Pete Marino is sweaty by the end of the performance; this is his second show of the day, but you’d never know it from the amount of energy and enthusiasm that he puts forth during the course of his one man, audience steered show, Show Up, Kids!
It’s raining in Los Angeles, and the weather is going back and forth between humid and cold as we hustle up a side street just west of Hollywood. The “We” is myself, my wife, and my two kids, L’il D and Litt’ler J — nine and four years old respectively. We make our way to The Complex Theater on Santa Monica Boulevard, and as usual, we’re running a little behind.
The theater is still filling up, parents and kids still filling in seats (seats!?), as the house manager, “Pete” (Pete Marino) helps a few last families find spots before taking the stage to welcome us to Sally the Silly Song Singer’s Show. He quickly explains that Sally doesn’t like for people to shout out, to get out of their seats, or generally do anything other than sit there quietly and enjoy the show.
But Sally is late — very late — and the house manager is getting anxious, and begins to nervously chat with the audience when he discovers a note — which he enlists a young girl to come up on stage and read. It says that Sally is too sad to put on a kids show today.
Thus begins Pete’s epic and breathless attempt at putting on a kids show from scratch, using the help of the audience; the biggest and best ideas coming from the children. He enlists kids to move furniture around for sets, pick costume pieces, choose props, and even control the music.
Most importantly, he gets ideas for his mad-lib faerie tale of a show from the kids, stopping at key moments to ask the audience for locations, and names, and super powers.
During the course of the show, Pete weaves a tale of parents too absorbed in listening to their broken copy of The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” to help their kid run their goat farm that is over-run by chickens. We are treated to flashbacks of milking a fish, and then travel to Los Angeles to put on an 82 year long play featuring a haughty actor, pick up mementos made of chicken bones and poop, and travel to New York.
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There are sticky notes. Many, many, many sticky notes.
Marino immediately connects with the kids (and the adults, too!), and holds the audience entranced, carefully navigating a controlled chaos of awkward silences, silly bits (what he does with a juice box is fantastic), appropriately childish humor, and music.
I watch my nine year old pretending he is too cool for the room, become suddenly rapt in the performance, letting out increasingly louder peals of laughter. A little girl shouts out ideas from the second row, while my other son joins the growing chitter of laughter and giggles from kids and adults alike.
What Marino has created, while not a completely embodied experience, per se, is an amazing interactive feat: He has made a space that is safe to play both with a character and other audience members — but while still in a more traditional theatrical setting. Through his comedic, quick wit, Marino’s able to let the kids share the spotlight for a brief moment; and in that sharing, manages to bring the audience into the same world, the same plane as him.
I relish any chance I get to share these kinds of experiences with my children. Judging by the smiles and laughter as Pete invites the kids to come and explore the stage after the show, the rest of the audience enjoyed sharing Show Up, Kids! with their family, too.
Show Up, Kids! continues through this weekend, January 19 and 20, with shows at 2:30pm on Saturday, and 12:30pm and 2:30pm on Sunday The Complex Hollywood, 6468 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles. Tickets are $15.
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