When Violet Meek was just learning to read, her mother took her to her first play, perhaps a high-school production of Cinderella, and a new world blazed to life where books could come alive in a way that stuck with her.
“I remember the moment when the heroine stepped out onto the stage with the most beautiful dress I have ever seen, beyond anything I could have imagined. It sparkled and shimmered, and it was a blue like color like the snow in winter twilight. It was magic. People could actually make my books come alive; surely that was magic. I grew up, and learned that not all roads are yellow brick, not all stories had happy endings, but I am still enchanted by a world that could find room for a princess. A princess with a beautiful blue dress, living far, far away,” Meek said. “I wish that the children we reach here will find their own magic world and take it with them as they explore the world. I hope they find, as I did, faraway places with strange names.”
What she grew up to be was a chemist and then the dean and director at Ohio State Lima. In 1995, when Theatre’s Dr. Maria Ignatieva proposed a new type of show for the campus, one that involved opening the worlds of theatre and imagination to generations of school-aged and younger students, Dr. Meek thought back to her long-ago response and greenlighted the project. More than 60,000 little visitors later, the series is still drawing on fairy tales, stories and sentiments to fire children’s imaginations.
“What a journey it’s been! Our program has transported audiences to Russian and Czech forests, Japanese and Irish villages, Mongolian steppes, the jungles of India, on a spaceship to the stars and behind the looking glass, and to the magical land of fairy tales, such as Rumpelstiltskin and the Snow Queen,” said Ignatieva. “Often based on original plays or adaptations, professional authors, directors and designers have created unique theatre productions for children, many of whom came to the theatre for the first time.”
A celebration of 30 years of Theatre for Young Audiences brought alumni and long-time supporters of the program back to Ohio State Lima to reflect on the importance of opening the arts to children at a young age. It is clear that the audience members aren’t the only ones who benefit. The college-aged students, who were also the performers, learned to manage an audience encouraged to scream, sing and yell along with the actors.
“The kind of opportunities that present themselves when you have to adjust your craft to young audiences makes you realize that the opportunity you are provided is not just for yourself to learn, but also to share,” said Jair Torres (BA-English, 2006). “In every culture that we have, there is a storytelling element. There is somebody who is the storyteller, and it connects to these students who learn at a young age that when they come here, they can experience something and share a space. And have this connection with the story that they hear. That is the advantage of having this kind of program. It gives an experience that is not going to be from a television screen or a phone screen, or an electronic device. You have to come. You have to kind of bump around with other people around you, and then you share this experience. I think that's humanity. That is the ‘humanity’ in the Arts.”
