Don’t get me wrong – the exhibit is educational, but also exceptionally fun.  While you watch a new version of “The Dating Game” that interviews the slimiest creatures on earth, those who have watched the original TV show can relate to the many slimy, or should I say swarmy, contestants in their memory while the younger set listens, learns, and then votes for the winning contestant (and YES, your vote does count!). 

The exhibit’s first big winner is a cow – who expertly releases gas from both its ends with extreme aural dexterity. The life-size, cartoon-style cow has an open side where the intrepid museum-goer gets to experience a pin-ball metaphor or the 4 stomachs that create all that wonderful gas. 

The exhibit’s ‘end’ is appropriately a presentation of the work of a dung beetle – and spectators can engage in a lovely dung ball game set into a 6 foot dung pile.  While that sounds (and is) exceptionally fun, I can guarantee that the most popular part of the exhibit is the submarine and slide (think sea slug).  I witnessed an after-school group come into the exhibit and after a peripheral spin around the room, the slide instantly filled with a line outside. Personally, my favorite exhibit was the interactive frog-spit game (who knew that some frogs spit out their eggs).  The grossest (and according to spell-check, that is indeed a word) is the owl!  It both spits and poops excrement.  I used to think owls were so chic.

Yes – you learn a lot about excrement, gas, and slime, but you also learn about life cycles, habitats, and all those things your science teacher really wants you to remember.  Planted near the exit, although perhaps too close to the distracting slide or dung beetle game, is a video screen that lets its audience play a multiple choice grossology game – if you pay attention throughout the exhibit, you will definitely win. If not, the game encourages you to go back and really investigate past the slime and the slide to see what’s really going on inside.

Overall, I recommend this for families with kids (or adults) who enjoy nature in ALL of its parts, but especially the gross and slimy ones.  Don’t forget to stop in the gift shop – the Animal Grossology books and toys have a display of their own on the far wall, and there is a fun “younger set” focused section around the corner to your left.

This blog is dedicated to my great-great-niece Layla and my friends: Korey and Garvan, man I wish you’d been there with me!

- Brett Crawford, Managing Director, Imagination Stage

Everyone knows what it feels like to search for that perfect gift for your loved ones. It can be frustrating going from store to store, browsing and browsing, but never finding just the right thing. The Museum Shop Around at Strathmore offers the perfect solution to this problem!  During this four-day event, eighteen area gift shops converge at the Mansion at Strathmore for a holiday shopping extravaganza. You’ll find the gift shops from many of your favorite museums and arts organizations, like The Kennedy Center, The Phillips Collection, The National Archives, and of course, Just Imagine! The Shop at Imagination Stage. 

I first helped our gift shop with the Museum Shop Around in 2008 while I was an Apprentice. I loved it so much that I asked to go back again the next year to help. Since then it has become one of the highlights of my year. The past two years I have taken on a larger role, assisting our gift shop manager, Anne Elisa McDonnell, with the event. There is a lot that needs to happen, from ordering and inventory, to packing up products and transporting them up Rockville Pike to the Mansion at Strathmore.  But my favorite thing is actually demonstrating our toys and games and helping the customers find that perfect gift. It’s not unusual to see me gliding along the hallway in Fun Slide’s Carpet Skates or building a spaceship out of Laser Pegs. I also love explaining the rules to many of our games, from the magnetic Jishaku to the brain busting Anomia. 

If you’ve been in our Just Imagine! gift shop before, you’ll find some of the same things at the Museum Shop Around, like our regular selection of unique and creative toys, games, and costumes, but also many new products ordered exclusively for this event.  This year some of the highlights include giant stuffed animals called Squishables, animal-shaped Aroma Therapy Wraps, and a large assortment of eco-friendly jewelry and accessories. 

The Museum Shop Around at Strathmore takes place November 10-13 at Strathmore Mansion, 10701 Rockville Pike in North Bethesda. Admission is $9. For more information visit their website.

- Tyler Stoltenberg, Apprentice Program and Company Manager

P.S. Check out this fun video of me demonstrating some of the Just Imagine! gift shop items!

