Foreword Laughter is the shortest distance between two people Victor Borge straight line may be the shortest distance between two points but laughter is surely the shortest distance between people Nobody seems to understand this truth better than Lisa Bany Winters Having thoroughly enjoyed her first two books Show Time and On Stage how wise that the judges at the Parent's Choice Association were to confer their Approval Seal for Excellence on her delightful On Stage Theater Games and Activities for Kids I was eagerly awaiting her workshop at a professional con ference in the fall of 2001 The room was filled with teachers directors librarians social workers actors recreation leaders good hearted people one and all hoping to make a difference in the lives of children But the atmosphere in the room before the workshop started was hushed and well awkward Participants sat stiffly in their chairs The room was polite and quiet and reserved Then Lisa Bany Winters
Everything changed In moments the room was filled with laughter We were up and on our feet and Lisa was guiding us through an exercise and everyone was laughing The workshop flew by with participants commenting I can't remember when I ve laughed so hard while learning so much It was clear to all of us that we were in the presence of a very gifted teacher who loves what she is doing When I complimented her afterward on the exceptional work she said sim ply I had a good time too My husband teases that I do this work so I will always have someone to play with me If I had a magic wand I would love to make it possible for everybody who wants to bring light into the lives of children to take a class with Lisa But she has given us something better than a magic wand Lisa has given us a wonderful resource in the form of Funny Bones Comedy Games and Activities for Kids Neil Postman warned us of the consequences for a society that compels its children to grow up too quickly in his groundbreaking work The Disappearance of Childhood I can't think of a better way to help chil dren stay children than by giving them the gift of laughter As British poet Margaret Slackville once wrote Laughter is ever young In Funny Bones Lisa has assembled a marvelous array of exercises games songs and scenes designed to keep us all forever young How can you take yourself too seriously when singing Waddily Achaº What better remedy for the
blues than a round of Boppity Boppity Bop And just try thinking Shakespeare is stuffy and boring after exploring the excerpt from Twelfth Night In the words of Theodore Geisel Dr Seuss I like non sense it wakes up the brain cells Fantasy is a neces sary ingredient in living Humorist Bennett Cerf once wrote A person who can bring the spirit of laughter into a room is indeed blessed Clearly Lisa Bany Winters has been blessed with this gift How fortunate for teachers and youth leaders and camp counselors and drama directors that she has chosen to share her gift with all of us in this well written user friendly resource book Funny Bones will make a welcome addition to many a library empowering adults to help children experience the richness and joy of comedy Few gifts could be more valuable perhaps as we face the future we would do well to heed the advice of Mark Twain and Laugh until our cheeks hurt The human race has one really effective weapon and that is laughter Rives B Collins Northwestern University Department of Theatre Head Theatre for Young Audiences
Acknowledgments am indebted to the following people and organiza tions Stephanie and Joe Albright Josh Andrews Arnold Aprill Bree Baney Martin Bany Nancy and John Bany Megan Baskin Brian Boller Margo Cher vony Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education Geoff Coates Martin de Maat Drama Disciples Jayme Ern steen Paul Finnigan Bryce Friedman Richard Fried man Melanie Gordon Barbara Heaton B J Jones Michele Klemm Jason Lubow Dan Macsai Dana and Anthony McKinney Emily McNish Mari Meyer Emily Mott Northlight Improv Comedy Kids North light Kids Players Northlight Teen Players Sheldon Patinkin Darlene Pearlstein Jerry Proffit Danny Robles J R Rose Rebecca Rubenstein Philip Schus ter Mara Silver Neal Simons Cheryl Sloane Joyce Sloane St Athanasius Roman Catholic Church in Evanston Amy Weiss Brian Winters and Gavin Witt The following people were coadapters of the plays included in this book character names are in paren theses All plays were originally directed by me for
