Miami Children’s Museum’s ‘Peanuts’ Exhibit Debuts Original Play

From left, Jessica Calle, Pablo de Pablo, Ivy Rose Linares and Sergio Tamayo perform in the Miami Children’s Museum play “If I Gave the World My Blanket.” The show is included with museum admission and staged inside the museum’s auditorium. (Photo courtesy of Miami Children’s Museum)

At the Miami Children’s Museum, the Peanuts Gang isn’t just on display — they’re taking the stage.

The museum’s in-house theater troupe created its very own production, “If I Gave the World My Blanket,” to accompany the museum’s original exhibit, “Take Care with Peanuts,” which opened on Feb. 1. The exhibition draws from Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip and its iconic characters to promote positive messages about caring for the planet, self-care and caring for others.

The 25-minute play, which is performed in tandem with the exhibition twice a day, is inspired by Schulz’s picture book of the same name, expanding on the book to tell an original story.

From left, Miami Children’s Museum Charter School student Ivy Rose Linares as Snoopy, playfully battles Linus, played by Pablo de Pablo, for his beloved blanket. (Photo courtesy of Miami Children’s Museum)

“We create shows based on what is in that gallery,” says Bree-Anna Obst, the museum’s director of performing arts. “We’ll do something to partner with it to enhance the visitor experience and go deeper.”

The museum’s productions are often the audience’s first exposure to the performing arts, says Viviana Yerex, associate director of marketing at the museum.

“We are one of the only children’s museums with an in-house theater troupe,” says Yerex. “We are lucky to have amazing professional actors with so much passion and energy providing children in the community access to theater.”

For Obst, the creation of the play provided a real creative leap when Peanuts Worldwide, the company that manages the licensing of Schulz’s famous cartoon gang, granted her team the rare chance to write for its legendary characters.

“I shared three options,” she recalls of an initial meeting with Peanuts executives. “One, you allow us to write for your characters. Two, we take something already created and put it on the stage. Or three, we do our own thing. And (they) were like, ‘You can write for our characters,’ and I was like—jaw to floor.”

The short book “If I Gave the World My Blanket” doesn’t tell a full story — merely sweet moments that became seeds for scenes in the play.

From left, Sergio Tamayo, Pable de Pablo and Jessica Calle bring the iconic Peanuts’ characters of Charlie Brown, Linus and Lucy to life at the Miami Children’s Museum. (Photo courtesy of Miami Children’s Museum)

“(The Peanuts executive) said, why don’t you take that book as your inspiration and create from there,” says Obst. “It leaves a lot for interpretation.”

For example, the book includes a picture of Linus wrapping Charlie’s arm in a sling with the blanket.

“So, then we have a whole scene at the brick wall where Charlie’s complaining about his baseball pitcher’s elbow,” explains Obst. “From a simple image, we created a whole little scene and a throughline.”

Obst’s creative team — made up of full-time and part-time professional artists — brainstormed, wrote songs, and built the show together.

“We sit around. Someone’s holding a ukulele. Someone’s tinkling on a piano. Someone’s strumming a guitar,” says Obst, explaining the “super collaborative process.”

Obst says working with the Peanuts team was a partnership, too.

“They trusted us in what our audience likes and needs,” she says.

In turn, Obst recognized that Peanuts needed to ensure that they were “writing on brand.”

The Miami Children’s Museum created the exhibition “Take Care with Peanuts,” which will begin its tour of other museums nationwide in September. (Photo courtesy of Miami Children’s Museum)

“(They) write and create for Peanuts all the time — we were newbies to Peanuts. But what they also had was a respect for us—for our areas of expertise like writing, creating theater, creating theater for kids, and creating theater for kids in the museum.”

Central to the play is Linus’ blue blanket. More than a beloved childhood comfort item, the blanket becomes a symbol of kindness and compassion. The show models how everyday acts of kindness can inspire others to pay it forward.

“The unasked question that is sort of hopefully there in the play is like, how can I be a superhero of kindness?” says Obst.

While the Miami Children’s Museum theater troupe is accustomed to creating original plays to accompany exhibits, something unique to this production was casting students from The Miami Children’s Museum Charter School.

“We’ve had about 20 Snoopys. Right now, there’s a team of 11 or 12 that are rotating through the summer schedule,” says Obst.

Casting students for the production has impacted both the audience and the children who play the roles.

Ivy Rose Linares is one of about twenty students from the Miami Children’s Museum Charter School to play the role of Snoopy. (Photo courtesy of Miami Children’s Museum)

“Watching a child look up to a child, and then the child actor receive that is incredible,” she says. “Not only are these kids in the show having a great time — they’re realizing the impact they’re making.”

The show is included with museum admission and staged inside the museum’s auditorium — just a short walk from the “Take Care with Peanuts” exhibit, which will leave the museum and go on a national tour starting with Chicago Children’s Museum in September, then to the Kansas City Discovery Center starting in February of 2026 and to the St. Louis Children’s Museum in September 2026.

The play is not scheduled to be part of the touring exhibition.

“This show is really about joy,” says Obst. “We’re showing kids what it looks like to be kind — and how powerful that can be.”

WHAT: The Miami Children’s Museum’s “If I Gave the World My Blanket”

WHERE: The Miami Children’s Museum, 980 MacArthur Causeway, Miami

WHEN: 11:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily through Sunday, Aug. 17

COST: Included with museum admission; $26, museum admission, $18, city of Miami, Florida residents, military/veteran and their guests

INFORMATION: 305-373-5437 or miamichildrensmuseum.org.

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