Perpetuation of the Preciousness of Children’s Theatre

I was reminded of the lingering misconceptions and prejudices against children’s theatre the other day while sitting in a class I am co-teaching this semester. The class in question is a junior level class geared to teach fledgling designers how to work in a collaborative setting utilizing two differing scripts throughout the course of the semester. The first play the students will be designing will be HOLES by Louis Sachar based on his award-winning book.

We began the discussion by asking the students to share their initial thoughts. Some commented on the cleverness and authenticity of the voices of the young delinquents that feature prominently in the story—others about the pacing. But what made me grit my teeth was their unanimous agreement that it didn’t seem like children’s theatre. When asked to elaborate on their comment, the answer was that the story, themes and actions went against their preconceptions of what children’s theatre was or ought to be. After each of the faculty grappled with this in their own way coming from their own experiences, I felt compelled to give a bit of historical context and to thrash into oblivion their assumptions so that they might never again have need to ‘pre-conceive’ what theatre for young audiences is or ought to be.

What was exciting about this discussion was seeing an awakening to the vast potential that awaits them in the world of theatre filled with audiences comprised of adults, those comprised of children and those comprised of families.

It is the first time this class is utilizing a theatre for young audiences script and I will continue to expand upon the field not only with the students I will be mentoring, but to all the students and faculty as to the relevance and importance of our work.

But today, I was reminded of the pitfalls of our field when I glanced again at the production photo of Dallas Children’s Theatre’s production of Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse. Here, in all its creative glory, was a picture of three of the actors, portraying three of the primary mice characters, dressed in precious white mice costumes with big round ears made of terry-cloth. Designed, no doubt, as an homage to the illustrations in the popular children’s books; I could not be dismayed at the feeling that we just took a step back into the precious realm of pre-conception, children’s theatre of yore, of purple dinosaurs that dance and sing. Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place for this type of theatre and all theatres produce this type of work (see my review of Seattle Children’s Theatre’s Goodnight Moon.) But it only affirms my own commitment to share with my students how tya can and is so much more.

The larger regional children’s theatre companies must by necessity craft a repertoire that engages all ages and affirms for the young parent, nay, even justifies that theatre and the arts are important to their children. I can’t help wonder though what would happen if children saw the same amount of theatre without the use of even one terry-cloth animal costume. Would their imaginations be any less developed? Would they suffer a lapse into preciousitess (that rare and inscrutable malaise brought about by a lack of cute, cuddly and cloying theatre?) I seriously doubt it. But being reminded of the preconceptions that still linger about theatre for young audiences, it is only natural to ponder these great mysteries.

I can only say for myself that I did not suffer from preciousitess—having experienced much theatre that was draped in terry cloth, velour, feathers and fur in my day. I survived, relatively unscathed; my psyche undaunted. I can only wish that there was a magic spell, a fizzing elixir that we could slip into the coffee and tea and soda of everyone that still believes that all children’s theatre holds talking mice, bean stalks and evil stepmothers in a land far, far and away.

Politics, The Art of the Possible

For the last several months, I have been debating the pros and cons of voicing my opinion regarding the upcoming election for President in 2008. However, I feel that we, as a nation, have reached a tipping point. The title of this post is a nod to a lyric from Webber’s musical Evita. It resonates now, because I feel that as an advocate for children, the arts, and most importantly a well-rounded humanist and liberal arts education; I can no longer sit quietly idle while the maelstrom of the political race swirls around me threatening to spin our nation into a further spiral of doubt and despair.

The proverbial straw that broke the camels back was the announcement of Sarah Palin for Vice Presidential candidate for the Republican ticket. To say I was dismayed at John McCain’s record was a mere trifle when I heard his choice for VP and her record (if one can call it that) began to emerge. She was a diabolically clever choice by McCain and I immediately heard the voice of Princess Leia in Star Wars when she is brought before Governer Tarkin on the Death Star, “ . . . I thought I smelt your foul stench when I was brought on board.” The foul stench here could very well be that of Karl Rove, the poster child for the evil Empire of the Star Wars franchise or one for the Slytherins if you have a more literary bent. In either case, the choice stinks and we should all be concerned. Not that the Republican ticket will win on merit, but that the Democrats will lose due to complacency and the fact that the majority of Americans are stupid enough to buy into the GOP package that is cloaked in a thick fog of lies, deception and inherently insidious framing that will beguile and lead the witless masses to vote a certain way.

For those of us in the field of liberal education, the arts, or any that support and encourage the creative and intellectual freedom of children should be storming the walls of the fortress and rallying our colleagues in support of Barack Obama, the Democratic Presidential candidate. His education platform, although not perfect, lays the groundwork for a sensible re-tooling of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) which has been an utter failure during the last two administration cycles with the GOP in charge. It was doomed to failure from the start, but the Republicans mismanaged its implementation and guidance to the extent of allowing school districts all over the country to hemorrhage, not only from lack of funding, but the mandates set forth by the standardized tests required by NCLB.

Here in the Seattle area, we have a neighboring school district’s teachers on strike for the second full week of classes. At issue, more pay, and freedom to teach to their strengths rather than the dictates of NCLB and the standardized tests.

VP Candidate for the Republicans has a track record of supporting issues that go against basic civil liberties, the rights of women, gays and lesbians, marriage equality and has been proven to inculcate religion into her governance of Alaska. And most terrifying are the reports that she may have supported censorship in the libraries of Wassila, Alaska while she was Mayor. This alone should be enough to disqualify her from candidacy.

We need only look to the wise words of Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451 when he cautions, “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. All you have to do is get people to stop reading them.”

Let us all rally in support of a ticket that will support the people, not a privileged few. Let us support a candidate that has a proven record of community engagement. Let us support a candidate that will work to provide health care for everyone (we need only look to the Europeans in how this can be done effectively.) Let us support a candidate that will fight to end our dependence on foreign oil and subsequently help to ensure the children today have a sustainable world to live in tomorrow.

I believe, that as artists, we have the ability to see the potential and be change agents for a better world that can unite us. Our art, whether it is visual, digital, musical or performative, can, and does, allow the witness to understand the world and themselves and to see the potential in everything.

Get out the word! Be vigilant! Be compassionate! Be a participant!

In the words of Barack Obama, “Yes We Can.”