How to make William Jump

[JessicaJay]

We just had our meeting with the Coordinators yesterday and I got my hands on the Script for the very first time this year. It's just fantastic! I know the teens are going to love performing this one.

Anyone have any other ideas about how to get William to jump over the castle wall? The one in the script seemed very good but I was wondering if anyone else had an idea?

[Tiffany]

That's a great question. I was wondering the same thing. I'd love to hear how some of you guys are planning on doing this...:)

[karenedits]

I'd love to hear suggestions, too. As the skit writer I wracked my brain trying to think of something that would work. If anyone has suggestions please share them! Maybe the person with the winning suggestion could be a reader for our 2010 skits and offer ideas on making the skits the best they can be!

Karen McGraw
Editor, Gospel Light VBS

[michele b]

We decided not to attempt this mostly because I felt the castle set was not worth making for just one day and making William jump was problematic. We rewrote the skit. The characters upon entering find themselves in the haunted house section of the park. (we are decorating our craft room as a haunted house) Zelda the witch pops through a wedding arch (from Micheal's- $20 with 40% coupon) with a shredded black curtain and a haunted house sign on top. She threatens to curse them if they don't leave and exits. William says he recognizes her as the witch who turned him into a frog and know her weakness. He won't say what that is unless Princess kisses him. She kisses him and say that Zelda is afraid of water because it puts her to sleep. When Zelda returns carrying Dusty's hat, spaceman sprays her with his water gun. Zelda exits screaming, " Water. How did you know? I'm getting sleepy. Sleepy" Then spaceman says it worked and wonders if it will work on the audience and starts spraying the kids. The skit continues as orginally written. Of course there was alot more to the skit but you get the general idea. William is still the hero and much of the original skit is used. Good Luck
michele b

[soundtech39]

We too have been working on a way to make william jump. as the audio visual tech i was aked to help (i am also good friends with our drama director.) we came up with some good ideas. our most amuzing were the use of air cannons, sling shots, and modl rocket engines. it's going to be a fun scene to perform. i can't wait!

[nicoleemt]

I stood behind the castle and Flora Rose attached a pin with fishing line to it to William. Then I gave him a good yank on the first jump and thud perfectly against the wall. Then I pulled him up over on the second. The problem we had was the fishing line wripped just as he was about to come over the wall. Kids loved it and laughed hard, Captain improvised and reached down, picked up William and just tossed him over the wall. I was also William's voice so I had to compose myself quickly since I was laughing so hard.

[JessicaJay]

Yes it seems like the original idea for jumping is the best. We're going to attempt it too - I'll tell the Captain to be on standby in case of strings breaking - lol

[Sherri in GA]

We loved the original idea, but then felt that our castle was not sturdy enough to withstand it. (Had to work with what we had.) So we changed the scene slightly to have Flora Rose, Skip and the Captain count down and throw him ("We'll give you a boost!") over the wall. While he was flying, he yelled, "AHHHHAHHHHAHHH!" The kids thought it was hilarious.

[Shelanie]

We are working through this too. In our rehearsals we have used a line slightly heavier than fishing line. It will be a little more visible but it won't break.
We also struggled with the amount of work making a castle would be for this one scene but I am not very creative so re-writing was out of the question. As such we settled on using a Fisher Price castle on a table. It actually looks pretty good and the kids can still get the effect. We've set our perch (not a barrel) a little higher than our castle so that the pulling lands William on the table in front of the castle. Then he's pulled up and over the castle walls where the little tiny drawbridge is opened. Our skit characters simply walk around the table and out the back instead of thru the drawbridge. Getting William over the toy castle still takes a little manouvering of the line but a good fisherman can manage this.
I how now, we can pull it off duirng the actual perfomance.

Shelanie