MURFREESBORO — They’ve
shared American folk stories with children around the world for the last
decade, and now MTSU students are bringing their original production of
“American Tall Tales” back home to Tucker Theatre Sept. 24-28.
"American Tall Tales" features student- and faculty-written
tunes and tales about incredible characters like Pecos Bill, John Henry, Slue-Foot
Sue, Annie Christmas and Johnny Appleseed. The show focuses on family fun with
7:30 p.m. performances set Sept. 24-27 at MTSU and a 2 p.m. matinee planned for
Sept. 28.
Performances are being scheduled at area schools, too.
Tickets for the MTSU Arts performances, sponsored by Ascend
Federal Credit Union, are available online at http://www.showclix.com/event/3870861 and at the Tucker Theatre box
office an hour before curtain times.
"All these stories came from hardships. … They're bigger than
life," explains Dr. Jette Halladay, MTSU theatre professor and the “Tall
Tales” director. "It's kind of an American spirit that we take these
hardships and turn them into stories of incredible courage and strength.”
Most Americans have heard or read the outlandish tales and impossible
boasts of these “incredible” stories during childhood. Students in Halladay’s Theatre
for Young Audiences course in 2003 turned to those tales when searching for a
unique children’s play.
“They wanted to tour with it and not have to deal with royalties,”
Halladay recalls, “so they wrote the script and the songs. It took us a full
year to prepare it for Tucker (Theatre performances), and then we were invited
to youth theater festivals in Finland, Russia and Latvia, winning two awards at
the Baltic Theatre Festival.”
Those award-winning summer 2004 overseas performances, along with recent
summer theatre trips to Honduras and Guatemala to present other original plays
to young audiences, helped students set the stage to bring “American Tall
Tales” back to MTSU.
“Theatre is a whole different experience with kids,” senior theatre
major Harley Walker of Murfreesboro says with a laugh. “The energy is entirely
different, which is so nice. Of course, it’s a family show as well. Parents can
come and still enjoy it, and older kids too.”
The updated production, set in an attic where the players take turns
telling their stories, features a simple and easily transported set and
costumes designed by theatre professor Virginia Donnell with assistance from
student designer Stephanie Bottum.
"We're doing everything (in the play) with stuff we found in an
attic," adds senior theatre major Erin Davidson of Eagleville, Tennessee.
"Any of the kids can go home and say ‘I can do that! I can pull stuff out
of the attic and I can make a play, too, with my friends!’”
Davidson is portraying “Sage the Bear,” and Walker is “Slue-Foot Sue.”
Parents and teachers who want to share the characters’ stories with their
children and students can download the “American Tall Tales” educational
packet, which Bottum also prepared, at http://www.mtsu.edu/theatre/TTEd.pdf.
“This is our cast's take on it, and that's what makes it even more
special to us,” explains Dominic Gillette, a junior theatre major from
Chattanooga, Tennessee, who’s portraying “John Henry” onstage. “We hear these
songs being sung that we've created and it gives us that feel-good type of vibe.
Creating together with a group is great.”
The cast also
includes Joshua Jackson as Johnny Appleseed, Aaron Brooks as Billy, Chelsea
Bell as Annie Christmas, Abbey Kairdolf as Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind,
Steven Johnson as Pecos Bill and Jasmine Reid as Cici. MTSU alumnus Micah Snow
is the production’s music director, and new assistant dance professor Margaret
“Meg” Brooker is the choreographer. MTSU senior Jessica Gregory is stage
manager for this production.
“American Tall Tales” will also be touring area schools on Fridays until
the end of spring 2015 to share the fun more conveniently and inexpensively
with local children.
“For a school to come to see a matinee at Tucker Theatre costs $3 per
child,” Halladay says, “which is a good price, but then they also have the cost
of the buses and then scheduling the times and getting the chaperones. If a
school has 300 children, it would cost them $900 for tickets alone. We can bring
the performance to the school for $700 a show and save them hundreds of
dollars.”
Halladay, who’s won multiple awards and grants for her children’s theatre
projects, teaches classes on children’s drama and speech, storytelling, theatre
in education and playwriting. Her love for children’s theatre has spread to her
students, too, as they’ve learned to write and perform for young audiences as
well as more typical theater crowds.
During last spring’s colorful production of "A Year with Frog and
Toad," for example, “the whole cast was expecting squirming and yelling in
the seats,” says Paul Gary, a sophomore theatre major from Knoxville who
portrayed “Toad.”
“But they were just sitting there, with the rest of the audience, paying
attention,” he adds as he prepares to play “Mike Fink.” “Jette is truly a
blessing. I wouldn't have anyone else do this show with us.”
Funds raised by local performances and school tours will help with
expenses when the troupe takes “American Tall Tales” to Ireland and other
portions of the United Kingdom next May, Halladay says.
“This show’s great because it's a bunch of children who are playing in
an attic, and they find this magic pot that turns them into these legends,” she
adds. “But we also make it clear that every child has a legend in him. Every
child is a hero.
“Also, these children are just using junk they find in an attic. You
don't need money to buy props and costumes and all. As long you have an
imagination, you can turn it into whatever you want.”
General admission tickets are $10 each and $5 for K-12 students and
senior citizens. MTSU students with valid IDs will be admitted free.
Tickets for “American Tall Tales” also can be ordered by phone by
calling 888-71-TICKETS (888-718-4253) 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment