Yesterday was a truly special afternoon at Maimonides Cancer Center in Brooklyn.
The day was special the minute I set out for my subway ride. The clouds literally parted in the sky and the sun was shining.
Though I don’t make a habit of talking to strangers on the train, I sat next to a lovely woman named Linda who wanted to hear all about Elephant’s exploits – and even wanted to make a donation! A fantastic reminder of how wonderful New Yorkers can be sometimes.
We arrived at Maimonides right on time, Mollie of course was the first one there.
Many of our shows are in the later afternoon, as our actors all have jobs (some have many jobs – ahem, Lindsay!) but this show was at 2:00. It means a lot when the actors take time off of work, cancel meetings (which I know they did) and make special requests of their bosses to perform.
I’ll be honest, when we heard there was going to be pizza before our performance, we were a little…intimidated. Sometimes pizza and children means…well, crazy kids. (Don’t get us wrong…we love aaaaaaaaaaaaaaallll kids, crazy kids included!) But when we walked in ArtWorks’s Kristen was talking softly to a lovely group of children hard at work on their projects.
The Maimonides kids had been preparing for days for our arrival. The walls and windows were covered with bright colorings of bees and flowers of all varieties. It was a warm welcome, to say the least!
Kristen was guiding the children through several art projects which were too fun even for Kristen and Brendan to resist!
Speaking of crazy kids…Noah spotted a “High School Musical” CD and immediately put on his favorite song…and all of a sudden we had three bees and flower in their own private dance party on stage! This is the great thing about children…nothing amazes them. I had to admit I was pretty amused myself.
And then when they began to reenact scenes from “The Lion King” – well, let’s just say some of those dance moves are burned in my brain for life. (In a good way!!!)
Truth is…several of the kids were busy upstairs, and this was an exceptionally fun way to kill time.
Lindsay started off with her jokes (which I really do think are funny!) and then the show took off.
Highlights for me include: Noah’s chef moustache on a stick (ArtWorks inspired and assembled by Brendan), the kid who didn’t believe that honey bees could in any way be a sign of good luck (“No!” he yelled), and the cute little audience members in the front row who waved their art projects with such zeal and enthusiasm they deserved applause.
All in all, a great introduction to the fantastic Maimonides. Our Daniela was sorely missed…and we’re hoping to have Kristen AND Daniela at the next show. What can I say, we’re spoiled!
We’re off to our ole haunt, the remarkable Ronald McDonald House in May. I can’t wait!
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