Photo by Henry Perez
Text by Mary Damiano

I was watching ABC’s World News Tonight last month when I saw a report on a guy—a doctor, or therapist or researcher or something—who does his best thinking in a tree house. Really. He’s got this tricked out tree house with a couch and that’s where he spends his time, thinking all of his big thoughts. Anyway, one of his big thoughts is that adults—and I think he was speaking especially of American adults—have a big deficiency when it comes to play. We’re not saying people don’t go to the theatre enough—although they probably don’t—he’s talking about play like kids; running, jumping, doing whatever, to have pure, unadulterated fun. He says humans are designed to play our whole lives, but as we take on the burdens of adulthood, we forget to make time to channel our inner child and play. His words came back to me during Slava’s Snow Show now at the Arsht Center. At the end of the show, after a blizzard of white paper snows covers the audience, the Russian clowns onstage release more than a dozen giant balls into the audience. As the balls sailed over people’s heads, the audience got positively giddy. They reached up, touching the multi-colored spheres, gently batting them to different parts of the theatre. It was a period of pure glee, when more than a thousand people shed those adult responsibilities to play, and experience childlike joy. Everyone left the theatre with a smile on their faces. It was just what the doctor ordered. Slava’s Snow Show runs through August 31. For more photos from Slava’s Snow Show, see the photo gallery in this issue.