When we started the process of choosing a series of plays and musicals for the 2012-2013 season, it all began with the age old question; “Which came first: the chicken or the egg?”  After hours of meetings, emailing, and consulting the great minds of today… well, we decided that it was probably time we turned our attention to reading scripts and discussing plays.

Before we could begin talking about plays we needed to pick plays to include in the discussion.  Selecting a play for young audiences is much like grocery shopping.  We push our shopping cart down the dozens of aisles lined with plays and musicals written for young people and start reading the ingredients to see if it’s worth buying.  We look for brand names (titles) that we’re familiar with or companies (authors) we enjoy.  Sometimes we see a new cereal (play) that not only contains marshmallows, but is nutritious, too (fun but has a strong story or character).  We’re in a unique position at Imagination Stage because of our dedication to producing new work, which means selecting the individual ingredients (story, writer, etc.) and producing a brand new meal (staged production) that we hope is appetizing for our audiences.

Once we had a full cart, the first step in our process was assembling a crack team of Imagination Stage staff to serve on a reading committee.  Our organization thrives on collaboration, so including everyone in this conversation was crucial.  With a team of volunteers from across all departments, we were ready to set sail into the turbulent waters of reading plays written for young audiences.  The season selection committee was tasked to read and judge around 30 different plays and musicals.  After everyone read, we met and decided on which plays we didn’t like or couldn’t feasibly produce in the coming season.  We cut the possible contenders in half.

Everyone was sent back to re-read the remaining plays.  Janet Stanford, Artistic Director, challenged the group to keep in mind where in our season each play would be placed.  Our season is divided up into slots based on the time of year (Fall, Holiday, Winter, Spring, Summer).  Janet wanted us to find a dynamic musical or play that could anchor our season in the very important November to January “Holiday” time slot.

We met again and cut a few more titles from the list and started to mix and match different looks for our season.   This meeting concluded with a lot of variables still to answer.  Are the rights available for us to produce this?  Can the cast of 27 be cut and combined for 9 actors? Can one really find empathy with a character named for a color? Where is Waldo?

These questions needed answers and time was running out before we needed to begin casting the upcoming season.  In my next blog post find out how the final dash towards selecting a season encounters unexpected twists, how many licks it really does take to get to the center of a tootsie pop, and much, much more.

- Nick Vargas, Artistic Direction Apprentice

Those of us gainfully employed in the Creativity Business have been delighted by the recent spate of books, articles, and lectures on the importance of creativity. They’re singing our song.

One of our favorite articles appeared in a 2010 edition of Newsweek. We particularly like this article because of the juxtaposition of these facts:

• A recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the No.1 leadership competency.
• Since 1990 creativity scores for elementary school children in the US have consistently inched downward.

Another disturbing research study by George Land, one of the authors of Breakpoint and Beyond, notes that several years ago a test was devised to measure genius. This test was given to 1600 people of whom 98% scored in the genius range. This was remarkable in itself; even more remarkable was the fact that these “people” were five- year-old children. When the test was repeated five years later only 32% of the same children scored that high, and when the test was repeated a further five years on, only 10% scored that high.

What can we do about the declining creativity of our children?

The good news is that children come into the world fully loaded with imagination and creativity. A child’s natural inclination is to play, to sing, to dance, to act out stories. Creative, imaginative play is the work of childhood.

The bad news is that, without nurturing that innate talent, by the time that imaginative, creative child is a teenager, you will be hard pressed to get him to sing, dance, or tell stories – and how many adults do you know who naturally break into song, love to dance, are not afraid to tell a story or act out an aspect of their life in public?

What happens in the intervening years between early childhood and adulthood is that society and school stifle this natural creativity by downgrading the value of a creative life and by focusing on academics to the exclusion of an arts education.

As parents, we need to care about this because a creative, imaginative child is a happy child, which in itself has value. But also, that creative, imaginative happy child will grow to be a happy, fulfilled adult – and one that is imbued with natural leadership talents –talents the CEOs quoted above need.