My name is Nadia Abouraya and I am 25 years old. I live in Silver Spring and volunteer once a week at Imagination Stage.

The gift shop at Imagination Stage is one place where I volunteer by putting price tag stickers on items or bagging new purchases.  It can be a very noisy place but it’s lots of fun. There can be lots of kids banging around or just two of us making noise while we straighten things up.

I am also an usher. I like handing out the programs and watching the kids react to the show. I love the shows so much myself. It’s fun to see the kids clapping and enjoying themselves. They are so into it. Kids seem to be moving all parts of their bodies even while they are sitting in their seats for a show like Wind in the Willows. I know Aladdin’s Luck is going to be great because I saw a model of the set before the show opened and it’s amazing.

I also do office work like photocopying, setting up for activities, and working with different things at the office. Once I even ran the light board for a student show. That was the very first show I did at Imagination Stage and I’ve been volunteering there ever since. I have always liked live plays. It’s also good to meet new volunteers and the people you work with.

Outside Imagination Stage, I am driving and taking classes at Montgomery College. Mostly I like to see movies with my friends and family, read, or walk around my neighborhood. I also usher at Shakespeare Theater and I have a few other part-time jobs.

- Nadia Abouraya

Courtesy of Bambolina's website.

One of the perks for families in Washington each fall is Kids Euro Festival running from October 14-November 10.  All 27 countries of the European Union send representative theatre, magic, music, puppet, dance, and film pieces to our capital city as a way of introducing local children to stories and artists from across the Atlantic.  Imagination Stage is delighted to be presenting two shows—one from Malta and another from Spain.  KRAFT from Spain’s Bambalina Company is open to the public at Imagination Stage on Saturday, October 29 at 10:30 a.m.  This is a delightful piece of visual theatre in which three actor/puppeteers amaze the audience by creating characters and stories out of simple recycling materials.  When I first saw the play at a showcase in Pittsburgh a couple of years ago, the entire audience was delighted by the extraordinary whimsy and creativity of this company.  KRAFT is recommended for ages 7+.

 The 2011 season has many productions that will be shown mostly at schools in the District and in Prince George’s County.  Public performances are scattered all over the region on the weekends and can be found and booked at the Kids Euro Festival website.  Parents are requested to reserve tickets but all offerings are free—a tremendous gift to our community and a wonderful chance to see how artists from different cultures “speak” to young audiences.  You may come away from some of these shows surprised by how rather avant-garde material can hold young people completely spell bound.

My top picks for the festival include:

For ages 2-8:  The Seasons of Pallina from Italy
For ages 3-8:  Banquise/Ice Floe from Belgium
For ages 5+:  Exploring the Perfect World from Denmark
For ages 8-13: Copernicus’s Star, an animated feature from Poland

- Janet Stanford, Artistic Director

As I began looking for actors for Aladdin’s Luck, I knew that I had only 3 actors in the show, at least two of which had to play multiple roles. Chris Wilson (who plays Aladdin) has done seven shows at Imagination Stage. I cast him when he first graduated from University of Maryland as Mowgli in Jungle Book. When we were having auditions for Aladdin’s Luck, Chris was actually out on tour with the Kennedy Center’s Bario Girrrl! He sent me a youtube audition for Aladdin’s Luck, and I told him I would wait for him to get back from his tour before making my final decision. I had already cast Katie deBuys who would play Leilah, the princess, but just to be sure, I asked Chris to come and read with Katie in order to ensure they played well together.  I am glad I waited for Chris because it turned out he was the right one for the role!  I love the fact that Chris is actually an adult, but he looks young enough to play a boy,  and he moves beautifully so I knew that he would give a great physicality to the role of Aladdin.

