I recently got to witness in person the magic and delight that live children’s theater can provide to its young audience members. On two successive weekends I saw a puppet show production of a story based on the old French folktale, Stone Soup, followed by a play built around a favorite children’s book character, Curious George. Both shows really drew in their audiences and proved that although most kids these days spend a lot of time engaging with screens, they happily and easily slip into make-believe worlds presented to them in live theater performances.

Portland’s Pegasus Puppet Theatre traveled to Southern Oregon to perform two performances on a recent Sunday at Medford’s Craterian Theatre. The shows were sponsored by a local nonprofit, The Storytelling Guild, allowing families to enjoy the hour-long performances for free. The Guild introduces children to books and the joy of reading throughout the year with a host of programs and services including classroom visits, book giveaways and a summer festival. The musical puppet show, Snow Soup, was set in the Arctic and featured indigenous wildlife including puffins, a narwhal, a polar bear and a lemming. The story revolves around Fox who, cold and hungry, seeks help from the others. They are reluctant to help her until she begins to describe her wonderful snow soup, to which each contributes something to enhance it. The audience learns some interesting facts about each animal as well as lessons about compassion, sharing and not prejudging others. The cute and catchy tunes and the adorable puppets (Fox was the only non-puppet performer, played by an actress in costume) had the kids enthralled, participating when prompted with answers and reactions to the action on stage.

At the end of the show, the performers stepped forward to meet the audience, and I was thoroughly surprised to learn there were only two of them! I was sure there had to have been at least two puppeteers in addition to the actress portraying Fox, but, no, some very clever staging allowed just one puppeteer to handle all those other roles. The children and their adults were invited to come up to the stage and view the puppets up close and chat with the actors. It provided a wonderful way to wrap up the show and give the kids additional exposure to the elements of a live performance.

The following weekend we visited my daughter and granddaughters in Portland and took six-year-old June to see Curious George and the Golden Meatball. It was presented by Beaverton Civic Theatre, which produces “theatre for young audiences” in the Beaverton city library’s auditorium. This play also included musical numbers, and the characters brought the action off of the stage and into the auditorium, making for a lively and engaging show. Of course, when Curious George is involved, you know there will always be plenty of high jinks and mishaps, but everything works out happily in the end. A few roles were played by adults (the Man in the Yellow Hat and Chef Pisghetti, for example), but most were filled by teenage performers, including George. The youngest performer, who took on several roles, acted with confidence and professional flair. When we met him after the show, we learned he is a fourth-grader; that young man is going places!

June enjoyed the one-hour show, but she especially enjoyed meeting the actors and getting their autographs afterwards. Audience members were handed a special autograph page as they exited the theater, and the actors stood in the lobby to greet them and pose for pictures. The kids really seemed to enjoy this interaction, and we’ll certainly be looking for more opportunities to share live theater with our grandkids in the future.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor