Julia Krebs Patterson plays Amelia Mouse (left). Jasmin Danielle Johnson plays Nellie Mouse (right).

I am extremely fortunate and grateful for the experience to help create, and perform in, some of our My first Imagination Stage productions (specifically for ages 1-5).  When I was asked to write a blog about my experience as Amelia Mouse in Mouse on the Move, the first thing that came to mind was the wonderful, and often funny, things I hear from our youngest patrons on a day-to-day basis.  I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite early childhood theatre stories, some from Mouse on the Move (I can’t even believe I already have a plethora of them, seeing as how the show has only been open a week) and some from Wake Up, Brother Bear! when I played Sister Bear.  I enjoy bringing these anecdotes to my colleagues, and I am glad to share some of them with you. I will begin with one that is fresh in my mind– one of the sweetest and most endearing things I have seen in a long time.

 In Mouse on the Move, I take a short break from playing Amelia Mouse to puppeteer a southern belle of a Ladybug who has lost her babies.  During the story, her babies are blown from their house and “sneak” inside the children’s suitcases (each child receives a suitcase of props upon entering the theatre). The children must help bring the babies back to Ms. Ladybug and put them in her new nest: a glowing tree right outside the circle of the performance space.  Once we receive a baby (a little ladybug attached to a clothespin), we clip them to the tree and then encourage the children to go back to their seat. There was a little girl who, upon relinquishing her ladybug, couldn’t seem to go back to her seat.  Ms. Ladybug, in her sweet southern accent, said “Thank you for your help little mouse.  You can go back to your seat now.” The little mouse just stood and stared at the ladybug, smiling.  “Alright, little mouse; you have worked hard to give me back my baby, now it’s time to take a seat!”  Nothing; she just stood and stared.  Then, all of a sudden, she reached out and took Ms. Ladybug with both hands.  Closing her eyes, she slowly pulled Ms. Ladybug toward her and gave her a soft kiss on the nose.  Then, smiling at Ms. Ladybug, she turned and walked back to her seat.

 We like to call “play” the “work” of early childhood, and our youngest audience members take their job seriously! At one point in Mouse on the Move we match colored flowers.  The first flowers I match are two blue flowers.  I walk up to one blue flower, point at it and say, “blue.”  The child holding the flower responds “yes.”  I then take the flower, walk to the other blue flower in the theatre, point to it and say, “blue.” One day, anticipating a “yes,” I reached out to take the flower and heard, “purple.”  Purple?  I looked at the child holding the flower, and she was dressed in purple.  “Not blue?” I asked.  When the teacher coached her that the flower was blue, she opened her mouth and said, “Nope, not blue.  This flower is purple!”  A slight script change was called for on my part.  When comparing the flower colors, what came out was, “purplish blue, purplish blue. The same!”

In Wake Up, Brother Bear!, a pesky fish follows us through the seasons, taunting Brother Bear who can never seem to catch him for a delicious dinner.  At the very end of the show, the fish again appears. Brother Bear pulls him up out of the water with a fishing rod and is about to feast in celebration.  You can imagine the kinds of things we heard on a regular basis from the audience.  “Don’t eat him!” “Eat him!”  “Give it to your sister!” “He’s making it move!”  But there was one day that brought out two comments that I will always remember when I think of this show, and the spontaneity of early childhood theatre. One child shouted, “You got to cook it!”  Followed by another child, confiding in her mother, “He is not going to eat that fish raw.”

- Julia Krebs Patterson, Amelia Mouse and Early Childhood & Casting Coordinator

Tickets and a performance calendar for Mouse on the Move, can be found here.

You may not know, but

As the Special Events Manager at Imagination Stage, many people think that my work for the October 22 Annual Gala & Silent Auction begins in October. But with a 400-seat house to fill; 30-50 volunteers to cultivate and manage; an online and silent auction to create; entertainment to hire; caterers with whom to meet (thanks to the fabulous Ridgewells for donating the catering for the past nine years!); lighting, sound, and graphic designers to solidify; printing companies and mail houses with which to partner (the list actually goes on, but I think you see what I’m getting at…); my planning for this year’s gala, Making Magic, actually began the day after  last year’s gala event had happened.

