The Children's Theatre of Hampton Roads: Bucket of Monkeys Improv Troupe

Almost as soon as Anne was born, I started dreaming about all of the fun things we would do together in coming years. One thing in particular that I thought about over and over again was getting dressed up and going to the theater together. I looked forward to sitting in a darkened theater with A. and watching her little face grow rapt as the actors on stage grabbed her imagination and carried it away.

This past Sunday was a very special day for us. We got dressed (not up, but I did manage to find matching socks for us both, which is a pretty big deal) and drove to the Virginia Beach central library, where we saw The Children's Theatre of Hampton Roads' improv troupe, Bucket of Monkeys, put on The Three Musketeers. Our very first show -- first of many, I hope.



I was impressed with pretty much everything about CTHR: from their mission, to provide children's theater that is educational, interactive, and affordable, to the way the actors managed to translate a complicated story in a way that would be fun for a wide age range of audience members (including the parents), to the props (foam swords!) that they handed out as we left the auditorium after the lights came up.

I was also impressed by how well the five actors in the troupe worked together, and how much heart they put into their performances. Each one of the performers was highly skilled (and obviously having a blast), but special mention needs to be made of Jessica Pinsky's villain, the Comte de Rochefort, who was so over-the-top, appealingly evil that we couldn't help but root for him despite ourselves. (I also have to give props to Alex Gaver, the hardest working woman in show business, who provided us with a whole cast of supporting characters, including an entire ARMY). Best of all, the cast did a meet and greet after the show, so we got to shake their hands, collect some autographs, and tell them in person how much fun we had.

At 21 months, Baby A. was probably the youngest audience member there, and there were moments in the hour-long performance when she got a little squirmy. But she also danced, clapped, laughed, and by the end, was putting her arms up in the musketeer cheer with the rest of us. And to see her doing that was everything I hoped it would be.

There are two more chances this month to catch Bucket of Monkeys doing The Three Musketeers: they'll be at the Suffolk Center for the Cultural Arts this Saturday at 11 AM, and back at the VB central library on January 27th, at 2 PM. Tickets are only $5! (Click here for more information about these performances and to read about upcoming productions.) 

Kid Zone at the Pretlow Library

After something like ten straight afternoons of thunderstorms, Baby A. and I have both been suffering from bad cases of cabin fever. Today we finally couldn't stand it anymore, all of our usual afternoon activities had worn pretty thin (Not another crayon!) So we decided to brave the rain and headed out to the Pretlow Library in Ocean View in hopes of finding a much-needed change of pace.

The Pretlow Library is one of my all-around favorite places to spend an hour or two (it also houses the Ocean View Station Museum, which I love and plan to write about in a later post, and a great selection of books and genealogy resources). But the obvious draw is the Kid Zone, which takes up the entire top level of the library. There are whirling and spinning light features, a soft play area with tumbling mats, a kitchen nook with all sorts of play food and utensils, stacks of blocks and puzzles and trains and books and pretty much everything a stimulation-starved kid could desire in a rainy-day destination (including a bank of computers with games for the older kids).

Some of the toys are a little moth-eaten, honestly, but in light of the age-old rule that toys that aren't your toys are always more fascinating, Baby Anne didn't seem to mind very much and happily carried around one of the saddest baby dolls I've ever seen as though it were an especially hot-ticket item.  After she tired of that, she spent a good long while feeding plastic play food to the other kids (and having a few "tastes" herself) and generally making a big old noisy happy mess.

 Just in case you needed more convincing, here's how we looked by the time we left (much cheerier, no?): 

What are some of your favorite rainy day places? 

Fischer Sundae Puppets

This past Friday, Anouk and I were lucky enough to be able to spend some time with the Fischer Sundae Puppets at the Virginia Beach Central Library. The FSP is a nonprofit organization run by a fabulous husband-and-wife team, based out of Chesterfield, who put on shows at libraries, schools, and other locations throughout the community to promote a love of reading. The theme the day we visited was "Amazing Dreams," and with the help of Noah Goodbook, the Billy Goats Gruff, and Strega Nona, Mr. and Mrs. Fischer encouraged all of the kids in the audience to use their imaginations to make their dreams come to life.

The auditorium was packed -- some advice, if you're planning on going to a future show: get there early if you want the best seats up front and center (although sitting off to the side offers a glimpse of the man literally behind the curtain, which is kind of cool and behind-the-scenes). Our crowd ranged in age from infant to elementary school aged, but the bulk of the audience seemed to be energetic toddlers. Luckily, the Fischers have gotten into a groove of managing audience rowdiness pretty smoothly. They also encourage audience participation, which was just about the funniest thing ever, a crowd of babies, children, parents, and grandparents all hollering out a resounding Moos and Quacks when prompted by our puppet friends.

A nice touch was the DIY packet they handed out at the end of the show, with a paper bag and a list of folk tales, tips, and tricks to inspire a puppet show of your very own. I  fully intended to post pictures of the puppets that Anne and I made when we got home, but we (I) obviously lack the talent of the pros and our "Baby Anne" puppet ended up looking pretty creepy and deranged, so I will spare you all. But we sure did have fun playing with her.

You can read more about the Fischer Sundae Puppets here or follow them on Facebook for a list of upcoming events.