But Just What IS a Terabithia?

The poster for our Young Actor's season opener, Bridge to Terabithia, has been hanging up at work for a couple of weeks now.  I've overheard a few puzzled questions about the show, it would seem the Newberry Award winning book on which it's based is not nearly as famous as it should be!

Courtesy of Amazon.com
A hint perhaps?  The Brown County Library has copies too!

Bridge to Terabithia is the story of two friends; one  leads an average, boring life and feels like an outsider, the other is an outsider and feels perfectly at peace until she is ridiculed for being different ("different" meaning such horrors as "doesn't own a TV" and "lives in a spooky house").  

I was compelled (by a teacher's syllabus) to read Bridge to Terabithia when I was in middle school.  That awkward time when everyone feels like an outsider, kids are cruel for reasons as asinine as "doesn't own a TV" and a person first starts to realize that what they consider to be normal isn't normal for everyone.  At first I balked at the book, I preferred reading fantasy to reading about other people create their own fantasy.  I was oddly annoyed by the female protagonist, the relentless dreamer, Leslie.  And I was enraged by the slow-witted supporting cast; the block-headed siblings and jeering classmates.  Of course by the end of the book, I realized why I had had such a visceral reaction to the book.  I was just like Leslie, and a little like pragmatic protagonist Jesse, too.  I had to deal with being taunted for reading and wearing kooky clothes and not having seen the latest episode of Friends.  Bridge to Terabithia gave my preteen self a way to consider my own life in a way I never had before.  Leslie and Jesse weren't heroes to me, but they had become powerful allies.

Evergreen's Young Actor's shows have always been as much about education as entertainment.  We use children as actors (on of the few children's theatre in the country to do so) and encourage them to assist with technical aspects as well, such as designing costumes, building sets, and creating brilliant light plans (no easy feat!)  But it's not enough for us!  We don't perform mere pageants.  We wish to enrich young audiences as well as entertain them.  We want to give kids something to think about when they leave the theater because, let's face it, kids are smart.

If you've never read this wonderful book before, I urge you to do so.  And if you have a young adult in your home, moping around and despairing of how bored they are, give them a copy of Bridge to Terabithia...I'm sure it will be a nice break from telling them to clean their room.  

Then, see it live September 29-October 2nd!  I'm what would be considered an adult, I've been paying taxes for some years and I've had time to develop skill in dealing with bullies.  But I've still got my tickets...and I hope to see you at the show!

Have you read Bridge to Terabithia?  Let me know what you thought in the comments!  Don't be shy, that's not what theatre is about!

Blogmistress MB