Shakespeare once wrote that “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players”. No one ever stated the “The world is a science lab” or that “The world is a chemistry club”. The world is a stage for us all. It is for this reason theatres are important.
Shakespeare may be a little biased towards theatres as he is playwright, still, if we think about it, whatever we do is actually a story of ourselves with other people among us being the other characters with interact with. We write our own play whether we realize it or not.
I value the arts and had joined theatre during junior high, which continued to college where I had taken some theatre classes. When my son was three years old, I began taking her occasionally to theaters where I would work part time. He was enjoying himself a lot while all the staff in the theatre knew and loved him present. He loved observing light sets, costumes and decorations for each play. When he reached four, he could watch a full play and started a debut in the children chorus of Seussical.
After which, she has then gone to shows in various regional theaters, community theaters, and even to Broadway. Not everyone thinks that theatres are important for kids, they may think that the kids do not like theater. Well, although they may not be interested directly towards art or music, they will start to get interested to the fancy colors of the costumes and decorations on stage. Sooner or later, they will enjoy the music.
During my last position in the theater, I handled productions with children performances throughout the school year, notably 5 to 6 times a year. It was then, hundreds of students will come by bus to the theater to watch. It was a first time experience for some, and being able to see their eyes light up makes me create a production with children performances worth it.
Theatre and the arts are important in the long term only to some of us. Still, although we know that science shelter, feed, heal and keep us alive, it is arts, culture and humanities that are the reason we stay alive. They are passed on throughout centuries and across generations. It is these arts that make us human and humane, and because of this it is important to pass on as early as possible to our children these arts, by taking them to your local community theatre.