Our economy needs these “creatives” to hone our competitive edge in the global economy. And, our community needs these “creatives” – they will devise solutions for society’s problems.

As parents we need to ensure that our children are fully involved in creative arts experiences. We must insist that our schools value and include the arts on a daily basis… and we must supplement the in-school experiences after school, on weekends, and in the summer months.

We need to preserve our children’s genius.

- Bonnie Fogel, Founder/Executive Director

STC synthesizes every part of our mission and educational philosophy at Imagination Stage: to give young people the opportunity to explore theatre performance, while also building an understanding of the technique. Every production opportunity at Imagination Stage is attached to a training program, whether it’s our summer productions or our advanced Conservatory program. We want our actors not to simply follow directions like puppets, but to be active participants in the creation of their shows; to motivate their actions on stage and to react honestly, as their characters, to what they see happening around them. Acting is not merely the recitation of dialogue. It is an investigation of characters and story-telling to an audience. But so often, young performers are simply told when to say their lines and where to say them as the instructor attempts to fill the stage with 20, 40, sometimes up to 70 performers in one show! Sadly, this is not acting. This is being herded.

At Imagination Stage we believe that young artists can take on the actual process of acting: analyzing text; making unique physical and vocal choices for their characters; and identifying what their characters need, and what they will do to obtain that objective. We want our performers to understand how much more there is to acting than simply talking in front of an audience, and in our time at STC, we strive to instill that understanding in every performer.

Each session of our Musical Productions at Summer Theatre Campus is comprised of two companies, each working with their own director, music director, and choreographer on their unique productions of the same musical. This summer, we will be producing Bye Bye Birdie (Session I) and Fiddler on the Roof (Session II). There are 40 5-8 graders assigned to each company, who span a wide range of past experiences in theatre. Within those companies, the cast is further divided into groups (based on grade level), with whom they attend classes every day. Each day begins with a high energy warm-up session, where both companies get to meet and greet and prepare for their camp day. Companies then split up their time between classes and rehearsals, a break for lunch at the half-way point, and then join together at the end of the day for “Show and Go,” an informal talent show that concludes each day at camp.

Technique instruction consists of workshops in a variety of subjects. Most often, the students work with their artistic team in acting, singing, and dance. Students learn how to build three-dimensional characters, break down choreography, and approach a piece of music. With these skills in their back pocket, they can then enter rehearsal and begin making sophisticated choices with the material, directly applying what they’ve learned in classes. Campers are also exposed to broader areas of theatre with classes in production, stage make-up, stage combat, visual theatre, improvisation, and more. Our campers begin building an understanding of the many facets of theatre and the many pieces that go into creating a production. Stage make-up is a particularly fun workshop for the campers. Watching campers leave the day with their face made up with special theatrical effects, is just one of the times when I delight in the joy of providing occasions that simply make kids really happy!

Directing a play with a cast of 40 is certainly challenging. Most of the musicals we do would probably have a cast of 20 when performed in more traditional settings. With a larger cast comes a greater responsibility for our directors: how can we utilize our cast members in a variety of ways that allow everyone to be showcased while keeping the integrity of the show intact? We want every choice we make to be artistically supported by the script and consistent with the best practices in contemporary theatre. We won’t cast three campers to play Tevye; that would be incredibly confusing for the audience. We also won’t add lines to the script just to give an actor something to say; that is illegal and disrespects the playwright which is not a practice we want to model for our students. What we will do is create a rich world for the play to exist in. What isn’t written on the page, but helps to tell the story? How can we embellish the story by using the performers in interesting ways?

When I directed Guys and Dolls in 2010, one of my favorite scenes was originally written as a three-person scene between Sky Masterson, Nicely-Nicely Johnson, and Adelaide taking place in the Hot Box Club. I used this scene as an opportunity to explore the environment of the Hot Box Club, showing it from the back. I cast campers as patrons watching the club dancers perform choreography towards the upstage wall.  I asked the Music Director to take some of the slower melodies from the show to underscore the scene, which supported the weight and burden the characters were feeling. In the end, a scene that was written for three characters suddenly had 12! And there was a sad beauty and richness added to the scene because of it, not to mention an interesting stage look. As a director, I love the challenge of using my creativity to make my shows both unique artistic endeavors and opportunities for all of my campers to shine.

