My son was initiated into the back-stage world of theater at an early age. Even as a toddler, he was a savvy theatergoer. He knew that Peter Pan flew with wires, that theatrical snow was not cold and that stage fog was produced by a machine. He was a child firmly rooted in reality.
When he was 5, I took him to a department store's animated fairy-tale display. As we wandered through the scenes from Cinderella's life, he would tap on different pieces of scenery, and in a knowing voice identify the material. "Wood," he'd say, or "Styrofoam." But as we watched the animated Cinderella turn--and in turning, transform from waif to princess, I whispered, "How do you think they did that?" He thought for a moment, shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Magic."
That's the magic I believe in too: the kind that turns words into poems, gesture into sculpture or a toddler's striped shirt into a musical score. And whether the task is to teach a student skills to overcome a hardship, or to craft a moving tornado from cardboard and wire, the language is the same. Discovery. Possibility. Transformation.
When he was 5, I took him to a department store's animated fairy-tale display. As we wandered through the scenes from Cinderella's life, he would tap on different pieces of scenery, and in a knowing voice identify the material. "Wood," he'd say, or "Styrofoam." But as we watched the animated Cinderella turn--and in turning, transform from waif to princess, I whispered, "How do you think they did that?" He thought for a moment, shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Magic."
That's the magic I believe in too: the kind that turns words into poems, gesture into sculpture or a toddler's striped shirt into a musical score. And whether the task is to teach a student skills to overcome a hardship, or to craft a moving tornado from cardboard and wire, the language is the same. Discovery. Possibility. Transformation.
The following descriptions were written to accompany displayed costumes for a Children's Theatre Company
open house. Photos used with permission from The Children's Theatre Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
open house. Photos used with permission from The Children's Theatre Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
