Each new season of children’s theater may look like a study in deja vu, with the same familiar fairy tales re-appearing year after year.
But that phenomenon exists not necessarily for any lack of imagination on the part of theater companies. “A good play is a bottomless pool and what one can find in it is limitless,” says David Avcollie, artistic director of Chicago Playworks of De Paul University. “Classics are brought back and re-examined in light of what we understand to be the human condition today.”
He adds, “Look at the Goodman Theatre this fall, for example, where Peter Sellars, one of the most revolutionary directors of our time, is directing Shakespeare’s `The Merchant of Venice’ which is hundreds of years old and has been done many times.”
If old-fashioned fairy tales, where resourceful children face frightening odds and come out victorious, continue to attract families, it is not surprising. “Fairy tales have continued to exist because important things that are relevant to all children are said and done in these stories,” says Rives Collins, co-artistic director of Chicago Children’s Theatre, which is presenting “Princess and the Pea” this fall. He says that Charlotte Chorpenning, a pioneer in children’s theater, described the appeal of these ancient stories best when she wrote, “Fairy tales are the voices of long ago and far away calling to the yearnings of today.”
Demographics also play a role in the regularity with which the must-see plays-the essentials of the repertoire of childhood-return to the stage. “There is a whole new crop of children every three years, so titles are repeated because the audience’s opportunity to see them is fleeting,” explains Collins.
While the perception may be that the same old fairy tales are repeated, that is only partially true. Although a title may re-appear, new stagings are always full of surprises. Papai Players, AlphaBet Soup Productions and Classics on Stage! are all performing “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” this year and, in fact, this is not the first time that Classics on Stage! has produced this tale.
The last time was 15 years ago and the script was written some 10 years before that by the company’s artistic director, Michele Vacca. While the plot will follow familiar lines, she envisions numerous changes in the production. In the original script, Snow White cleaned house for the dwarfs; this year she will teach them how to clean house. In the past version, Snow White was the passive female rescued by the prince, but Vacca will make the match more nuanced now.
“We can’t have Snow White digress at the end of the show with some kind of a feminist tract,” she says, “but she will have a stronger personality.” Other changes, when a play is repeated, are inevitable and unexpected. In the earlier production, Vacca played the part of the Wicked Queen; this time she has cast another actress in the role. “I can’t wait to see what kind of craziness she brings to the role,” says Vacca. “A new cast always brings something new and that’s good because otherwise you would just have a bunch of puppets and that would be boring.”
The Children’s Theatre Fantasy Orchard is also re-staging one of its earlier productions. “Rumpelstilskin” was the first play presented by the company when it was founded five years ago. Since then, the company has found and lost several theater locations and is now finally ensconced with a three-year contract at the Ivanhoe Theater. Artistic director Dana Low says that re-mounting the classic about a little man who spins straw into gold is like returning to her psychological roots.
“This is my way of having a fresh start,” she says. “This time the play will be a little shorter, a little funnier and a little scarier. I’m in a mood to whip everyone into a wonderful frenzy.”
While fairy tales are not the order of the day at Lifeline Theatre KidSeries, original adaptations of familiar titles from children’s literary classics are always on the boards. Three years ago, when they presented “Bunnicula,” they didn’t realize that the story of this rabbit suspected of being a vampire had almost a cult following. “We’re bringing `Bunnicula’ back by popular demand,” says Meryl Friedman, a member of the Lifeline Artistic Collective.
While the first production was performed in the theater’s upstairs kindergarten-like setting, where children sat on carpet squares on the floor, this fall “Bunnicula” will be in the Mainstage Theatre. “This is not the frozen-in-time production of `Bunnicula,’ like `Hello Dolly’ which is the same every time you see it,” says Friedman. “The basic story is the same, but there is a new character-the father-and more music and a new director, and each director finds something new in a script.”
Proof that familiar titles have box office appeal is apparent in the success of “The Wizard of Oz,” which opened May 4 at the Drury Lane Theatre in Evergreen Park. It was scheduled to be replaced by another production in mid-June but demand for tickets has been so great that it will now run through Oct. 30. The company also stages an annual production of “The Nutcracker,” which was replaced by an ice show with skating dinosaurs last year. “I can’t tell you the response we got from people who wanted to see `The Nutcracker’ and it will be back again this year,” says Marc Robin, the theater’s artistic director.
Staying with tried-and-true titles obviously makes good box office sense. “Parents feel safe with the old titles and aren’t always willing to take the risk of going to see a play they know nothing about,” explains Collins. Vacca sums up the situation with a joke that was popular in the profession in the 1970s: “We used to say, `Do whatever you want, but call it `Cinderella,’ and today I suppose it would be `Aladdin.’ “
Collins says that this fear of straying away from a safe production and allowing artistic decisions to be held hostage by the bottomline has been called “the tyranny of title,” since presenting an unknown play may translate into empty seats.
Theaters for young people in Chicago, however, are still willing to venture into new territory. While “Rapunzel” and “The Velveteen Rabbit” may have been among the biggest box office successes since the Chicago Children’s Theatre was founded in 1987, last season’s production of “Steal Away Home,” about the underground railroad, also drew large crowds.
“Theater companies can take risks if they partner with schools to present plays that tie in with issues that are connected with school curriculums,” explains Collins. “Teachers are saying that they want to use the arts to help them teach.”
This season, Chicago Children’s Theatre will continue on its innovative course in the spring when it presents “Robin Goodfellow,” named for Shakespeare’s Puck, by world-renowned playwright Aurand Harris. “He has adapted `A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ from the eyes of Puck in the same way that Tom Stoppard adapted `Hamlet’ seen from the point of view of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,” explains Collins.
Young audiences have long been taken down new artistic roads with the productions of Chicago Playworks, which is part of De Paul University, and this year is no exception. The company’s fall production, called “Guns,” portrays the last seven weapons on Earth in their attempt to escape from an exhibit of outlawed guns. While the National Rifle Association saw the play as a treatise for gun control when it was performed in Los Angeles, says Chicago Playworks’ Avcollie, “The play is not anti-NRA. It is not making a political statement, but pointing out that guns are dangerous.”
The play is a perfect match for the theater’s mission. “Our children’s theater, ever since it was founded in 1925 as the Goodman Children’s Theatre, has had a philosophy of trying new material,” says Avcollie. “One of the reasons our children’s theater exists is to train actors and actresses and designers, and we want to challenge them with challenging plays.”
Avcollie adds that selecting plays for children’s theater is no different than choosing titles for a season for adults. He says, “We have to figure out what people will come to see, and what we want to work on, and find a way to put those two together so that the bills get paid.”
