What is Your Superpower?

One of the games we play at our annual Summer Drama Camp is a name game that includes everyone saying their name and what superpower they have. It is a way to help the campers get acquainted, but it also invites them to start thinking about tapping into their imagination for understanding the creative side of what we are doing at camp. Sure we have fun, but that is only a small part of a drama camp.

What I have found very interesting when we play that game, is that the kids rarely say they can fly like Superman or climb up the sides of buildings like Spiderman, or run with the blinding speed of Wonder Woman. Often they share things like; "I can remember things." "I can sing very high notes." "I am good at drawing." "I can make my dog sit."

That last one is good if we need someone to corral an unruly child.

This camp, which I started 15 years ago with a handful of campers and two other adult volunteers, has evolved into a major event. For the past five years we have had 25+ kids in the program, three paid camp leaders, three or four teen helpers and two or three adult helpers. The paid leaders are professionals and work with the kids to write and produce a musical production, which is performed on the weekend following the second week of camp.

Everyone brings their special gift of creativity - their superpower - to the process of writing the songs, writing the script, and staging the show. In addition, we do lots of art to decorate the gallery part of the Winnsboro Center For the Arts, which is where all this fun and magic happens. The artwork then becomes the summer exhibition at the art center, and the pieces will stay up until the first part of September. The kids are almost as excited about the exhibit as the show.

This year we had a Beginner Camp, and the art from that one is part of the exhibit.

So why am I talking about a drama camp when the theme for this month at the Blood-Red Pencil is Wonder Women?

Because watching the repeat campers expand their talents from year to year is not unlike the way Wonder Woman discovered her special powers over a period of time. For her, it didn't happen all at once.

Neither does it happen for the kids.

Or for most of us.

It comes through the months and years that we are open to our superpowers of creativity. When we give them free rein, it's amazing what we can do. Part of having that loose rein is exploring new ways of perfecting our craft. New ways of finding creative energy through art and music and theatre. And new ways of using technology.  Twenty years ago if someone would have said that I would be writing a blog and maintaining a website, I would have asked if I could have some of what they were drinking. But here I am. And there I am, and I am pleased to be able to say I have not allowed myself to become stagnant.

This was my last year as Camp Administrator, and my amazing team surprised me with a tee-shirt. Of course it made me cry, but it also made my heart swell.

This is the front of the shirt.

When I saw what was printed on the back, I cried some more. But now a couple of weeks later, looking at it with less tears, the shirt reminds me that I do have a lot of creative superpowers, and even though I have never made a big splash in the pond of fame, I have made a big splash here in my hometown.

And we won't make any kind of splash at all if we don't keep exploring avenues of creativity.

The back of the shirt.

 So, what are your superpowers? How have you discovered them over the years?

Maryann Miller is a novelist, editor, and sometimes an actress. She has written a number of mysteries, including the critically-acclaimed Season Mystery Series that debuted with Open Season. Information about her books and her editing rates is available on her website. When not writing, Maryann likes to take her dog for a walk and work outside on her little ranch in East Texas. Yes, she will miss the drama camp.