Some Thoughts on Theater

Cast & Crew of BLT's "Beanstalk! The Play!"

 Community theater has so many benefits it's almost impossible to name them all.

One that I never really thought about until last week was how being around creative people encourages creativity in oneself. In Bradford Little Theatre's production of “Beanstalk! The Play!” I was Alex the Skunk Merchant. I didn't think about Alex's backstory (like I did for the previous character I played – Aunt Rose in “Inlaws Outlaws and Other People That Should be Shot”) until the person playing the giant asked me where my skunks come from.

Good question. My off-the-top-of-my-head answer: I send my Skunk Squad out into the Enchanted Forest every night to get the number of skunks we need to have at the market the next day. It's usually only one or two because skunks can be quite unruly if there are too many of them. It's very important that the Skunk Squad is actually in the Enchanted Forest, too, because only skunks that live there can be trained by humans.

The giant also told his story about how he became the leader of the giants – hence, why he is referred to as The Giant, not just A Giant – in the greater giant community.

But it's not just grabbing stories out of thin air. A nine-year-old girl spent her free time during rehearsals drawing. She showed me a picture of a woman she drew who has vitiligo. I asked her why she drew a woman with vitiligo. She said she thinks it's interesting-looking and she doesn't think people who have it should be embarrassed. Did I mention she's nine?

A 14-year-old painted and helped design the set. A woman about my age figured out how to make a Christmas tree into a beanstalk.

Around here, so many parents say, “There's nothing for kids to do.” You know who doesn't say that? Parents of theater kids. (Also parents of kids who take advantage of the library. But that's another story.) It's also something you can do with your kids. In Beanstalk we had two mother/son pairs, one father/son and one mother/daughter (sister)/son (brother).

And the theater community is so accepting. No matter what your skills or talents are, they will find something for you to do and you'll feel as if you belong, you matter and you contributed for the greater good.

One more thing: It's fun!