October 2010

A Family Fun Calgary Review:

Yesterday I took my son Evan to see a wonderful play titled, “Once Upon a Lilypad”. This performance is geared for children aged 3-6. It is a timeless story of a young frog trying to find his place in the big pond and teaches children the lesson that everyone is important and valuable.

I love live theatre, musicals, Broadway shows, you name it. When I became a new mom, I heard about Storybook Theatre and its Cookie Cabaret line up of theatre for young children. As a parent I want to impart my love of the arts to my children and I thought this might be a great way to introduce one of my favorite things to my favorite little guy. My son is almost five and is your typical rambunctious kid, obsessed with superheros and action packed adventures. I was not quite sure how he would manage to sit through a live theatre performance or if the show would even hold his short attention span. I was in for a pleasant surprise!

Evan can sometimes be a little shy in new situations and when I saw the characters of the play walking through the crowd and talking with the children I was curious to see how we would react. Almost all the children shrieked in delight as the characters engaged them in songs, playing hide and seek and hopping contests.

Although intrigued, Evan shirked away from participating and was very wary of the snakes, frogs and fireflies who came over to him to say hello. He confided in me that the animals were not real and they were just people dressed up.

Once the play started and he watched as the frogs started singing and talking amongst themselves about how delicious the flies were. Evan looked up at me with his eyes widened in delight and exclaimed “ Mommy, they are PRETENDING!”

He was fully engaged, laughing at their silly antics and clever jokes. Young children very quickly learn that while they love pretend play most adults do not. But here, much to my child’s delight, were young adults playing pretend. He was smitten.

Theatre can be such a positive influence in a child’s life and it encourages them to be creative. Every day children play by pretending and role playing. Live theatre legitimizes their creative play and fosters their imagination. It is also a great quality family outing that will create a positive memory your child will carry for a lifetime.

One of Storybook Theatre’s several shows this year, Once Upon A Lilypad is playing until October 30th. Visit the Storybook Theatre website for upcoming Cookie Cabaret shows geared for young children and Adventure Theatre programs for the whole family.

Performance Info:

What’s this?

A green frog feeling blue?

Frederich J. Frog has lost all of his self-confidence and is feeling miserable. As he wanders around the pond, he finds that all of the other pond creatures have something that he wishes he had. The egrets, the turtles, the fireflies all have their own special talents. But what can Freddie do? Visiting his fiends helps Freddie to regain his self confidence and teaches him to value his own special talents.

General Info:

When: October 8th – 30th, 2010
Where: The Community Arts Centre
Address: 2633 Hochwald Avenue SW Calgary AB
Telephone: (403) 216-0808
Website: www.storybooktheatre.com