Casting is a sensitive issue for actors of any age. When you have your heart set on a role, it can be really difficult situation to handle if you are cast differently. At STC, we are sensitive to this issue, but realistic as well. The nature of theatre is that one person plays each role. The nature of musical theatre, specifically, is that some roles speak or have solos to sing and others don’t. But if you love theatre, then you have to love all parts of it—not just the times when you are in the spotlight. Of all my favorite parts of camp, the top occurs each summer on the day after our performance, when we take time as a company to reflect on the journey we’ve taken. I always ask the actors to think back to when the cast list was first announced, and to think about how, if at all, their perspective has changed in the weeks that followed. Almost all of my students have left camp realizing that there was so much more to their performance than met the eye upon their first reading of the script. They have realized that performing is so much more than speaking lines.

We often ask the STC students to describe their favorite moments about Imagination Stage, and many of them say acting classes, because it’s where they get to “be themselves.” How odd, though, because in actuality—when working in the realm of acting—we’re not ourselves, but the characters we’re playing. What I’ve gleaned, however, is that young artists  don’t respond as much to the work itself, but to the environment that is created while they learn and explore. An environment that encourages and supports taking risks; making big creative choices; being as silly, mean, happy, or as wild as the character needs to be. This is an environment where they can do it all without being judged or ridiculed; all while celebrating the variety of personalities that are attracted to theatre. Those same personalities that are so often unappreciated at school.  

Ok, perhaps that is my favorite part of Summer Theatre Campus.

- Nikki Kaplan, Associate Director of Education

Search our wide array of summer camps HERE.

This morning, FOX5’s Annie Yu made a trip to Hip Hopia to hang with the P.Nokio gang.  In the videos below, you’ll see what happens when an unsuspecting reporter learns to dance with a Graffiti Fairy and scratch with Nick “tha 1da.”

Live remotes always have an element of anxiety woven through them.  Will everyone show up on time?  Will what we planned to say and do work the way we want it to?  Will there be enough coffee?

Today’s remote couldn’t have gone smoother, thanks to the efforts of a dedicated and über-talented P.Nokio company (who hardly ever see the sun rise, as they did this morning) and to the “can-do” attitude of the Imagination Stage staff on call.  Everyone understood why we were doing what we were doing.  And besides that, it was So.  Much.  Fun.

Cameras weren’t rolling in between the teases and interview segments, and that’s a shame.  If they had been, they would have caught the easy-going rapport between the television crew and the theater folks…the joking, the collaborative spirit, the respect.

And Annie, known forever more as “DJ Pink Ice,” can now bust-a-move and sample.  Just don’t ask her to do “the snake.”

-Deb Fiscella, Public Relations

Video 1. Psalmayene 24 talks about his role as director, writer, and actor in P.Nokio and what drew him to retell the classic story.

Video 2. Nick “tha 1da” Hernandez talks about his inspiration then teaches Annie Yu how to scratch on a digital turntable

Video 3. Choreographer and Grafitti Fairy, Paige Hernandez teaches a couple dance moves with the P.Nokio cast

Videos courtesy of:  P. Nokio: A Hip-Hop Musical, Hits Bethesda: MyFoxDC.com

February is Friends Circle Month at Imagination Stage.

Our Friends Circle donors are critical to the strength and longevity of Imagination Stage. We always strive to show our appreciation of our Friends Circle donors’ important support, and throughout the month of February we want to make certain our Friends Circle donors feel even more appreciated!

To show our appreciation, we have some special surprises in store for Friends Circle donors. Those donors who attend P.Nokio will receive an “I’m Hip” sticker to wear with pride! They will also be able to stop by the “Hip” Friends Circle Table during intermission for an exclusive treat.

