At a glance
Thomas Anawalt said he had not heard of the PBS children’s series “Odd Squad” until he joined the cast of the new touring stage show.
Quickly, Anawalt, 30, discovered the level of enthusiasm that children have for the show that visits the Ohio Theatre on Saturday.
Like the TV series, “Odd Squad: Live!” features kids as secret agents. With the guidance of their boss, Ms. O, the agents use basic math concepts to decipher clues and solve cases.
Anawalt, who portrays three characters in the show, recalled an incident in the theater lobby after a recent performance.
“This boy came over to me and asked me, ‘Ms. O just said we were all Odd Squad agents now, so am I an official Odd Squad agent?’” Anawalt said. “The kid was all decked out in the full suit, with the badge and red Converse sneakers (just like the agents in the show), so I said, ‘You’ve got it all; you’re the real deal.’
“It’s cool to be part of something that kids get so excited about.”
“Odd Squad” premiered on PBS in 2014. Co-produced by the Fred Rogers Foundation, it won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2016 for outstanding writing in a children’s series.
The stage show was created last year and hit the road in October. The 90-minute show, which includes an intermission, is geared toward children ages 5 to 8.
Unlike Anawalt, Darren Katz had seen the TV series when he was chosen to direct the stage show.
“My daughter watched it, and usually I don’t get caught up in what she watches,” Katz said. “But I remember sitting down and watching this with her, and then I looked up who the writers were because there was a quality to their writing that I don’t think exists commonly in children’s entertainment.”
The stage show is set up to have audience members believe that their city is a training ground for new Odd Squad agents. Agents Orion (played by Cliff Sellers) and Oleanna (Jackie Reynolds) are on their way to the theater when a trio of villains turns them into adults (meaning they can’t be agents).
They spend the rest of the show interacting with the audience in an attempt to get changed back into kids.
And like the TV series, math plays a role. Katz and Anawalt both say the educational aspect is woven seamlessly into the entertainment.
“At one point in the show, somebody calls out, ‘Does everybody know what 4 plus 4 is?’” Anawalt said. “And the kids always shout back, ‘8!’ and they’re so happy to do it. That never ceases to amaze me.”
“Odd Squad: Live!” Ohio Theatre, 39 E. State St. 614-469-0939, www.capa.com 2 p.m. Saturday $23 to $50