Announcing the Cast of “Corduroy”!
We asked the cast of Corduroy what their favorite toy was growing up and a fun story about that toy. Don’t miss Corduroy’s delightfully destructive chase through the department store running March 6 through May 20, 2018.
Lauren Davis | Mother
My favorite toy growing up had to be the Barbie doll. For every occasion that I received gifts (i.e. my birthday and Christmas), I would always ask for a Barbie doll. And because I’m so sentimental, I still have them. I have a major collection of various Barbie dolls and Barbie doll clothing. But none of them are in the boxes because I decided that I wanted to play with them all.
Dean Holt | Corduroy
Wow, to choose one toy is difficult. As a child of the 70’s and early 80’s I remember the excitement of getting the Sears and Montgomery Wards catalogs and carefully dog-earing pages and circling toys that made my eyes and imagination come alive. A Big Wheels, Star Wars action figures and playsets, battery-powered robots, Hot Wheels, our first Atari, a Charlie McCarthy ventriloquist doll. All of these seemed so important to me and looking back I think it had less to do with the toy itself as it did with a portal to my imagination and open-ended play. It’s ironic to me that I still get to make believe and pretend on a daily basis, using my imagination to make worlds come alive just as I did as a kid. These toys served as a bridge to creativity and I think because of that I never chose to fully grow up. It’s also why I stash away all of my kids toys so that they will have those memories to help them stay young, playful and creative.
Mimi Kol-Balfour | Student Ensemble
I am kind of nerdy so I loved a toy called Squishy Circuits, that uses electronic circuits and conductive and insulating doughs to make engineering stuff. Pretty cool. I HAD to have this techie toy called Makey Makey. Once I got it, I could make my stair case or even a banana into a piano that played music. Also awesome.
Ileri Okikiolu | Lisa
My favorite toy as a kid was this doll that actually grew. But when it started growing I got super freaked out and made my mom throw it out. One year, I also wanted a new Barbie doll and my mom refused to buy it for me because my room was a mess so I told her I would keep it clean if she got me the doll. I didn’t, so she didn’t.
Keegan Robinson | Student Ensemble
My grandmother grew up in a Southern Bavarian city named Rosenheim. Now, she lives in Sacramento, but, while we were growing up, her parents (my Ur Opa and Ur Omi) still lived in Germany. Before they passed away, our family would go to visit them most years and, because of this, we children were subject to German delicacies from a very young age. Chief among these delicacies were the Kinder Eier, a children’s treat of a chocolate egg with a plastic yellow “yolk” inside that contained various little toys. Now, seeing as this was an edible product geared towards children filled with tiny plastic pieces, it was clearly banned in the US (lawsuits, I guess), making the candy (see: the toy inside) even that much more enticing. Honestly, it wasn’t all too hard to guilt trip our parents into getting us at least a few Kinder Eier every trip. I guess they must have realized themselves that the novelty and seasonality of the treat made the experience worth it. See below for image of my Kinder Eier toy collection:
Reed Sigmund | Night Watchman
Every holiday season arrived with my need for that one magical item that was sure to guarantee my lifelong happiness. None, however, ignited my feverish desires like the original Nintendo Entertainment System. I was in 4th grade when that magical grey box first began appearing in households across the land. I needed one. All my friends needed one. Would there be enough to go around? Supplies were low! Money was tight! What could I do? No worries. Santa made it happen. Thanks for the Nintendo, Santa! Thanks for nothing, Mom & Dad!!!