Ticket sales only cover 50% of our expenses each year.  Imagination Stage must raise approximately $2 million annually to ensure we are able to provide the highest quality arts education programs and theatre productions to over 100,000 children and families in our region. Our 800 Friends Circle donors make our work possible and we are extremely grateful. In addition to supporting our exceptional programming, donors receive exclusive Friends Circle Benefits, including invitations to opening night events, behind-the-scenes opportunities, discounts on classes and camps, and MORE!

During this month of appreciation, a few of our current Friends Circle donors wanted to share with us what they appreciate about Imagination Stage and why they choose to support our organization:

 “When I tell people that DC is the best place to raise children in the country, Imagination Stage is the most mentioned proof.  I don’t know of any other place that has a performing arts center dedicated to children.  It is a treasure and we are happy to support it. Being a Friends Circle donor provides even more opportunity to experience wonder.  The technical rehearsals in particular let my child see the wonder of teamwork and how it takes the special talent of many different people to produce a show.“ – John Nolan, Friends Circle Donor for three years

 “We have so enjoyed Imagination Stage over the years.  Just as I think the kids may have outgrown the plays, along comes Dr. Dolittle which posed lots of great questions for 4th and 5th graders…Thanks so much for making our experience at Imagination Stage such a rich one.” – Liz Barrat-Brown, Friends Circle Donor for eight years

“We love the classes and the fact that they are inclusive.  The shows are also fantastic!”
– Jeffrey Smith, Friends Circle Donor for six years

In addition to our Friends Circle donors, we are grateful to our government, corporate, and foundation funders whose support is essential to all we do at Imagination Stage. If you’re not “hip” yet…please consider joining our Friends Circle. Please contact me at 301-280-1625 or cchristensen@imaginationstage.org OR visit the Imagination Stage website to become a Friends Circle donor TODAY!

- Chelsey Christensen, Development Manager for Individual Giving

Over the next five months, we are excited to take you “Behind the Scenes” by sharing with you video updates about the creative process of The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe. The videos will focus on different aspects of the production, from music and choreography to set design and puppetry. Our first video update focuses on the development week during early January at The Washington Ballet studios. Click

While the show’s creative team (made up of artistic leaders from both Imagination Stage and The Washington Ballet) has been working for many months to create the libretto and music, the January development week marked an important test for the material. After sitting around a table and seeing every moment of the production in our minds, we were finally able to gather the artists together in a week of intensive rehearsals to watch how the choreography, music, scenes, and puppets would all combine in order to tell the story of four children who famously find a magical world on the other side of a wardrobe.

 We had chosen to shape our version around the character of Edmund, the archetypical troubled “middle” child who cannot find his rightful place in his family. Through his journey into Narnia and his interactions with The White Witch and Aslan, Edmund confronts his demons and eventually finds peace and unity with his siblings. Edmund’s story and that of the other three children are embodied in our production by two performers for each character—a dancer and an actor/singer. We discovered during our rehearsals that this technique proves highly effective. Through costuming and gesture, we see that the audience will clearly understand that the two performers are trading off the story-telling from scene to scene in order to express the children’s inner lives and feelings, as well as what they say and do in the story.

 Another success was the work puppeteer and set designer Eric van Wyk has done with his prototype for the 8-foot-tall and 8-foot-long puppet of Aslan. Eric animates the puppet with two puppeteers inside the lion and a third positioned to one side operating his head. It took many hours of practice to create a believable walking and running gait for the puppet. But by the end of the week, our giant lion was rearing up, leaping about the stage, and performing a death scene to rival any Hamlet!

 As is always the case, the experience of seeing part of the play more fully realized and “on its feet,” inspires and clarifies the production ideas for the creative team in the next phase of the show’s creation. The set, costume, and lighting designers are now sketching out their ideas with a good sense of the practical as well as the aesthetic needs of the script in mind. We will be using Skype to bring everyone back together over the next couple of months as we hammer out the final choices for the production. Most of all, I think the benefit of this particular development week has been to demonstrate to the 14-strong performing company that they are now part of a magnificent project, one that allows them to tell an epic story with an unprecedented range of expression. We all feel as though our “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” is well on its way to being a WOW for children and families in the metro region this summer.

