Famous Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield brings his story to the stage.
Hadfield’s best-selling children’s book The Darkest Dark, an autographed story about a nine-year-old boy named Chris who dreams of becoming an astronaut in the summer of the Apollo 11 moon landing, was produced by the Canadian theater company Young. Adapted by People Theater. Produce a play for children.
The performance featured a younger version of Hadfield overcoming his fear of the dark, and was said to be an effort to “get kids to understand that everyone feels fear,” according to the retired universe. The aviator told CTV National News.
“What you do with your fear is what determines the course of your life,” he added.
An engineer and fighter pilot, Hadfield has a career as a musician and author, and seems to live by his own advice. Hadfield is the first Canadian to perform an official spacewalk, commander of the International Space Station, and has flown on space shuttle missions.
For Hadfield, his children’s book stands as a metaphor for why he came to “actually put on a spacesuit, open the hatch, and pull himself into space all by himself.”
Hadfield says the Young People Theater production brought his ideas to life.
“It’s like when you sketch a flower, all of a sudden there’s a living flower in front of you,” he said.
In a reaction video released by Young People Theater, Hadfield said: It was an idea for a book brought beyond life. “
Hadfield hopes the story will inspire children and not let fear keep them from reaching their goals.
“It’s in that darkness,” he said. “Waiting for us to discover and understand it.”
