![]() Mayor Culpa constantly apologizes, and Kiljoy represents that little voice inside people’s heads that attempts to invalidate their intentions. Schwartz’s characters are more than clever-they’re ingenious. This is a volume that kids and parents can read together because it works on two levels-young ones should love the adventure-packed plot and hilarious characters, and grown-ups should chuckle at the wordplay embedded in every page. While James initially believes that he’s mediocre, Schwartz’s novel assuredly is not. When they reach the part of the kingdom dubbed Epiphany, James finally grasps who he is-someone extraordinary. They travel from Disappointment Bay to Serenity Spa to the Unattainable Mountains, and as their quest evolves, James begins to learn that maybe he’s not quite so mundane. Mayor Culpa, professional optimist Monsieur William Roget, and Roget’s pint-sized pessimist, Kiljoy, join James on his journey. But to claim the crown, the boy must first complete a mission-find the old king and discover why he abdicated the throne. ![]() He tells James that he can become the Kingdom of Average’s new ruler. The chatty creature reveals that he’s a Scapegoat (“As long as I’m to blame, no one else can be burdened. Following the animal, James finds himself suddenly transported to another world. One day in a garden, he meets Mayor Culpa, a talking goat. Instead of fighting it, he embraces his mediocrity, declaring himself the best average guy the planet has ever seen. James, who earns C’s in school, looks rather ordinary (he certainly isn’t handsome). His father is gone, his mother hates him (she commonly wishes he was never born while on the phone with her friends), and he has no siblings. James thinks he’s a typical 11-year-old, which suits him just fine. “A skilled and witty tale about a boy who would be king that should appeal to children and adults.”Ī supposedly average boy realizes that he’s not so mediocre after all in this debut middle-grade novel. He is a passionate, dynamic improv coach and facilitator devoted to carrying on Spolin’s techniques. Schwartz studied with and became the protégé of Viola Spolin, the creator of Theater Games, the basis for improvisational theater in America. Schwartz has written for two children’s television series in which he co-starred: Zoobilee Zoo, where he played Bravo Fox and the Disney Channel’s You and Me, Kid. Schwartz has lent his voice to hundreds of film and TV projects and is the voice of several well-known video game characters, including Heavy Weapons Guy and Demoman in Team Fortress 2. In the 1980s he appeared in numerous film and television projects including the Oscar-winning feature film Quest for Fire. Spolin has introduced her work not only to students and professionals in theater, but to elementary and secondary education, schools for gifted and talented programs, curriculum studies in English, religion, mental health, psychology, and in centers for the rehabilitation of delinquent children.įrom Chicago's settlement houses to the Young Actor's Company, the Compass Players, Second City as well as in thousands of institutions of education and healing throughout the world Viola Spolin taught us to play and to discover our creative potential.Gary Schwartz began his professional career as a mime at age 13, performing up and down the Hudson River with Pete Seeger and the great folk entertainers of the 1960s. This classic reference text has been used by teachers of acting as well as educators in other fields. After creating the Young Actors Company in Los Angeles, w o rking with the Second City in Chicago she published "Improvisation for the Theater", a work consisting of approximately two hundred and twenty games/exercises. Viola Spolin went on to teach and develop the Theater Games in depth. It was during the time as drama supervisor for the Chicago branch of the WPA (Works Progress Administration) Recreational Project that Spolin saw the need for an easily grasped system of theater training that could cross the cultural and ethnic barriers and so the 'game Theater educator, director, and actress recognized internationally for her "Theater Games" system of actor training, Viola Spolin trained initially to be a settlement worker.
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