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Magic happens when stories are told.
Flights of imagination land in the laughter of a 3-year-old-girl with an ailing heart. A riveting narrative attracts the attention of a 5-year-old boy who’s never been so engaged.
A well-told and performed tale creates memories for children, parents, and grandchildren watching it unfold together.
This is the magic of storytelling, in the form of “Jack & the Beanstalk,” which the Magik Theatre brought to Artisan at Willow Springs on a recent Saturday afternoon. About three dozen children and adults gathered in the lobby for a performance of the old English fairy tale about Jack, magic beans, a golden egg-laying goose and a Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum spewing giant.
The show was made possible through the generosity of the Genevieve and Ward Orsinger Foundation Dual-Gen Strengthening the Family Initiative. Linda McDavitt, the president of the foundation, says of Mrs. Orsinger, “She loved children and she loved helping adults achieve their goals. Dual Gen provided our board the opportunity to help pass on Mrs. Orsinger’s goal by working to get the children into quality early education, the parents into education programs, ESL, workforce training and parenting skills and the family opportunities to bond together and become a strong unit.”
The Magik Theatre’s cast of Alyz Gonzales, John Stillwaggon, and Carolyn Dellinger bonded children and adults in laughter.
“I loved it,” said Barbie after the performance. She’d brought her four grandchildren, each one wearing T-shirts on which they’d silk-screened their names in Southwest School of Art sessions through Dual-Gen. The youngest was born with a heart condition requiring surgery when she was six months old.
“Did you see that?” Barbie asked about Olivia. “She hasn’t done this much talking, moving and yelling.”
Sitting near Olivia, in the front, was a boy with autism named Omar who interacted with the actors during the show. I had not seen him so intensely involved in something since I met him,” said DeeAnn, Merced’s Resident Services Coordinator at Willows.
Olivia and Omar made impressions as big as the ones made on them by “Jack and the Beanstalk.” “I enjoyed the show and watching the kids and their parents’ reactions,” said McDavitt. “Love the little boy and the young girl showing their enthusiasm during the production.”
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