 Please check back next month for more updates on this exciting collaboration.

 - Janet Stanford, Artistic Director

The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, June 20-August 12, 2012
Tickets and Show Schedule

Reprinted with permission by the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Arts Education Department

Vice President: Sandra Bowie
Assistant Vice President: Sanaz Hojreh
Associate Director of Performance: Verushka Spirito
Writer: Arthur Wilson
Editor: Linda Fowler

P.Nokio, a hip-hop musical written and directed by Psalmayene 24 for Imagination Stage, is a clever nod to Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883) and some of its original characters: the puppet of the title; Geppetto, a carpenter; the Fairy with Turquoise Hair; Fox and Cat; and the Innkeeper.

In P.Nokio, however, the boy puppet is a computer-generated figure come to life and G.Petto is a video game designer. The Graffiti Fairy’s magic is manifested by spray paint; Fox and Cat are disguised as muggers to defraud P.Nokio of his “street credits.”

P.Nokio is set in Hip-Hopia. The action begins with an audience call and response led by G.Petto to summon P.Nokio from a computer screen. (“He’ll be able to rhyme and dance … He’ll almost be real.”) When G.Petto realizes P.Nokio has jumped from the computer, his employment dilemma begins. The petulant Machine Master—G.Petto’s boss—arrives in a fanfare with his assistant, Crony, to view the design promised to bring him big cash!

Carrying a sacred “Book of Rhymes” presented to him by G.Petto, P.Nokio heads for The Old School to learn style, swagger and ways to help the community through hip-hop. In a series of comical raps, P.Nokio is pushed through a course of events that challenge his judgment, his ability to obey G.Petto, and his desire to stretch the truth. He plays hooky from The Old School and encounters a talking Fork in the road, whose alternate path tempts him toward Fun and the Land of Fools. As in the original story, when P.Nokio lies, his nose grows longer.

When G.Petto finds himself in danger of becoming Machine Master’s next profitable computer gimmick, P.Nokio learns about selflessness and forgiveness through a courageous act of sacrifice. This good deed, of a real boy, is accompanied by G.Petto’s words, “We all make mistakes … but it’s what we learn, and what we do after those mistakes, that count.”

P.Nokio: The result of rhyme and effort

As the playwright, director and actor in the title role of P.Nokio, Psalmayene 24 (a.k.a. Gregory Morrison) is a true triple-threat artist. Growing up in Brooklyn, he was immersed in hip-hop culture and was eager to combine it with his love of theater.

“Using a hip-hop aesthetic immediately makes the play relatable to the youth of today,” he says. “The rhythms and sounds of Hip-Hop reflect their pulse and energy.”

According to Psalmayene 24, there are three main lessons to P.Nokio. “A, you always have an opportunity to redeem yourself. We see this through P.Nokio’s journey in the play. B, unconditional love supports redemption. G.Petto exemplifies this as P.Nokio’s faithful father. And, C, when you are your authentic self, good things happen. When P.Nokio finally rhymes the truth in his heart, he is able to achieve transformation.”

P.Nokio is Psalmayene 24’s second premiere commissioned by Imagination Stage, a Maryland-based, nonprofit theatre arts organization that produces professional theater with an arts education focus. “My first project with Imagination Stage was Zomo the Rabbit: A Hip-Hop Creation Myth, an adaptation of a West African trickster tale,” he relates. “That experience, from conception to production to touring, was absolutely wonderful, so we decided to do another project together.”

A prominent figure in hip-hop theater, Psalmayene 24 (pronounced sal-may-any) performed at the first Hip-Hop Theater Festival in New York City. His solo play, Free Jujube Brown! appeared in the anthology Plays from the Boom Box Galaxy: Theater from the Hip-Hop Generation (Theatre Communications Group, 2009). “Psalm” was the co-writer and co-star of The Hip-Hop Nightmares of Jujube Brown and nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for his performance. His play Undiscovered Genius of the Concrete Jungle was commissioned by Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.

