Act out scenes, track your responsibilities and compare them, and discover more about your history in this Family Activity! For each show in the season, we post a new Family Activity. You can find all of our past Family Activities on our
blog and at
Pinterest.com/NewVictory.
Certain topics can be difficult to broach with your kid. Whether you have already seen
Oh Boy! or are planning to come,
here are some tips to start, extend and deepen those conversations.
Oh Boy!, based on the book by Marie Aude-Murail, is a one-man show which explores what it means to be a family, and the importance of pulling together when faced with some of life's most devastating moments. This show deals with themes of family, illness, homophobia and loss, however it is also a piece specifically created to engage and draw in teen audiences through its humor and inventive storytelling. In fact, Oh Boy! won a Young Audiences Molière Award (the French equivalent of the Tony Awards) and has had over 500 performances around the world since it was created.
We encourage you to think of this show as a piece about family and choices that young people make as they mature. However, if you believe any of the themes will trigger your kid, we suggest having a conversation with them first and then check in about the issues and themes again after the show. This is an opportunity for you to learn what your kid thinks, what they understand, what they have questions about and what connections they might be making to challenges in their own life. Here are some prompts that can get the conversation started:
Before the show:
Have you ever had a responsibility or a duty that pushed you to mature a little bit?
How did you change as a person because of that responsibility?
What are the most unique characteristics of your family?
Have you ever been around someone who was sick or lost someone in your life? How did that impact you?
What questions do you have after seeing the show?
Have you seen a one person show before?
How do you imagine a single actor will portray multiple characters?
OH BOY! is based on a book for teens, do you have a book that you feel describes the experience of being a teen today in a real way? What about it made it feel authentic?
After the show:
Did this performance of OH BOY! change your view of what a family can be? If so, how?
What did you think about Balthazar’s siblings being played by objects instead of people?
How did the story make you feel?
Did you identify with any of the characters? Why or why not?
What decisions would you have made if you were in Balthazar’s situation?
In
Oh Boy!, the main character Balthazar learns news that directly affects his daily responsibilities. In this family activity, track your responsibilities and have a conversation as a family about how the lists compare and have evolved as you’ve gotten older.
Step One: Individually write a list of your daily responsibilities. Think of it like a To Do list! What do you have to do: at home, at school, at work, on the train?
Step Two: Once everyone has written their lists, have a conversation about the similarities and differences among them.
Step Three: Have a family conversation about responsibility using these prompts:
- Why do you think your lists differ?
- Do you like having responsibility? Why or why not?
- Discuss a time in your life where you didn’t do something you were responsible for. What happened?
- Have you ever had a responsibility that helped you to mature? How did you change as a person because of that responsibility?
When an actor rehearses a scene, they have to know who they are, and what their relationship is with their scene partner (this is called “given circumstances”). Changing the relationships between two actors can change the scene entirely! Let’s see how many ways you can interpret the following scene between character A and character B:

Find a scene partner and pick who will play A and B. Pick one of the relationships from below and try to act out the scene with those given circumstances. After rehearsing the scene a couple of times, try switching roles!
- Siblings
- Guardian/Child
- Spouses
- Teacher/Student
- Judge/Defendant
- Doctor/Patient
- Employer/Employee
Every family is a web of relationships, filled with stories and histories that make up YOU. Get to know your roots and plant your own version of a family tree!
Step One: Make a list of as much of your family as you already know. It’s good to start with your immediate family, and then “branch out!” to aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, stepparents or your chosen family. How many family members can you name on your own?
Step Two: Talk to an adult and ask them to help you expand your list!
- How many generations can you trace back to together?
- How many family members did you identify?
- What’s something new you learned about your family that you didn’t know before?
Step Three: The traditional family is usually represented in a tree shape. In
Oh Boy! the show uses all sorts of objects to represent people. Take all of your collected information and choose an object that best represents your family. Maybe it’s a flower, a car, an apartment building or something completely different. Design and decorate your object with your family names and then show it to your family!
We invite you to share a giggle, try some new moves and deepen your understanding of the performing arts with our
Public Engagement Activites, Arts Express, TXT Marks the Spot and Talk-Backs!
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How did your responsibility list turn out?
Share a photo of them with us on Instagram or Twitter, #OhBoyNewVic. |
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What was it like to try out different relationships in that scene?
Like us on Facebook and tell us what you think! |