222 Clues on when children can enjoy theater

I saw an article about this topic in the paper about a week ago. It put me to thinking--is it really so hard to prepare children to enjoy theater? I’ve never been a huge fan of live theater, but only because of 1) the price, and 2) I fall asleep soon after the lights are dimmed. But I was exposed to "live theater" as a child, and have many happy memories of it.

When I was in elementary school, grades 1-12 were in one building. We little ones watched as the upper classmen from the high school roamed the halls to pass classes. We would be literally awe struck. They looked so fashionable, busy and important. So you can imagine our excitement when it was time for the junior or senior play and the entire school went to the auditorium for “previews.” We would whisper the names of the lofty seniors we could recognize in their stage make-up and costuming. They were like movie stars to us and we were their giggling fan club. Even in the previews, I became completely caught up in the story.

We were also encouraged to be performers. There was a musical put on, in the Spring I think, which included all the schools that our roving band director taught in. I can still remember bits and snatches of amazing (in my mind) performances as I sat in the audience--too young to be included (I think 4th grade and up were in these productions). But one year I was a Dutch girl dancer and my partner was a boy in 7th or 8th grade. My mother made the costume including cardboard “wooden shoes.”

After I changed schools, one of my classmates in 7th grade wrote plays, and our teacher was benign enough to allow the class to perform them. I recall that attending the class plays in high school was an important community event. I was in the junior class play, “Time out for Ginger,” and played the sensible mother with gray hair.

Churches also had children’s plays, something I’ve missed at our current church which has wonderful productions FOR children, but the children are the audience. We had wonderful little plays with lines to recite and usually the pastor’s wife was the director and producer, and maybe she wrote them too.

At home to amuse ourselves, we’d get out the Bible drama books from my mother’s childhood and try to put on plays on rainy days. These were never very successful, but they did fill the time by dragging out sheets for costumes and blankets to create a stage. My friends and I would also create potato puppets and costumes and make up stories for them to perform--although I’m not sure who the audience would have been--perhaps Mother, or my younger brother.

This week our local high school is performing “Annie Get your Gun.” For the parents and little children in the audience, I know it will be great fun. And especially if they know or recognize someone in the cast.