One Day at a Time

We have season tickets this year to the Children's Theater company, primarily because they were including the award winning Frog & Toad and an adaptation of The Hobbit. But it's been a truly wonderful season. We started with a muscial adaptation of Hansel & Gretel and Go, Dogs, Go!: The Musical. Both were a lot of fun.

Last night was Brooklyn Bridge, the one play I knew nothing about.

Sasha is a 5th grade latch-key kid living in an apartment just by the Brooklyn Bridge. She has a New York research paper due tomorrow, and can't find a pen in order to write her essay. While looking for a pen, she encounters some of the other tenants in her apartment building, who help her realize the importance of the Bridge beyond just facts.

Parts of the play seemed a little sophisticated for the younger children in the audience, but it was very well done overall. I especially appreciated Sasha's frustrations about writer's block. Everyone asked her if the lack of a pen was the real reason she wasn't writing anything:

"Why haven't you started writing?"
"I don't have a pen."
"What's the real reason?"
"I don't have a pen."
"What's the real reason?"
"I don't have a pen!"
"What's the really real reason?"
"I don't know what's important and what are just facts."

I've been there. I can do all the research in the world and still not know how to tell the story.