New York City is the theater capital of the U.S. Millions of tourists come to the city with the goal of seeing a show, and all that demand makes theater-going a little bit expensive.That’s why it was such a welcome gesture when Lynnea Benson, the artistic director at the Frog and Peach Theatre, contacted us with an offer of free tickets for our kids for one of its Tinkerbell Series shows.

The outing was a smashing success. We thought who better to say why then one of the lucky kids that got to go:

I was really happy to go to the theater to see this play because my favorite princess is Snow White. This play was unique because they switched up the story in their own way and the costumes were beautiful. The Magic Mirror was actually an actor, the Evil Queen was a guy in a pink wig, and the dwarfs were puppets! My favorite character was the Evil Queen because she made such funny faces and when she got the evil spell she spun around the stage and disappeared like a dark shadow!

The woman who owns the theater is really funny. I think her name is Tinkerbell, because it’s called the Tinkerbell Theatre. She took me back stage to see all the sets and props and sound things for all the kids’ plays and grown-up plays, too. It was cool to see how everything works because I never knew what happens behind the curtain. When I peeked into one room and saw all the different costumes hanging up, I got excited and imagined that I could be in a play someday, too.

When I got to hug the actors after the show I felt like I was beaming. They asked all the children if we wanted to make puppets with them. I made two, one named Brittney and one named Whitney. I had a blast and I would love to go back because I’ve never experienced something so awesome!

— Trinity, age 8 (almost 9), 3rd Grade, East Harlem

Many thanks to everyone at the Frog and Peach Theatre for opening up the world of theater to our kids.