The two most important pieces of any event, in my opinion, are message and theme. We need a compelling theme to inspire people to become involved – not only to donate but to learn more about our programs and the organization as a whole, so they can find a niche that best speaks to their interests, be it production support, early childhood education, or an interest in joining our Board of Trustees; there are numerous ways to support.

For Imagination Stage, the message is our mission: Imagination Stage produces theatre and arts education programs which nurture, challenge, and empower young people of all abilities. Each year this message needs to be delivered in a new, creative, and – yes – imaginative way. Can you imagine how dull a party would be if it was the same each year? Guests would know what to expect and there would be no surprises. That is why theme is so important. It acts as the vehicle through which we deliver our message.

In order to come up with a fresh theme, I sat down in March with our Artistic Director, Janet Stanford, and our gala’s Thematic Team, which consists of the oh-so-talented Marilyn Bagel, Cynthia Friedman, Tina Martin, Mita Schaffer, and Chris Youstra. I have a lot of meetings for this event, but the constant flow of energy, creativity, and enthusiasm that come from this group makes Thematic Team meetings the most exciting by far.

In these meetings, inspiration is drawn from two key places: the set that will be on stage during the gala’s performance and what we feel are Imagination Stage’s achievements over the past year. The set on stage for this gala performance is for our first show of the season, Aladdin’s Luck. It is an enchanting set where there is more to see than meets the eye. When we thought about our achievements over the past year – what happened that moved us forward, the risks that we took, and what set us apart from the rest – all thoughts stemmed to our ability to fully realize our Early Childhood programming where magical moments can be created through the interactivity of children, caregivers, and actors.

Magical moments… Aladdin’s Luck… magic lamps… adventures… discovery… creativity… magic… making moments… making magic… MAKING MAGIC!

The concept for the 2011 Annual Gala was born.

I hope you will be able to help us celebrate the ability of the arts to create magical moments and serendipitous discoveries on Saturday, October 22. You’ll find that Imagination Stage and the arts are a fantastic way for children of all ages to make magic.

-Lilly Goldberg Development Associate/Special Events Manager

The Washington Post article regarding the long term impact preschool has on the lives of those who attended, supports the Imagination Stage belief in theatre and education for the very young (ages 1-5).  The evidence as stated in this article validates what we have practiced for a long time—that exposing your child at a very young age to a variety of literary and artistic experiences promotes emotional and cognitive development that will impact your child well into adulthood.  Don’t ignore the importance of the arts and learning for your very young child—now is the time to give them these very rich experiences!!!  They will reap the benefits for many years to come.

-Imagiantion Stage’s Early Childhood Gurus, Kathryn Chase Bryer and Julia Krebs Patterson

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!

Recently there have been more articles and studies that underscore this important need that Imagination Stage has long known.  In just the last week both CNN and the NY Times featured articles on the subject.  The CNN article described how creative play builds critical life skills by allowing children to observe and learn from others’ emotions.  The authors conclude:   “For a five year-old, this connection [with the world] begins and ends with the creating, questioning, imitating, dreaming, and sharing that characterize play. When we deny young children play, we are denying them the right to understand the world. By the time they get to college, we will have denied them the opportunity to fix the world too.”  There’s more to ponder at http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/12/29/christakis.play.children.learning/index.html

At Imagination Stage, we focus on using theatre games and playmaking as a framework for imaginative play.  As in all play, our theatre classes allow children to “learn to take turns, delay gratification, negotiate conflicts, solve problems, share goals, acquire flexibility, and live with disappointment. By allowing children to imagine walking in another person’s shoes, imaginative play also seeds the development of empathy, a key ingredient for intellectual and social-emotional success.” (CNN)

Both the CNN and NY Times articles explained how play teaches skills that lead to success in college and life.  “…achievement in college requires readiness skills that transcend mere book learning. It requires the ability to engage actively with people and ideas. In short, it requires a deep connection with the world.” (CNN)