Psalmayene 24 also is founder of the folk-hop band PS24, which has opened for Erykah Badu and has performed frequently throughout the East Coast.

Two of his collaborators from Zomo are on board for P.Nokio. Musician Nick Hernandez is the composer and sound designer. Paige Hernandez, the choreographer, also plays the Graffiti Fairy. She is an advocate for hip-hop education and helps teachers understand and incorporate hip-hop culture into their curriculums. Also on the creative team are Ethan Sinnott (sets), Kendra Rai (costumes) and Andrew Griffin (lighting design).

“A brilliant person once said, ‘It takes a village to raise a play,’” says Psalmayene 24. “I couldn’t agree more.”

The real-life adventures of Pinocchio

Pinocchio’s coming of age exploits are probably best remembered by Walt Disney’s legendary animated film of 1940, Pinocchio, which uplifted audiences with an Oscar winning score (“When You Wish Upon a Star”) and a benevolent plot line. As writer Rebecca West put it, “Disney followed adaptations (of Pinocchio) much more than the original—as he modified the sadism and violence in order to bring to the screen a lovable, cuddly Pinocchio.”

In the Disney version of Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883), the large cast of characters is pared down to a few well-drawn protagonists and antagonists who interact in a morality tale of good triumphing over evil. Contrasting Disney with Collodi, essayist Derek White reasons that “Pinocchio is not nearly the moralistic tale that Disney paints it to be—for Collodi’s Pinocchio is far from innocent, but is more of a Huck Finn type, most of the time a mean-spirited brat … and Geppetto is not exactly the provincial model citizen but lives in poverty, on the fringes.”

This tendency to reinvent the original has solidified Pinocchio’s longevity—the character endures after more than a century of creative transformations—and the story’s substance continues to attract artists such as Hip-Hop theater’s Psalmayene 24. Adaptations of the Pinocchio tale have entertained generations of youngsters and the original book still ranks among the best-selling children’s classics.

Pinocchio has been portrayed as a comical character in the Shrek films (2001-2010), as well as on Broadway in Shrek the Musical (2008). Spanish illustrator Salvador Bartolozzi depicted him in a weekly children’s publication, Pinocchio, in 1925. In addition, The Adventures of Pinocchio has been adapted for television and made into dozens of English-language films. Countless other versions span the globe, in Italian (Roberto Benigni in the 2002 movie Pinocchio), French, Russian, German, and Japanese. Myriad philosophical and thematic differences evolved while moving this allegorical tale forward, but even in our age of quick-changing invention, a constant remains: Pinocchio’s nose grows as he stretches the truth.

P.Nokio flips the original story by dressing it in four elements of hip-hop culture: bboying (dancing), graffiti writing, MC-ing (rapping), and DJ-ing. The show abounds with these elements. Director-playwright Psalmayene 24 describes his P.Nokio as “a mischievous, hip, digitally-designed man-child with a heart of gold and a fantastic ability to rap and dance.”

To establish the puppet’s state of aliveness at the beginning of the musical, he has P.Nokio jump from the computer screen and hide from G.Petto by slapping a lampshade over his head. In comparison, Collodi’s Pinocchio assumes life even before being fully carved into a puppet and speaks as each of his extremities is whittled into shape.

Psalmayene 24 says he was attracted to the traditional story of Pinocchio because “at its core, it is a story about redemption.” He and his collaborators discarded Collodi’s tragic ending (Pinocchio is hanged), but maintain the heart of the fable about a misfit who wanders off the path, yet discovers self-awareness through education and personal sacrifice.

“Pinocchio goes astray many times before he finally matures and becomes a real boy,” says Psalmayene 24. “Redemption is the universal, timeless and ageless human impulse that runs through the story. That’s what motivated me as I wrote my adaptation.”

