Kole Erickson had white plaster stuck on his face and had to lie very still.
"I don't think he's allowed to talk," said one of his classmates.
It was the first day of the Norsk Hstfest's Scandinavian Youth Camp on Saturday and children in the trolls camp had to suffer a little bit for their art, as they waited for the plaster cast to be formed for the troll masks they were creating.
Article Photos
Andrea Johnson/MDN - - Andrea Johnson/MDN
Under the canopy are Rebecca Meier, left, as Margit and Sarah Meier as the Mountain King. Holding the canopy up are Lukas Meier, left, Zdena Sinkhorn, Dani Halvorson and Mya Temanson. The children take roles acting out a medieval fairytale.
"It can stick a little bit," said Rob Anderson, one of the teachers.
The next day, when the troll masks had time to dry, the children said they would paint and decorate them, give them names, and rehearse for the troll parade. The kids will march in a troll parade every day during the Norsk Hstfest, from Wednesday through Saturday.
Some of the kids come back year after year. This is Ericka Bercier's third time being a troll, said teacher Margaret Lee.
Camp organizer Tracey Lawson said there were five camps at the Scandinavian Youth Camp this year and all of the children are to take part in the Hstfest. Kids from the Vikings camp will take part in the Viking encampment at the Hstfest and kids from the Swedish Dancing and Norwegian Dancing camps will also perform.
This was the first year for the Norwegian Theater camp, which gave children a chance to be creative.
Teachers Toby Weinberg and Ginny Lee, who both live in Syracuse, N.Y., and Mikkel Thompson, who lives in Stockholm, Sweden, said they provided the seven children in the camp with an outline and props, but the kids had to figure out what to do with them.
The children were acting out a medieval fairy tale about a wealthy girl whose pride results in her being forced to live under the mountain as the wife of a mountain king and never to see her family again because she accepts the gifts the king gives her and allows herself to be treated as a queen. After seeing her aging father again for just one hour, the jealous mountain king forces her to return to her home under the mountain.
Sisters Rebecca Meier and Sarah Meier were playing the Mountain King and wealthy girl on Saturday, but Rebecca said that everyone was going to take turns playing the different roles. The children were trying to decide what to do with props such as the throne, the and a golden canopy, a broom and a hat and where they should be positioned. Thompson reminded them that they had an audience, so they would need to be faced in a particular way.
The children put on the play for their families on the second day of the camp. Weinberg said he wasn't sure if the kids would be performing during the Hstfest itself. Some stages were lost during the flood this summer, so there might not be enough room for all of them.
Lee said there was quite a bit of improvisation with this first Norwegian theater camp, but everyone looked to be having fun.