A Day at the Theatre

The little boy looked around and mentioned something about a castle while looking at the boxed rows of seats. When I told him we were at a theatre, his brow deepened and I could tell his mind was trying to process something.

This president-loving child of mine wanted to know if this was THE theatre.

Before I could answer he remembered that Ford’s Theatre was in Washington DC and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Even still, I had to reassure him several times that this was not the theatre Abraham Lincoln was shot in.

I once heard the actress Anne Hathaway, in a television interview, mention her father’s love for the theatre and how he told her something about a mediocre day at the theatre being better than a great movie any day of the week. As a movie lover, I’m not sure I can entirely agree with that sentiment, but being part of an audience for a play is a treat I hope my children might learn to appreciate one day.

That’s why we spent Thursday at a school performance of Martha Speaks in Columbus, Georgia. The RiverCenter Theatre hosts traveling plays year round. Several times a year, school performances are scheduled for plays geared toward younger audiences. 

The play, with its peppy songs and actors, was an appropriate length of time to keep the attention of small children. 

Maybe I should re-phrase. 

It was the perfect length of time for the little boy. 

Little priss was done 10 minutes into the production. She was more interested in trying to take my credit cards, the ones I was trying to use as a distraction for her to play with, to the folks on stage. That and she barked each time the actress playing the dog Martha began to sing. 

Needless to say, she and I spent the remaining 50 minutes in the lobby. 

We were supposed to go to our local junior high school this evening for the community children’s production of 101 Dalmatians, but thought better of that. If one dog the day before caused that much excitement, I’m not sure the folks attempting to act in tonight's play could have handled her response to 101 of them!