Arthur T. Wilson, a poet, playwright and co-publisher of Attitude magazine, has served as a residency artist at NJPAC from ground-breaking to the present. He holds master’s degrees from New York University and the University of London.

P.Nokio: a Hip-Hop Musical, February 1-March 11.
Tickets and Show Schedule.

Julia Krebs Patterson plays Amelia Mouse (left). Jasmin Danielle Johnson plays Nellie Mouse (right).

I am extremely fortunate and grateful for the experience to help create, and perform in, some of our My first Imagination Stage productions (specifically for ages 1-5).  When I was asked to write a blog about my experience as Amelia Mouse in Mouse on the Move, the first thing that came to mind was the wonderful, and often funny, things I hear from our youngest patrons on a day-to-day basis.  I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite early childhood theatre stories, some from Mouse on the Move (I can’t even believe I already have a plethora of them, seeing as how the show has only been open a week) and some from Wake Up, Brother Bear! when I played Sister Bear.  I enjoy bringing these anecdotes to my colleagues, and I am glad to share some of them with you. I will begin with one that is fresh in my mind– one of the sweetest and most endearing things I have seen in a long time.

 In Mouse on the Move, I take a short break from playing Amelia Mouse to puppeteer a southern belle of a Ladybug who has lost her babies.  During the story, her babies are blown from their house and “sneak” inside the children’s suitcases (each child receives a suitcase of props upon entering the theatre). The children must help bring the babies back to Ms. Ladybug and put them in her new nest: a glowing tree right outside the circle of the performance space.  Once we receive a baby (a little ladybug attached to a clothespin), we clip them to the tree and then encourage the children to go back to their seat. There was a little girl who, upon relinquishing her ladybug, couldn’t seem to go back to her seat.  Ms. Ladybug, in her sweet southern accent, said “Thank you for your help little mouse.  You can go back to your seat now.” The little mouse just stood and stared at the ladybug, smiling.  “Alright, little mouse; you have worked hard to give me back my baby, now it’s time to take a seat!”  Nothing; she just stood and stared.  Then, all of a sudden, she reached out and took Ms. Ladybug with both hands.  Closing her eyes, she slowly pulled Ms. Ladybug toward her and gave her a soft kiss on the nose.  Then, smiling at Ms. Ladybug, she turned and walked back to her seat.

 We like to call “play” the “work” of early childhood, and our youngest audience members take their job seriously! At one point in Mouse on the Move we match colored flowers.  The first flowers I match are two blue flowers.  I walk up to one blue flower, point at it and say, “blue.”  The child holding the flower responds “yes.”  I then take the flower, walk to the other blue flower in the theatre, point to it and say, “blue.” One day, anticipating a “yes,” I reached out to take the flower and heard, “purple.”  Purple?  I looked at the child holding the flower, and she was dressed in purple.  “Not blue?” I asked.  When the teacher coached her that the flower was blue, she opened her mouth and said, “Nope, not blue.  This flower is purple!”  A slight script change was called for on my part.  When comparing the flower colors, what came out was, “purplish blue, purplish blue. The same!”

In Wake Up, Brother Bear!, a pesky fish follows us through the seasons, taunting Brother Bear who can never seem to catch him for a delicious dinner.  At the very end of the show, the fish again appears. Brother Bear pulls him up out of the water with a fishing rod and is about to feast in celebration.  You can imagine the kinds of things we heard on a regular basis from the audience.  “Don’t eat him!” “Eat him!”  “Give it to your sister!” “He’s making it move!”  But there was one day that brought out two comments that I will always remember when I think of this show, and the spontaneity of early childhood theatre. One child shouted, “You got to cook it!”  Followed by another child, confiding in her mother, “He is not going to eat that fish raw.”

- Julia Krebs Patterson, Amelia Mouse and Early Childhood & Casting Coordinator

Tickets and a performance calendar for Mouse on the Move, can be found here.

