Reflection: The Day They Stole All The Colors

Reflection: The Day They Stole All the Colors

        This past weekend I had the opportunity to watch, The Day They Stole All the Colors preformed by our very own Stetson University theatre company. The show itself was meant for a child’s audience but was mainly viewed by an older audience, mainly college undergraduates. Being a children’s show in nature, the overall story had a moral that could be easily understood by any audience. That being said, the timeless tale of accepting differences is presented effectively by the costumes used, character interaction, and the flow throughout the entire show.

        The overall theme of the story might not be easy to see at first, but as you come the conclusion of the show it is easier to see. From the beginning of the story you are following two crooks, one a pirate and the other a cowboy (Tingo and Talingo). Both in which are on a mission to steal the most valuable treasures from different planets to ultimately become rich rulers of the universe. Automatically you kind of suspect that the moral of the story is not to steal suspecting the two will get caught in the end. The moral of the story is actually more complex then that with the character Rene and his dog Canelo traveling to different planets. On Rene’s journey he encounters different kinds of aliens from Mars, Uranus, and Pluto all in which help him catch the two thieves. By the end of the show Rene and his new found friends capture Tingo and Talingo getting back all the stolen goods. When it comes time to return the stolen goods to the planets, Rene and the aliens decide that each of the treasures from one another’s planets would benefit someone other then themselves. So what ends up happening is a trade of treasures between everyone. By the end of the story you can see that the different aliens from each planets accepted their differences and worked together for a common cause. The play also ties this into accepting different cultures in our world by incorporating Spanish lines into the end of the show. In my opinion this was the overall message of the show but there was also smaller morals as well like don’t steal and sharing is caring. These smaller messages were showcased by the two thieves getting caught by the end of the show and the distribution of different gifts to the other planets.  

        One of the ways Stetson University truly showed the moral of the show was by the costuming they used. What this really did for the show was easily create the differences that the aliens needed for the story. At the same time, there were also similarities in the costumes to show the common bond between everyone. Each alien from each different planet included an overall different color and had small characteristics, like eyes and noes that made them different. The common attribute that tied all the aliens and humans together though was the main piece was a mask. By having all the different masks ranging from a regular human one to a crazy Plutonian one, differences all had a common bond. This can also be viewed with different races in our world today because we are all different colors but are all human in the end.