By LaRae Mikkelson,  parent of a freshman

I have just made it through my first tech week and opening week-end of a Moorhead High School musical. This fall’s musical is Children of Eden. I have found the process exhilarating and exhausting, amazing and inspiring.

Being new to this phase of being a theater parent, I didn’t expect to get drawn into the physical process of assisting in the creation of props and tech duties. Yet, as the children become a team, so do we as parents. You become invested in ensuring that the company has the best costumes, set and props. You want to make sure they are all fed, rested and healthy. The cast and crew become all of our children.

I didn’t expect to be awed and wowed by the parent preview of the production. After all, I had been to so many rehearsals leading up to it. I knew it would be good, of course, but certainly hadn’t expected to wince at each blow to Abel; to weep with Eve over the loss of her son; to be mesmerized by the animals entering the ark; and to be overcome with emotion when the group exhorts us: “Our hands can choose to drop the knife; our hearts can choose to stop the hating.”

I didn’t expect each following show to hold surprises and magic for me. How cool is the hair of the female storytellers? How is it I hadn’t noticed young Cain and Abel on their parents’ laps? How did I miss Ham’s gentle caress of Aphra’s swollen tummy?

I didn’t expect to cry each night.

I didn’t expect to be swept up in the story.

I didn’t expect to feel the “hardest part of love, is the letting go” so keenly. For I realize that the beginning of this show marks the end of my daughter’s firsts. It leaves just three autumns of MHS musical theater to savor with her.

Above all, I didn’t expect to be changed.

# # #

Children of Eden will have five more performances at the Moorhead High School Auditorium. The remaining shows are this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (November 18, 19, and 20), plus the Friday and Saturday nights of Thanksgiving Weekend on November 25 and 26. Show times are 7:00 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, with this weekend’s Sunday matinee at 3:00 p.m.

Tickets are $6 for students ages 18 and under. $10 for adults. Tickets can be purchased in advance at the MHS Activities Office or by calling (218) 284-2345. Tickets will also be sold at the door on the north side of the high school before performances. Cash or check only – no credit or debit cards. Please arrive early to be seated and to get the best seats left if buying tickets at the door!