The Laughter Epidemic c. 1992

Brady and I were taking about live theater and how important we feel it is for children. Her little girl has been to several performances and is already, at 4 1/2, an aficionado.

Our sons' first foray into the theater was when our oldest had just turned five and our youngest was 10 months old. According to the LA Times article by Lynne Heffley (Jan. 11, 1992), director "Christian Slater’s bad-boy image is about to take a beating. The hot young star of such films as Heathers, Pump Up the Volume, and the just released Kuffs, is making his directorial debut--with a stage show for children called The Laughter Epidemic. Proceeds are going to the Pediatric AIDS Foundation; Slater contributed the cost of the production; costumes and sets were donated."
Slater, 22, “sort of grew up” with the musical. His mother, casting director Mary Jo Slater, originally produced the show as a fundraiser for the nursery school her son was attending. He was 3 years old. The musical is about a fishing village under the thumb of mean and nasty Dr. Needle, and Sonny, the young boy who brings laughter and sunshine back to the town. Interestingly, Sonny is played by Ben Savage, brother of Wonder Years star Fred Savage. It was Ben's stage debut and we were there (he's gone on to be a star in his own right)! Wild.
Slater doesn’t have other directing plans, but he hopes that both adults and children will come away from the show “learning something about prejudice,” one of the issues “dealt with in a very subtle way in this play. I’d like them to (leave) feeling good about themselves--and remembering to smile,” he said. His goals were met with us. I remember we loved this production!
And in a follow up article, titled "No Laughing Matter: The Laughter Epidemic, a children’s theater production directed by Christian Slater, earned $70,216 for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation during 12 recent benefit performances at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills." Very, very cool.
"Live theater is just an incredibly powerful medium,
and I think anyone who goes,
whether they know about it or not,
if they see something that sort of fits with them,
it's kind of hard to deny that they had a good time."
-Harry Connick, Jr.

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