I had seen Katie deBuys in a wonderful play at Woolly Mammoth called In the Next Room. I thought she was excellent in that play and when she came to audition for Aladdin’s Luck, I recognized her from that performance. I knew she was the right person to be the female member of this cast, playing the Princess Leilah, the mother, and Aladdin’s best friend Omar. She has a wonderful facility for language, and I felt that she really knew how to speak the words of the script and make them sound natural but theatrically heightened. And, because she also moves well, I knew that she could play these many parts by subtly changing the way she moved as each person. While she loves being the princess in this play, she also claims to really like playing Aladdin’s friend Omar because it is a real challenge to play a boy!

And last but not least, I wanted to find someone to play the villain Alzarnati who was evil but also a bit funny. Michael Glenn was in our 2009 production of Lyle the Crocodile as the evil, Mr. Grumps. I thought that  he would have the right feel for the evil sorcerer in Aladdin’s Luck. Michael has performed in lots of theatres all over Washington, and I most recently saw him in the Pulitzer Prize winning Clyborne Park at Wooly Mammoth, this past summer. Mike has a wonderful, resonant deep voice that makes him perfect to play Alzarnati, but he also has a marvelous sense of comic timing. He is a very smart actor and approaches each scene from a very thoughtful point of view, thinking about all the circumstances that lead his characters to make the choices that they do.

We are having a wonderful time in rehearsal, figuring out the blocking, dancing, performing fight choreography, and working with playwright Janet Stanford, who is also the Artistic Director at Imagination Stage. We look forward to performing this show for our audiences Sept. 23-Oct. 30^th.

-Kate Bryer
Associate Artistic Director, Imagination Stage/Director, Aladdin’s Luck

When I was a child, we had a toad who lived on our patio.  He, like all toads, was nocturnal and would begin to hop about searching for dinner as the sun set.  During the day, he would sleep.  However, during the day, I was awake. Thus, I would, on a fairly frequent basis, impolitely wake him up to say good morning or introduce him to my friends.  Wouldn’t you want to show off this guy to all your friends?  (This handsome toad lives in my sister’s garden.)

Want to pick him up? Toads do not bite, but they do have a natural defense system and will release their bladder into your hand should you try to pick them up, which of course you should not do as they truly prefer staying on the ground.  Mythbuster:  While toads do have warts – they are NOT contagious! You will never get a wart by touching a toad.

I loved having a toad living outside my home. Little did I know I was lucky! A great reason to have a toad on your patio or in your yard is that he likes to eat things like mosquitoes and other insects that might be irritating.  He can eat THOUSANDS.  If you have or want an organic backyard – the toad serves as a natural pesticide.

How can you attract a toad to your house? Here is a guide to the whys and hows of attracting a toad to your yard:  http://www.toadilytoads.com/gardentoads.html .  They do like to have a house (just like our Mr. Toad) and they look like this photo on the left.

If you want to see a toad NOW you can go to the Reptile Discovery Center at the National Zoo!  Of course, the ONLY and BEST toad for this summer is our MR. TOAD as he has fun every day with his friends here at Imagination Stage.

-Brett Ashley Crawford, Imagination Stage Managing Director

Educating Students and Parents: Growing New Educational Programming for Pre-K
-By Maggin Stailey, published by TYA Today

The recent domestic rise in interest to produce Theatre for the Very Young has issued a new challenge to corresponding arts education departments to offer programming for their new audience. Several theatres have accepted this challenge by integrating “kinderdrama,” widely defined as a class that a guardian and a young child take together as a pair, into their educational programming. Across the country, this expansion of programming is challenging teaching artists to adapt to a space where education and family collide.

In 2003 at Imagination Stage in Bethesda, MD, kinderdrama classes became a natural response to the issue of filling the theatre’s new space. “When we moved into this building we had a ton of empty space during the day […] and the logical idea was to program it with people who were home,” says Associate Artistic Director Kate Bryer. “And that age group is obviously babies, so that was the basic beginning of it,” Bryer says of their “mommy and me” program for children between 12 and 36 month old.

