Last May, something truly incredible happened. The Secret Society of Greg was brought to life. How to describe what an important and magical creation this was?
Here is a little backstory.
During the making our Bat for Lashes production COSMIA in 2022, a couple of our students fell in love with a toad they called Greg. And so, the Secret Society of Greg was born!
Since then, our brilliant young student Dusty Rose, started writing a play about this Secret Society and the amazing toad Greg! With the help of her fellow SSOG member Gabriella Ceravolo and her teacher Miss Nati, the script was ready for the next step.
Costumes…Set Design…Color…Rainbows…
In came, Dusty’s Mom, the artist April Rose, who turned Dusty’s sketches and visions of characters into real life. Using paper, paint, fabric, cardboard and papier-mache…it wasn’t long before giant mushrooms, toad heads and hummingbird masks started to appear.
The 20 kids who signed up to tell the tale were a wild crew filled with enthusiasm and love for Greg and the whole show. It was clear that the fact that this was an original production written by one of their own had super-charged the whole process. Ideas were flying in the room as the show developed and character backstories were written at home and brought to the picnic area to be shared.
Questions like “Why does the Mockingbird Sorcer steal voices?” were answered and surprises from Starfish about the origins of the world were revealed. Want to know how old the earth is? Just ask a starfish named Eoin.
Direct all other questions to the Oracle of Mangata…pictured below, just at the right time…when the moon is at it’s fullest.
But who is Greg? And more importantly what is the Secret Society of Greg? Well…all of these questions and more could and might be answered by watching this little film of the whole event below.
The story tells the tale of a group of kids, who journey into the magical world of Greg Town, in search of their king who has mysteriously gone missing! Along the way they encounter even more frogs, a mockingbird sorcerer, a rainbow rose, an oracle, a purple giraffe and an attic full of lost toys!
A huge thanks to all the hands and hearts that brought this play together. Especially Dorka Hegedus-Lum for all these beautiful photographs and our directors Miss Nati and Miss Nancy and the entire team at Kalabash. Big thank you to Miss Laurie for helping to paint the mural and the artistic genius of April Rose who lovingly brought this world to life. Thank you to the original members of SSOG for creating magic and discovering King Greg.
And most of all, thank you to Dusty Rose.
You are a bright light of creativity and love in the world and because of your determination, hard work and wild imagination, the world is now a little greener, brighter and filled with a new story and song. Don’t ever stop. Never forget and always remember…
WATER PLUS SUN EQUALS RAINBOW
