Full Circle

This post starts with a story about me:

According to my parents, the first show I ever saw was A Strega Nona Christmas at the Children’s Theater Company in Minneapolis. Over my mother’s objections, my grandmother dragged my family and I to the show. (Mom was worried that I would squirm or wet the seat – I was three years old, after all.) Legend has it that I sat spellbound through the entire show, silent and staring, with no reaction at all. When it was done, so they say, I refused to leave the theater. Eventually, I turned to my parents and asked them, “When is it my turn to go up there?”

I have no memory of the event, but I saw it happen today.

There was a little boy in the front row of the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ, today, who was my focus from the moment I set foot in the stage. He was seated between his mom and grandma, and clutching two small stuffed bunnies: one Max, the other Ruby. For all 49 minutes of our show, his expression was the same. No laughs. No shrieks. No tears. No applause. Just a dead, yet attentive, stare. We did our show, headed backstage and, as I was packing up my microphone, I heard two voices coming from the audience:

"OK, its time to go," said a female voice
"No," croaked the indignant, three year-old boy.

That is all I need.

Kid quote of the day: see above. You can't get much better than that.

Call tomorrow: 10:30am, Manhattan garage near Columbia. Travel day to Maryland!!