Drama

My mom took me to see lots of plays when I was a little girl. She always got season tickets to the children's theater in Omaha, so we went all the time. Even though I didn't have a gift for being in plays (see previous post about "Ring me slow"), I loved going to see them, especially musicals. I always hoped WCK and I could go see plays together.

A little over a year ago, I took WCK to "Busytown", which was based on Richard Scarry books. You know, the books with the cute, fuzzy animals and Lowly the worm. She did OK until there was a part with firefighters rushing around the stage, trying to put out a pretend fire, and then she got scared and proclaimed all plays "scary." Once WCK proclaims something "scary", it can remain scary for years, even when it is clearly not scary. I mean, for the love of God, Elmo is not scary, WCK! She just makes up her mind that something is scary, and that's the way it is.

For a year, I searched for a play that could not possibly have anything remotely scary in it. I finally came across a production of "Goodnight Moon" at the same children's theater that put on "Busytown". I knew "Goodnight Moon" could not possibly contain anything scary. I wasn't even sure how anyone could create an hour-long production based on "Goodnight Moon", since the book takes about three minutes to read and has no plot and no dialogue, other than the old lady whispering, "Hush."

WCK complained bitterly when I told her we were going. We had to sit in the very last row of the theater, and she crouched down on the floor and watched the play between the spaces between the seats. But by the end ... success! She decided the play was not scary. She liked it. She wanted to go back for more plays!

So last week we went back and saw "Madeline's Christmas", based on the book. You know: "In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines, lived 12 little girls in two straight lines ..." WCK loved it, and she didn't even sit on the floor. She sat in my lap, but that was not out of fear. She's so light that those folding theater chairs squish her in half. As a bonus, we've been reading a lot of the Madeline books, too.

Whew. I can't wait to go to more plays.