were no problem, but every girl wanted to be the princess

and, for once, that was possible.

Of course, getting any of them to say a line was a bit challenging.

“And the prince said, ‘I’m sad. I don’t have anyone to play with,”’

Cohen prompted Rafe Feffer, 4.

After a long pause, Rafe shrugged and gave her a sheepish grin.

“I’m not,” he said.

Once again, a round of chuckles resounded.

But this time, the adorable and innocently humorous comment lent

itself to what Cohen was teaching children -- what drama and theater is

all about.

Hers is one of three classrooms campers visit each day of the weeklong

camp. Camps meet each day for three hours -- split into three one-hour

sessions of music, art and drama -- said Scott Nabb, camp director.

The camps are open to children ages 3 to 14. Students are split up

into age groups -- 3 to 5, 5 to 7, 8 to 10, and 11 through 14.

Each week, the camps have a different theme -- “James and the Giant

Peach,” “The Princess and the Pea,” “Annie” and “Pocahontas.”

The week’s lessons lead up to a performance for parents at the end of

the week.

* THE CAMPS FEATURE is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot education

writer Danette Goulet visits a camp within Newport-Mesa during the summer

and writes about her experience.