Post Gazette: There's no matching a child's vivid imagination when they read or listen to a book, but a theatrical retelling of a tale engages them in its own special way. The Pittsburgh International Children's Theater plans on showing the scope of children's theater again by bringing several beloved books to life in its 2011-12 season.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Children's Theater: A cat, a Martian and a brave pig
Post Gazette: There's no matching a child's vivid imagination when they read or listen to a book, but a theatrical retelling of a tale engages them in its own special way. The Pittsburgh International Children's Theater plans on showing the scope of children's theater again by bringing several beloved books to life in its 2011-12 season.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I think its important for children to experience their favorite childhood stories on the stage. The only thing that is hard when sitting children down for 55 minutes is holding their attentions long enough so that they dont start getting fidgety. Once you lose one, you start to lose more.
I think this is a really great thing that the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust puts on. I'm glad they are giving an opportunity for children to experience theatre and be entertained. Its also really great that they are bringing in a troupe from China to do a show, which even I wish I could see. But I think the greatest part of this endeavor and this company is that it is giving children a introduction into live performance and theatre at a very young age, which will hopefully plant the seeds in their minds that will make them great audience members or theatre makers in their future. In this age of cutting art programs out of schools, I think it is very important that we give the children this kind of exposure to help show them and their parents the importance of art programs.
A children's theatre camp I worked for does something similar, where the kids, who are 8-14, take story books (rainbow fish and cat in the hat are popular), and then dramatize them. We've found it's a great way to introduce the campers to how the art of storytelling changes when it goes from the pages of a book to the stage, and also how to make their pieces appeal to a wide variety of audiences (toddlers to themselves and even parents). I'll be really interested to see how they adapt these tales to suit the stage.
I love hearing about youth getting involved in theatre at such a young age. Being able to do shows that children can relate to helps them obtain a love and better understanding for theatre. Doing a children's show is one way that you can keep the kids in the show interested and on task. I love the fact this company is doing this program, and as Calvin said, it will make those involved better audience members in the future.
Post a Comment