The New York Times article agreed, focusing on the exchange that modern life has created as kids lose critical unstructured imaginative play time with a rise in screen time.  The article states:   “…most of the social and intellectual skills one needs to succeed in life and work are first developed through childhood play. Children learn to control their impulses through games like Simon Says, . . . they learn to solve problems, negotiate, think creatively and work as a team when they dig together in a sandbox or build a fort with sofa cushions. (The experts define play as a game or activity initiated and directed by children. So video games don’t count, they say…)” The full article can be seen at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/garden/06play.html

These articles are just the most recent in an emerging discourse on the need for creativity for the future success of our children, our businesses, and our nation.  Last summer, on the cover of Newsweek, we learned of the creativity crisis in this country and what can be done to foster a more creative process in kids so they, as future leaders, can find the answers to puzzling environmental questions, foster peace, lead a corporation.  http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html

At Imagination Stage we know that how children learn is as important and what children learn.
Imagination Stage helps guide parents and caregivers about how best to encourage and stimulate play that will be productive for the child.  We have lots of creative tools for children and their parents.  We’ve recently restructured our Early Childhood programs for children one- to five-years-old specifically keeping in mind that play is the work of early childhood. We recognize the importance of play in child development and are growing and re-imagining our program to make it more playful and interactive than ever.  Toddlers and their caregivers can see a performance, attend a one-time workshop or sign up for a series of classes – all are designed to engage children in a multisensory, highly imaginative world.  Children don’t age out of playful and creative opportunities to stretch their minds, and Imagination Stage has plenty of opportunities entered school to grow and learn through classes, workshops, conservatories or ensembles for children.

As Albert Einstein pointed out, “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

Janet Stanford, Imagination Stage Artistic Director

It is gratifying to see that The New York Times is devoting column inches to what is widely being hailed as the newest trend in theatre in the USA—theatre for the very young—and by that we really mean babies as young as 6 months, non-verbal toddlers, or big siblings up to the advanced age of 4!  It is natural for theatre artists and parents alike to wonder whether performances for this age group are “real theatre” and to question what, if anything, children are getting from these experiences.  As someone who has travelled to festivals across Europe and Canada and seen dozens of Baby Shows over the last decade, I can happily report that I have worked through these questions for myself and come to believe that Baby Theatre holds enormous promise not only for the immediate benefactors, its audience of children and parents, but also for shaping a more sophisticated teen and adult theatre-going public in the USA down the road.

At their best, plays for the very young—like all good theatre— tap into subject matter that is intriguing to its audience.  I have seen a full house of toddlers held rapt by a fifteen minute sequence of balloons simply being blown up and let go; by elaborate games of peek-a-boo; by a series of apple-like objects being dropped into a vat of water; by a puppet bird hatching from an egg; by a dancer’s feet spreading sand in patterns around the stage; by a blue cloth representing the sea; or a piece of origami that an actor transforms from a star into a tiny boat.  This may not be the thematic stuff of Shakespeare but it speaks directly to the preoccupations of small children: the physics of cause and effect, and curiosity about other babies, objects and indeed every person, place and thing that makes up their early universe.  Small children also bring to the theatre an attitude of total belief—something that even those of us who love the art can never completely recapture.   For them, the image of stars lighting a backdrop or a paper leaf dropping from a tree may indeed precede the real life experience of such natural events.  For the 4-year old, we know a connection is being made between the theatrical image and the thing it represents but for the baby it is more likely that the image attracts her attention simply because it is pleasing in and of itself.  Consider what a powerful moment it will be for this tiny theatre-goer when she first does see a sky-full of stars and connects their grandeur and beauty back to a memory from her first play!

 The opportunity that artists creating for the very young have is tremendous.   We can take huge subjects like the environment, the Law of Gravity, the cycle of life, parent-child or sibling relationships and portray them in simple childlike terms that respect the young audience’s specific stage of development.  We can capitalize on their willing belief since no “suspension of disbelief” is yet required.  We can create hands-on opportunities for the children to enter the action and participate in the creation of an illusion.  When the actors in The Lyngo Theatre’s EGG & SPOON invite children to place cotton balls of “snow” on their tree, the audience does so partly because it is fun and partly because they want to see the image of winter completed.  Led by the performers, these children are using their imaginations as well as their bodies, to tell a part of the story and to build a beautiful image which they can then step away from with pride and a sense of accomplishment.  As a fringe benefit, these children are also experiencing what it feels like to perform in front of others and to create a thing of beauty for themselves and everyone else to enjoy.

