February 6 – “Going on a Bear Hunt”

Boy, did I ever have an experience of a lifetime yesterday.  I had the privilege of seeing a production at the Grand Theater in Galveston, that wonderfully restored opera house built in the 1800’s.  It has been the venue for hundreds of nationally renowned theater companies, operatic associations, and musicians.  Why, I even saw the Beach Boys there in one of their revival tours.  And what classic production was I so blessed to experience this time?  Hold onto your hats.  It was called “Going on a Bear Hunt.”  And who was I so fortunate to share this wonder of wonders with?  An entire theater full of four and five-year-old school children. 

I sat with Cailyn and Sophie and Sriru and Gabe the Infamous Kiss Attempter (That’s a whole other story) and Bruno.  Actually Bruno was separated from us by his mother, so he was essentially out of the picture.  Strangely enough, the rest of the class was seated in an entirely different section, so we had not the benefit of the watchful eye of the all-powerful teacher Mrs. Applegate and her ever-present sidekick Mrs. Murphy.  As a result, my charges had just a bit more leeway, more range of motion shall we say, than the average oppressed youngster.  Now they each stayed within the confines of their chair area, but they were allowed to stand or sit or kneel as their energies demanded.  I think it added to their overall enjoyment of the play.

And now the play.  What a classic tale.  Searching for the elusive beast.  Trudging through rivers and mud and forests and snow and a deep, dark cave, not to mention dealing with an unexpected discovery of bear poo.  And every so often a chorus of “We are not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not scared.”  All leading up to an encounter with the dreaded giant brown bear, and a spirited escape back through all the obstacles and safely back home and into bed.  Whew.  It was almost more than I could bear.  Er, bare. 

There were four main characters in the play.  One guy was clearly identified as the Dad.  The boy and girl were apparently his children, as was the puppet baby he carried around on his back.  The other character was supposed to be the dog.  He barked a lot.  Oh, and there was a cameo appearance at the end by a guy in a bear suit.  Except for the bear, the characters all had great singing voices, and a few of them even played guitar and mandolin as part of the production.  It took them about an hour to do it, but they sang through the whole bear hunt song.  It took so long because they creatively acted out each verse.  Crossing a river meant laying out some blue towels, placing buckets on them, and stepping into each bucket.  Of course when there is water involved, you kind of have to devolve into a water fight of some kind, and sure enough, that’s what happened.  They came out with water pistols and shot at the kids on the front row.  Then they brought out super soakers and managed to reach the first rows of the balcony.  A final touch came when they pulled off a Harlem Globetrotters style “soaking” of the front rows with two of the buckets.  The buckets were actually filled with blue fabric, though, which streamed out of the buckets just like water, eliciting squeals of delight from all the kiddos.  Each obstacle brought a new level of creativity from the cast.  They did some fingerpainting with brown paint on posters as well as each other as they dealt with the “mud.”  The imposing forest was a series of stacked boxes.  Dimmed lighting created the mood for the ominous cave.  And finally the guy in the bear suit leapt from backstage to chase them all back through all the obstacles, into the half-sized front door of their house, up the stairs and into their bed (which was a huge bedspread.  As they each snuggled with teddy bears, they promised never to go on a bear hunt ever again. 

Like I said, it was quite a production.  It probably lasted about fifteen minutes too long for the attention span of the kids, but all in all, I’d have to say, it worked.  The biggest problem I noted was after everything was over.  The kids had to sit there for about fifteen minutes waiting for their buses to arrive at the front door.  Fortunately for us, our bus driver was second in line, but it was still a little scary.  But wait.  I forgot.  “We are not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not scared.”

John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Father thank you for rivers and mud and snow and forests and caves and even for bears.  But really thank you that we don’t have to be afraid of any of them.  Amen.