Baaaaaaaa

Thanks for all your kind words yesterday--they mean the world to me. I know I will get over this in an absurdly short amount of time, given how tragic it feels right now, and I am grateful that none of you said Buck up, Buttercup! Instead, you were kind and sweet and wonderful. And I am very grateful, and feeling more than a smidgen better about it.
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Last night I took Zee and Em to their first play, ever. It was a Young Company production of "Babe, The Sheep Pig". (The Young Company is a BYU program that specializes in plays that are appropriate for elementary school age children, and performs them up and down the Wasatch Front in schools. They also have a run at the Margetts Theater in the Round at BYU, which is where we saw it.)

I was somewhat apprehensive about the play, quite aside from it being our first time in a live theater. After all, the story is about a talking pig, who is adopted by a sheep dog, and who saves himself from the frying pan by making friends with the sheep and herding them. How, exactly, does one do that on the stage?

By not trying. For one tiny scene at the beginning, the actor (dressed in old-Wales-country clothes) who played Babe used a pig puppet, and from then on, he was simply Babe. The actress who played Fly--the momma dog--was simply dressed in an old-fashioned shirt, skirt, and vest; the other actors wore similar clothing. They didn't crawl around on all fours, but so many of their mannerisms were a perfect blend of animal and personality--dog and protective, proud momma, for example, or pig and eager, anxious boy. I was amazed.

My very favorite part, however, was the way the children got to be a part of the play. The moment we walked into the theater, the interaction began. Farmer Hoggett invited Zee and Em to sit on the floor, within a taped box, right in the middle of the action. They chatted with various cast members as the theater slowly began to fill.

Then Em was asked to be a sheep in the beginning act. They took her off to the side with three other kids, put hats and vests on them, and gave them little sheep puppets to hold. When the play began, one of the actors, also a sheep, helped the "sheep dog" (another actor) herd the "sheep" around a course. The kids BAAAAAAAA'd obediently, a little shyly at first, but then with increasing enthusiasm. Then they had the kids sit back down.

Zee got to guess the weight of the pig (he guessed 10 pounds). We got to clap, and cheer, and even help Babe remember the password to let the sheep know he was their friend. (Zee and Em still remember it this morning: "I may be a ewe, I may be a ram, I may be mutton, I may be a lamb. But on the hoof or on the hook, I ain't as stupid as I look!" Apparently I remember it as well!) Throughout the play, children were picked to be puppies or more sheep. At the end, for the "Grand Finale", Zee got to be a sheep, just like Em had at the beginning. In fact, every child there got to participate.

It was remarkable how the cast incorporated these children--with no prior warning, and sometimes right in the middle of the action--into the play without disturbing the flow. They were truly expert at dealing with the situation. I was so impressed!

We had a marvelous time! The play itself was wonderfully fun, but I was blown away by how much fun my kids had, and how well they did. We capped off the evening by buying some candy at the CougarEat, and we are already planning next year's expedition. We'll get to take Gee next year, too!