I heard a report on NPR today that by far the greatest users of Netflix new web-streaming device Roku are parents downloading cartoons and movies for their children to watch at home.  As a nation, we Americans have been training our children from an early age to sit passively on a couch, usually with juicy cup and Cheerios in hand, and take in hours of mass produced Disney and Nickolodeon re-runs.  I don’t think it requires a research study to demonstrate that an outing to a live theatre event with your Mom, Dad or Nanny can offer our little ones a vital antidote to the mindless media indoctrination they   get at home.  Just maybe, Baby Theatre can be the venue where the child’s natural desire to get in the act, play and be creative can be expressed.   And with nurturing and continued exposure to the arts, children can be encouraged to grow up as active and inquiring participants not only in the theatre but in their own educations, their schools and eventually adult society.

-Janet Stanford
Artistic Director
Imagination Stage

 1) Best. Gift. Ever.: In October, 2009 Carol and Jim Trawick announced a gift of $2.5M gift to retire the Imagination Stage construction debt!

2) A Great Honor: Michelle Obama was Honorary Chair of our 30^th anniversary Gala in October, 2009.

3) Kudos for our Professional Theatre: Four 2010 Helen Hayes Award nominations, Zomo the Rabbit: A Hip-Hop Creation Myth voted “Favorite Family Production” of 2009 by readers of DCTheatreScene.com; The Dancing Princesses named one of the top 11 musicals of the year by DCTheatreScene—the only theatre for young audiences show to make the list.

 4) DCPS Contract: Our Imagination Quest (IQ) program began work with four DCPS elementary schools which were designated as Arts Integration Schools through the DCPS Catalyst Project. IQ directly reached 138 teachers and 450 students (and indirectly reached many more) through intensive professional development, in-classroom modeling sessions, and small-group lesson plan tutorial sessions.

5) Dance Evolution: our dance curriculum has been re-structured to best serve students who are interested in performance as well as those jazzed by skills-building and exploring a variety of styles.

6) Everybody Plays: during the academic year, our Arts Access department served 61 students with disabilities in inclusive settings (alongside typically developing peers), with an additional 36 students served in Arts Access and Deaf Access programs.

7) Gratifying Grants: The National Endowment for the Arts awarded Imagination Stage $10,000 to support Project X. an after-school drama program at White Oak and Argyle Middle Schools; The National Inclusion Project granted $15,000 to support inclusion efforts in 2010 summer camps; Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County awarded Imagination Stage a $25,000 Advancement Grant to increase our technology efficiencies.

For our Youngest Audience: a New Generations grant from Theatre Communications Group helped fund development and production of Wake Up, Brother Bear! our home-grown highly interactive hit for ages 2-5. 

9) She’s the Top: Founder/Executive Director Bonnie Fogel was named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women by The Daily Record.

10) The Buck Stops Here: 31 Trustees, led by Board President Mark Richardson of Transwestern, ensured fiscal and legal oversight.

11) And one lowlight: we had to close for a record 10.5 of days because of winter blizzards and summer power outages.  Silver lining: generous donors helped defray those losses with donations in the amount of $17,730.

How children learn is just as important as what they learn and it is important for us to raise creative thinkers as opposed to robots!  Play allows children to use what Dr. Golinkoff refers to as the “6 C’s”:  collaboration, communication, content, critical thinking, creative innovation and confidence–all traits that we need as healthy, well-developed adults. 

We realized that this is exactly what Imagination Stage theatre classes for children ages 12 months up to 5 years do.  When our young students are in class, they are using creative play skills which, in turn, have a direct correlation to developmental skills such as self-regulation, self-guidance of thought and behavior, planning, self- reliance and socially responsible behavior in regard to others.  Play is serious business to children, and our students are engaging in active learning as they row the imaginary boat or act as Papa Bear in their very own rendition of Goldilocks & the Three Bears.

 We invite you to also share in our always-developing work:  please join us to experience some of our Early Childhood programming at our free Open House on July 24 from 9:00-11:00, especially for families with children ages 1-5. 

 –Kate Bryer