Being A Good Audience Member Takes PRACTICE!
Linda Beck, South Orange
If it weren't for the societal delays we're encountering due to the COVID-19 virus, a few days ago I'd have been giving my annual SOMA Film Festival Kids Block speech to 200 + kids and their grown up companions about how especially glad I was to see the youngsters at the Woodland in Maplewood for "AUDIENCE PRACTICE."
If you haven't been, the Woodland is an outstanding place for a range of events. It's large, so people can move above with comfort. It has discreet entry ways and easy access to restrooms which allow the tardy to enter and those in need of the bathroom to make the trip without causing a huge disruption. Its gorgeous wood-paneling whispers of events of decades before and its arched ceilings make it seem like the whole building is giving you a hug. There really is something for everyone.
There are many benefits to resisting the siren's call of New York City and supporting local arts and events. One, of course, is simply the price. Between the NJTransit round trip, the event tickets themselves, and the babysitter (who will inevitably stay an extra hour because we are out with pre-suburb friends and, loathe to leave, foolishly gamble with the 1 train to Penn), and then we're into the hundreds for the evening. It's pricey - especially for two people. Conversely, most (not all) local events are much more modestly priced and the quick, nearly free commute means you need a babysitter for roughly 3 fewer hours.
If you want to actually bring the kids WITH you, then this is where local events really pay out.
Years ago, a friend of ours was papering the house for a Broadway show and invited our family to come along for free. Although the show subject matter was appropriate for kids, they were super young and it was an 8:00 pm start. They were incredibly well-behaved, but at intermission, we could tell they just weren't digging the show. If we had paid for those tickets, we would have felt obligated to stay despite their potential misery, as horrible as that sounds. But we hadn't paid for tickets. We left at intermission and told the kids the rest of the story of the musical on the train on the way home. With good train karma, we got home so quickly, in fact, that they were comfy in their beds before the show even wrapped. It would have been nice to see the whole thing, but we racked it up as PRACTICE. Kids need practice. We ALL need practice. Attending local events is great practice because the monetary and time commitment stakes are lower. If the kids are melting down and you've spent just $40 for the whole family, you have freedom... the freedom to bag it and head home. Hamilton may be a spokesperson for American freedom, but once you're sitting in the exorbitant seats clutching tickets you bought months ago, you have no freedom. Your freedom is gone and you will stay in those seats so help you God through the squirming, the begging for expensive theatre snacks, and you might even seal your fate to go straight to Hell by offering over Minecraft on your cellphone to appease the beast.
But, remember the remedy! We shouldn't need to get to the point of tantrums when we do splurge on the expensive ABT tickets. This is where the PRACTICE comes in. Bring your kids to as many local shows as you can as PRACTICE for the pricier ones. Train them to be good audience members, just like you train them to say please and thank you. Sitting in an audience is not natural; no one is born to do it. But. the more comfortable they get with the format, and the more they realize that acting out is not the way we behave, the longer they'll be able to sit in their seats and the more likely it is that they might even actually enjoy what they're watching. Especially if, no matter how juvenile the subject matter is, we keep our phones turned off. How will a kid think something is worth watching if we choose to scroll through Facebook or chat with another parent from our seats rather than give the performance our full attention? Kids don't like busy work anymore than we do and they're onto us more times than not. Choose wisely so that it's something everyone can enjoy for the hour and a half together.
The point is, our local performance groups and organizations are treasures themselves Our kids could use the behaviour training. We could use an hour and a half to focus on making our kids better and learning something from endeavors toward which our local folks are putting forth their time and efforts.
So, click "interested" on those local event postings on Facebook, and then go! Sit with your kids, laugh at the funny stuff but remind them that we don't talk during a performance or a screening, nor do we kick the seat in front of us, or run around and build forts out of folding chairs in the back. Remind them that this may seem like a long time, but that it's only 30 minutes (Two episodes of "Team Umizoomi" if you must), or 90 minutes, or however long. They can handle it! And they'll be the better for it as supporters of cultural events both local and metropolitan.
See you at the next event...whenever we're allowed out in public, that is!
