Today, the kids from The Salvation Army’s day care and summer day camp programs had a chance to see Stuart Little. Not the movie, but an actual live production, performed by the American River College Theatre Arts Department.

The performance took place at the Salvation Army’s Oak Park campus.

“It’s great that we can bring this to a warm and friendly environment,” said Tracy Martin Shearer, director of the play. “That’s the thing about the arts; it brings joy, entertainment, education and excitement.  We often find that more than half of children watching had not seen a play until our performance."

The latest presentation was part of the theatre arts department’s “Children’s Theatre Tour” in which the performers (consisted of nine American River students) take the show to a local elementary school and education program. Most times, the schools are charged a small fee for the performance, but Shearer wanted to do something different for The Salvation Army.

“We wanted to donate the show for the kids this morning,” Shearer said. “It looks like The Salvation Army is doing a great thing for the neighborhood and for the children involved." 

The 50-minute play of the classic E.B. White children’s novel was not your typical show. It was very interactive. Some of the children in attendance were asked to participate on stage or interact with the characters during the play.

“This was a great way to expose our children to the arts and for them to see a live theatre production,” said Sonja Stires, Salvation Army’s Director of Programs for the Oak Park campus.

The ARC students will continue performing “Stuart Little” at least four more times in July at the Fair Oaks Community Clubhouse. All of those performances are open to the public.

Syd Fong is the director of public relations for The Salvation Army-Sacramento County Operations. For more information about The Salvation Army in Sacramento, log onto www.salarmysacto.org. For more information about the Stuart Little live show, you can call (916) 224-7947.