The Teddy Bears' Picnic

Totally corny banner but 
 surprisingly cute and enjoyable show

We went to watch the "Teddy Bears' Picnic" at the Emerald City Theatre in our neighborhood last month. 

When my friend SP sent me an email about this show, I jumped and said yes because I wanted Precious S to have a new experience. Heck, even I was dying to have a new experience for the weekend. 


Toddler theatre seems to be a cool fun thing to do out here. God knows I hadn't even heard of it before S was born. Well, I think I was 16 the first time I went to a watch a play at a theatre outside the confines of my school or college walls (I know, reeking of a third world 'totally deprived' childhood compared to the first world childhood, right?!) so I did wonder how much kids that young would even understand from theatre.

But hey - I figured that anything that involved wholesome fun without a TV screen or an iPad was worth a shot. and come on, teddy bears and picnic seem like a no-brainer sure-shot formula to win a kid's heart. Sure, it sucked that we had to show up by 9AM on a Saturday morning but an early start to the day is the price of parenthood anyway!

I researched the show and the local CBS news website had some good things to say:
Emerald City Theatre’s shows are as pure, ambitious and hopeful as their vision: “To imagine a day when participating in the arts will be considered as critical to a child’s development as reading, writing or math.” (Oh, and they’re a lot of fun, too!)

A simple story line with a 'good for kids' theme. This is a story for kids aged 0-4 and the theme is about sharing with others. Mama Bear and Baby Bear invite you to a picnic, you help set it up and then discover goodies along the way with Baby Bear. 

We all sat desi-style on the floor and kids could freely wander all around. There was no physical demarcation between stage and audience so at some point, there was total chaos and the actors were great sports about integrating the randomness into the show.

Pictures for you:  Proof that A and I did SOMETHING out of the mundane, this is visual ammunition when S grows up and accuses us of being bo-ring parents. HA! Gotcha, kiddo!

Each family got a picnic basket full of  fake goodies like fake honey and fruits 

Hi there mama bear! She was very expressive, animated and totally delightful as an actor.
S couldn't stop looking at her through the show

Yoo hoo Baby Bear - a ventriloquist act. 
He didn't say much but was cute and made all the right kiddie snorts and grunts when he had to speak up

Mama Bear started collecting honey from the audience. 

Best part - S got to converse with a real bear

S had an animated conversation with Baby Bear at the end of the show. 
Because out here, Bears can talk and so can S!

Err...S refused to part with the plastic flower that 'produced honey'

All in all, good fun for A and me. S enjoyed watching and listening to the bears but we thought she was way too young to actually process anything that was going on. We do plan to be back next year, when she will understand way more.