What stood out to me the most was that the story wove together the real world and the imaginary using set. Animals in the world of Dr. Dolittle were made up of gas masks, gloves, rope, canteens and other war articles. This touch was magical and chilling. When a bird would fly across the sky, something would seem different about it. Maybe, just maybe it was a glove. When the fantastical Push Me Pull You creature was introduced, were its heads gas masks? It showed that the imaginary, jubilance still had a slight over shadowing of the ominous war lying in the background.

The characters had clear objectives which made the world so enhanced and believable. They used their bodies masterfully. Every animal had a variation that showed their transformation from human to animal. Lofting’s wife also played Polynesia. When she was human she held her hands folded together in front of her. She would have flowy , graceful, birdlike arms playing Polynesia, yet she still held her hands in the same way as the wife from time to time, showing her parallel in reality. This parallel and that of Lofting’s son show the conflict not only in the imaginary world, but in the actual world as well. A great example is that Lofting’s son and Dolittle have trouble relating as do Lofting and his son in real life. Dolittle and the boy work it through by the end of the story. This shows when Lofting and his son meet at the end of the play for a reason that you will only be able to find out if you come and see this enchanting musical show.

- Samantha Louise Noland, Student and Member of Acting Conservatory at Imagination Stage

The craziest experience that I have had thus far (and that I am currently taking part in) is running the soundboard for Dr. Dolittle! When I first came to Imagination Stage, my theatrical experiences included arts administration, acting, directing, and playwriting…but nothing technical. In fact, I was frightened of technical theatre. But on the first day of tech rehearsal for Dr. Dolittle, I bit the bullet, came ready to learn something new, and conquered my fear.

My first time at the soundboard I felt like my brain was on overload. There were so many knobs and buttons! Sound Designer Chris Baine soon calmed me down by explaining that each row of knobs is connected to one microphone, and that I should think of the soundboard in terms of the actors wearing each mic rather than viewing them as impending buttons of doom. This truly helped my non-technical brain understand my task at hand.

During each Dr. Dolittle performance I’m in the Lighting and Sound Booth—a room in between the left and right sides of the balconies in the theatre—where I sit at the soundboard and watch Dr. Dolittle from a bird’s eye view. The stage manager also sits in the booth and this is where she communicates with the soundboard operator (me!) and the deck captain (who helps out backstage during the show) via headset.  As the soundboard operator I am in charge of playing sound cues when the stage manager directs me to, and also all of the microphones that the actors wear. Every time that you hear music or the whinny of a horse in the distance, that’s me! Of course, there have been times where you might’ve heard the whinny of a horse when you were supposed to be hearing a song…that was also me. I have definitely made some mistakes along the way, but the entire cast and crew has been incredibly encouraging during my first foray into technical theatre.

I have currently seen Dr. Dolittle 30 times, and my favorite part changes with every show! There are certain musical numbers that I enjoy every time, such as “Everybody Wants to be a Pirate.” But just this morning, my favorite part ended up being the comedic bits between King Jolliginki and Melvin the guard. There are also parts that are technically challenging for me during every show, such as making sure that the actor playing the garden horse can be heard beneath his full-faced horse mask. Also, the actors are constantly taking off and putting on hats and other costume pieces that can very easily brush against their microphones, which causes a chaotic cacophony throughout the monitors. This makes me anxious, but it also keeps me on my toes during every performance!

Working on Dr. Dolittle has made me truly respect and appreciate everyone that works in technical theatre—especially the technical staff here at Imagination Stage. If I, as the soundboard operator, did not do my job, then the actors could not be heard and the audience would hear no music to accompany the story being performed on stage. And, if the other technical staff did not do their jobs, we wouldn’t have any of the wonderful performances that Imagination Stage offers. There would be no beautiful sets, costumes, or lighting effects for our audiences to enjoy.

I’m excited to see what other experiences and challenges are thrown my way during my year-long apprenticeship. But I know that Dr. Dolittle will definitely remain at the top of my list as one of the most fun and eye-opening opportunities that Imagination Stage has brought my way. I mean, it’s not every day that you can conquer a fear and have serious fun doing it at the same time!

- Katy Beth Cassell, Institutional Development Apprentice