However, a grant to expand programming for the very young from the Theatre Communications Group, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Doris Duke Charitable Trust turned the theatre’s educational focus even more sharply toward their youngest audience. The grant allowed Imagination Stage to create their own original theatre pieces for the very young, which in turn built an audience looking for more classroom opportunities for that age group. “I think it’s important to the artistic and financial stability of the theatre, but it is also important to the community to find a way to engage these children at a really, really young age. And really I think, to me, it’s about engaging these families,” Bryer says.

Engaging the interplay between child and parent has also been the keystone for the creation of kinderdrama classes for Education Director Karen Sharp at Seattle Children’s Theatre (SCT) in Washington. In the spring of 2010, she experimented with a one-day Story Drama creative dramatics experience for parents and their children to take together. The program was so successful that it has been included in the summer offerings for 2011 at the SCT Drama School. Sharp notes that even in the one-day workshops, her main objective is to model creative play for the parent. “I know creative play is something that doesn’t come naturally to all parents,” she says. During the workshops, Sharp guides participants through working together, creative problem solving, team building, and sensory explorations in the hopes that parents can share these kinesthetic experiences with their students. “I want to give parents the tools to be able to use creative drama at home with their child, but also it’s important to experience creative play in a classroom setting – where an ensemble of students and parents work together to create something very special.”

Christina Dresser, acting program associate and producer of drama camps at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, GA, echoes those sentiments. “We have classes that we offer on Saturdays throughout the year in eight different sessions. They are typically six weeks, and our youngest age range is a ‘Parents and Tots” class,” Dresser says. “The class really focuses on teaching creative play skills to the parents so that it is not just something that is happening in the classroom, but they can go home, have story time together, and be able to play dramatically and understand how to do all of those things”, Dresser continues. “And of course the parents love having this outlet for their children. We’ve always had parents who are so excited that they can have something that they can do together in an environment that is supportive and understanding.”

Education directors overseeing kinderdrama classes recognize that finding the right formula is key. Sharp uses ritual with students in order to develop trust. “By creating those rituals you create a safe zone for the student to feel like they can use their imagination. The students know when they come in the room, they’re going to pound on the block this way, then you’re going to pound on a drum,” Sharp explains. “When the students feel safe and successful, they’re going to be able to use their imagination and make bolder choices.”

Sharp also emphasizes the dual importance of lesson planning and a sense of play. “My theory is when you’re teaching creative drama you know exactly where you are in your lesson plan and what’s going to happen next but the students should never feel any of that,” Sharp says. “They should feel like that experience is happening in the moment because they’re in the room.”

The kinderdrama classes at Imagination Stage focus primarily on sensory exploration. “When we use a story we tend not to tell it in a linear fashion,” Bryer explains. “We try to pull images from it and use those images to experience it through multidisciplinary experiences, though the use of music, movement, art, and theatre, using taste, smell, vision, touch, and sound – so that you explore [the story] through different sensory mediums.”

Renana Fox, Imagination Stage’s Artistic Directing Apprentice, sat down to talk with some of the cast from our world premiere production of THE DAY JOHN HENRY CAME TO SCHOOL.  John Henry, played by DEREKS THOMAS and Johnny Henry, played by NICK VAUGHN shared their own experiences with technology and both the benefits and drawbacks its growth brings.  

RF: This play takes a look at how new technologies are increasingly present in our social and educational interactions.  What are some of the benefits and drawbacks you see to this strong presence of computers in our everyday lives?

DT: A computer can’t look me in the eye and tell me how I feel – at least not yet LOL!

NV: I feel like there are many benefits to the strong presence of computers in our everyday lives. Information moves so much faster and that makes things incredibly easy. A task that would haven taken days to be completed, only takes a matter of seconds thanks to today’s technology. Communication is also very fast, keeping a person connected to love ones and friends that are thousands of miles away with just a click of a button. On the other hand there are many drawbacks to having the amount of technology that we have in our society, and a lot of things are taken for granted and forgotten. In-person communication is very rare, verbal dialogue is replaced with text messaging and video-chat programs. Simulations and video games instead of actual physical activity.

