Local girl makes good

There was a flurry of energy in our house last week. Three young adults spent the night before setting out on a huge adventure. Then, at 6:15 a.m., they climbed into a 15-passenger van crammed with puppets and set out for Vancouver.

What excitement lies ahead? My actor daughter and her two Mermaid Theatre cohorts will travel coast-to-coast, visit 10 American states, six Canadian cities and present 100 performances.

I’m told they are joining an illustrious roster. “We have now done 1,655 performances for more than 1,170,000 spectators on three continents,” says Mermaid’s Sara Lee Lewis.

Fellow actor Kevin MacPherson is a recent alumnus of Shakespeare by the Sea while stage manager Patti Neice has already toured to Singapore with Mermaid. They get to know each other well during the 12th tour in North America for The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Lee also told me that in November Mermaid will have three companies touring simultaneously, “enabling us to perform in Austin, West Palm Beach and Singapore on the same day. That's a Canadian first.”

Plans are underway for Mermaid to participate in celebrations next spring to mark the 40th anniversary of the publication of Eric Carle’s story. His little book has sold more than 29 million copies worldwide and has appeared in 47 languages. Mermaid has done it in five with Mandarin and French to follow shortly.

At last week’s dress rehearsal, kids from a Windsor daycare proved they continue to be enthralled by the magical black light version. Geared to family audiences and youngsters aged three to eight, the Carle adaptations have been on the road continuously since 1999. Talk about classic, and no wonder with the expertise Mermaid has developed over 36 years.

I was as excited as Emma last week having spent two summers traveling Nova Scotia to put on children’s theatre. I have a smidgeon of an idea of what lies ahead, but they are going so far and through the heat of the U.S. election. They get to perform on Broadway in December.

My kids grew up feasting on Mermaid plays. We have a piece of video that shows three-year-old Emma and her brother re-enacting Just So Stories in our dining room. Now, not long out of theatre school, she is getting paid to perform for three-year-olds. It doesn’t get much better than that for a young actor.