I will once again be gracing the stage with my presence during the last weekend of June in the newest A Place To Be musical "Human Tales." This will be my eighth role in a show. I know, many humans don't expect a dog to be an actress, but I'm the exception. Every year for the last eight years my human Tom puts on a show with approximately 50 individuals who have differences and special talents. I have been a bird, a mermaid, an elephant, and even a Tick. And when I am in the show I learn about people who have Autism, or Traumatic Brain Injury, Down syndrome, along with many other different life challenges that make the performers even more special. This year I am playing the lamb, of "Mary had a little lamb."

"Human Tales" is about a boy from 2018 who is addicted to his cellphone and social-media. He is a rude teenager who hardly ever looks up from his phone. One day he gets sucked through his phone into Fairytale Town, where all fairytale characters live. He brings his phone, which then is used as a prototype and mass-produced for every fairytale character in town. Well, the phone transforms Fairytale Town from a place that is loving, and thoughtful to a place that is chaotic, and self-absorbed. A place where even Mary doesn't care to find her lamb because she's obsessed with her phone. There are so many lessons in this show about listening, caring and taking the time to look at someone. I see this as a problem in town as a walk around - people with their noses in their phones. Dogs don't have phones! Our paws don't allow us exactly to use a phone, but I can't imagine what life would be like if we did have phones. I get my news from sniffing specific areas in town. I get a lot of my gossip and social news from sniffing the tree outside Julian's restaurant, but for really juicy insights, and for meeting other dogs I depend on sniffing the telephone pole on the backside of Middleburg Bank. Every dog uses that pole. Anyways, I digress.

You should really come to see me in the show, not only to see how cute I am as a lamb but also to learn a few lessons about how to be a better and more polite society. You also will be amazed by the courage of all the actors on stage. I'm hoping the show reminds everyone that there is so much more to life then the small square in your hand and that life is too short. We all must take time and smell the bushes.