RF: John Henry comes from a time before computers, video games and phone and he finds that he has to adjust his actions and behaviors to a more modern world.  In your own life, what are some changes in technology you have witnessed and how has it affected you?

DT: I remember when cellular phones were a luxury.  They were GIGANTIC – the size of a phonebook ironically! They’ve since grown smaller and smaller and have way more capabilities.  I think these and other changes in technology allow more of us to access information and move more quickly, both literally and figuratively. One thing is for sure – the more we advance technology, we tend to take some things for granted.  Without being aware, we demand instant gratification and are upset when we don’t get what we want.NV: In my life I have witnessed many changes in technology. Growing up, my two brothers and I all shared one cell phone when I was in high school. Now there are children at the age of 7 that have cell phones! Also, with the internet things are so much easier to accomplish now than they were when I was younger. Things that I would have had to journey to a library for are now able to be completed by using my cell phone.

RF: Johnny Henry loves technology, but by the end of the play, he begins to really see the value in human interactions.  Are there jobs you don’t think a machine can (or should) replace? Why?

DT: Machines should never replace our healthcare workers.  It would be a sad day if I ever went to the doctors and there were only machines.  Health is how you ‘feel’ and how we ‘feel’ includes our minds and the mind has a strong affect on healing.  We can prescribe pills, we can give a bandage, but nothing can replace the sense of reassurance, empathy and encouragement that comes from another human being.

NV: Jobs like Bus/Metro Drivers, Child Care Workers, or even the job of an Actor I don’t think can (or should) be replaced by machines. There are some things that I feel should be left to humans to do. Some things are so delicate and require gentile execution that only can be ethically negotiated by a human mind.

RF: Thanks for some really great answers.  I just have one more questions I’d love to ask you both.  Johnny can’t get enough of his video games and has a hard time putting them down.  Do you have a favorite technological gadget you just can’t live without?

DT: My cell phone!  Although I don’t talk on it much, I love to access the internet with it. Last but not least, Metro!  While their service isn’t always perfect, I couldn’t imagine galloping around town on horseback.  I like to eat, so I’d imagine feeding a horse would get pretty expensive!

NV: I think that if I were to be suddenly separated from any of my many devices, I would be able to live. I would be very unhappy at first but I would learn to cope. That doesn’t excuse the fact that my cell phone does indeed play a huge role in my everyday life. Electricity!  That’s a good one… I sure can’t live without that one.  I think that Thomas Edison guy may have been on to something.

RF: Well thank you both so much for your time.  I hope everyone comes out to see you both in THE DAY JOHN HENRY CAME TO SCHOOL as well as GEORGE AND MARTHA IN TONS OF FUN! which are both playing in Rep on our mainstage through May 29.

George and Martha are two hippos who are best friends!  

George is played by MJ Casey, who you may recognize from other Imagination Stage shows like Busytown, Pirates! A Boy at Sea, and Bunnicula.  Sandy Murphy plays Martha and has been seen on our stage in The Borrowers and Heidi.  They each took a few minutes to talk our staff member, Tyler Stoltenberg, about their own best friends. 

TS: Why is friendship so important to you?
MJ: The strength and care we receive from friends helps us to become better people and able to discover new friends in the world.

TS: Who is your best friend and why?
SM: My Best friend Mike has been in my life for the last 30 years. He is compassionate and smart and when I think of him, I feel good. I feel understood and unconditionally loved.

TS: What nice things do you do for your best friend?
MJ: Listen, support, offer help, give perspective. The biggies.
SM: We are always there for each other when we need to feel appreciated and valued. 

TS: What do you like most about your best friend?
MJ: Their ability to see the brighter side and make me laugh. We can share many things but sharing fun is what brings people together and helps people become friends.
SM: When I’m with my best friend, I feel like I’m with family.  That is a most precious gift.

TS: Have you ever had an adventure with your best friend?
MJ: Of course…that is kind of how you find out that they are your best friend.
SM: This whole life, man…this whole life is an adventure. 

Tell us about your best friend and it could even be featured right here on our blog and in Washington Parent!