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| Photo credit: Linda Beck |
If it weren't for the societal delays we're encountering due to the COVID-19 virus, a few days ago I'd have been giving my annual SOMA Film Festival Kids Block speech to 200 + kids and their grown up companions about how especially glad I was to see the youngsters at the Woodland in Maplewood for "AUDIENCE PRACTICE."
If you haven't been, the Woodland is an outstanding place for a range of events. It's large, so people can move above with comfort. It has discreet entry ways and easy access to restrooms which allow the tardy to enter and those in need of the bathroom to make the trip without causing a huge disruption. Its gorgeous wood-paneling whispers of events of decades before and its arched ceilings make it seem like the whole building is giving you a hug. There really is something for everyone.
There are many benefits to resisting the siren's call of New York City and supporting local arts and events. One, of course, is simply the price. Between the NJTransit round trip, the event tickets themselves, and the babysitter (who will inevitably stay an extra hour because we are out with pre-suburb friends and, loathe to leave, foolishly gamble with the 1 train to Penn), and then we're into the hundreds for the evening. It's pricey - especially for two people. Conversely, most (not all) local events are much more modestly priced and the quick, nearly free commute means you need a babysitter for roughly 3 fewer hours.
If you want to actually bring the kids WITH you, then this is where local events really pay out.
Years ago, a friend of ours was papering the house for a Broadway show and invited our family to come along for free. Although the show subject matter was appropriate for kids, they were super young and it was an 8:00 pm start. They were incredibly well-behaved, but at intermission, we could tell they just weren't digging the show. If we had paid for those tickets, we would have felt obligated to stay despite their potential misery, as horrible as that sounds. But we hadn't paid for tickets. We left at intermission and told the kids the rest of the story of the musical on the train on the way home. With good train karma, we got home so quickly, in fact, that they were comfy in their beds before the show even wrapped. It would have been nice to see the whole thing, but we racked it up as PRACTICE. Kids need practice. We ALL need practice. Attending local events is great practice because the monetary and time commitment stakes are lower. If the kids are melting down and you've spent just $40 for the whole family, you have freedom... the freedom to bag it and head home. Hamilton may be a spokesperson for American freedom, but once you're sitting in the exorbitant seats clutching tickets you bought months ago, you have no freedom. Your freedom is gone and you will stay in those seats so help you God through the squirming, the begging for expensive theatre snacks, and you might even seal your fate to go straight to Hell by offering over Minecraft on your cellphone to appease the beast.
But, remember the remedy! We shouldn't need to get to the point of tantrums when we do splurge on the expensive ABT tickets. This is where the PRACTICE comes in. Bring your kids to as many local shows as you can as PRACTICE for the pricier ones. Train them to be good audience members, just like you train them to say please and thank you. Sitting in an audience is not natural; no one is born to do it. But. the more comfortable they get with the format, and the more they realize that acting out is not the way we behave, the longer they'll be able to sit in their seats and the more likely it is that they might even actually enjoy what they're watching. Especially if, no matter how juvenile the subject matter is, we keep our phones turned off. How will a kid think something is worth watching if we choose to scroll through Facebook or chat with another parent from our seats rather than give the performance our full attention? Kids don't like busy work anymore than we do and they're onto us more times than not. Choose wisely so that it's something everyone can enjoy for the hour and a half together.
The point is, our local performance groups and organizations are treasures themselves Our kids could use the behaviour training. We could use an hour and a half to focus on making our kids better and learning something from endeavors toward which our local folks are putting forth their time and efforts.
So, click "interested" on those local event postings on Facebook, and then go! Sit with your kids, laugh at the funny stuff but remind them that we don't talk during a performance or a screening, nor do we kick the seat in front of us, or run around and build forts out of folding chairs in the back. Remind them that this may seem like a long time, but that it's only 30 minutes (Two episodes of "Team Umizoomi" if you must), or 90 minutes, or however long. They can handle it! And they'll be the better for it as supporters of cultural events both local and metropolitan.
See you at the next event...whenever we're allowed out in public, that is!
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