‘Hello, my name is Charles Conrad Weeks, but everybody calls me Charley’
Published 10:00 am Wednesday, December 18, 2019
- Ms. Chelsie Clark’s first grade at Johnston Hopkins Elementary School poses with the performers Charley, Riley and Harriet.
For more than 30 years, gifted students in grades 4 through 6 in Iberia Parish Public Schools have performed the “Charley Play” for area first-graders. They begin practicing with their classmates in early November. At the Shadows-on-the-Teche they dress in period costumes and meet the first-graders in different parts of the house including the front and back porches, the parlor and a bedroom.
The month of December, the Shadows is in the Christmas spirit as children play games, sing carols and learn about the traditions of the past. Madison Overlund, sixth-grader at Jefferson Island Elementary played the character of Harriet for the third time this year.
“My favorite thing about the Shadows play is the joy sparkling in the kids’ eyes as I perform,” Overlund said.
