A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day; a honey-loving bear and his friends; and a singing captive with tower-long hair -- these are just a few of the stories the Arkansas Arts Center Children's Theatre will deliver to kids and adults as it begins its 2016-2017 season.
Up first? The downtown Little Rock museum welcomes Tyke and Moppet, an original show starting Friday created specifically for 2- to 5-year-olds. Part of the theater's Studio Shows productions, the play is interactive, with children and parents watching and listening as the play unfolds around them, showcasing actors and ideas instead of scenery.
Tyke and Moppet is a production that the theater describes as a "highly interactive, multisensory and whimsical journey through friendship as two lovable characters, Tyke and Moppet, explore an exciting new world together."
The play was created by theater director and actor Katie Campbell and actors Geoffrey Eggleston as Tyke and Aleigha Morton as Moppet.
The first of three Studio Shows this season, show times for Tyke and Moppet are noon Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and noon Tuesday though Sept. 16. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $8 for Arts Center members.
Other Studio Shows include Stone Soup, Jan. 20-22, and a new adaptation of Frankenstein by the theater's associate director Keith Smith, which will run May 10-14.
"The Studio Shows are done in our studio theater lab ... and those three plays are devised and will be created to ... reach a younger age than we normally see," says Bradley D. Anderson, who has served as the artistic director of the children's theater since 1979, the year the theater started.
Each season the theater, the only professional company in Arkansas that produces children's literary works for the stage, presents a mixture of adaptations inspired by classic and contemporary sources and original plays for young people and families.
Choosing what productions to present each season is a balance of several things, Anderson says. The season is like "a diet," Anderson says, with a mixture of lighter fare and heartier, healthier classic productions, or plays created or adapted by the in-house artistic staff. Some productions are chosen to expose audiences to new cultures or lands.
The season also is created with the artistic staff and actors in mind. "We have to look for things that are going to inspire us because most of what we do is created first here," Anderson says. "A lot of these stories get a first telling here."
Besides the Studio Shows, the 2016-2017 season features six Main Stage shows: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Sept. 23-Oct. 9); Winnie-the-Pooh (Oct. 28-Nov. 13); The Elves and the Shoemaker (Dec. 2-18); The Laughable Legend of Fancybeard the Bully Pirate (Feb. 3-19); Fancy Nancy The Musical (March 10-April 2) and Rapunzel (April 28-May 14).
Show times for Main Stage shows are 7 p.m. Fridays and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets are $12.50 for general admission and $10 for Arts Center members. Children 2 and under get in free but must remain in an adult's lap throughout the production.
The theater also offers several season ticket packages, ranging from the 3-Play Pack (one ticket to three plays of buyer's choice) to the Family Flex Pack (24 tickets for use at any Main Stage production).
Each Main Stage production includes a 7 p.m. Thursday preview performance at a "Pay-What-You-Can" price. These tickets must be bought in person on the day of the show at the Arts Center from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at the visitors center on the atrium level or from 6-6:45 p.m. at the Children's Theatre box office on the lower lobby level.
The theater is touring three plays this year, too: The Gingerbread Man, Stone Soup and The Reluctant Dragon. Touring productions can be booked through the center's State Services Department.
The full schedule and notes for the Main Stage productions:
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
(Sept. 23-Oct. 9)
Since its debut in 1972, this children's book -- written by Judith Viorst and illustrated by Ray Cruz -- has been adapted into an animated musical for TV, turned into a movie starring Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner, and, in 1998, produced as a live musical production by Viorst and the Kennedy Center.
The play's title offers a grand synopsis of Alexander's day, which he survives, with help from his mother, as many people survive terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days.
Winnie-the-Pooh
(Oct. 28-Nov. 13)
Here's a bit of trivia: This adaptation of A.A. Milne's anthropomorphic bear tale is by Clanche du Rand, a playwright and actress who has appeared in films such as Sleepless in Seattle and Bridge of Spies.
This musical includes Pooh and his friends, including Piglet, Rabbit, Eeyore and Owl, as they meet Kanga and Roo for plenty of singing and fun as Christopher Robin keeps a close eye on them.
The Elves and the Shoemaker
(Dec. 2-18)
Associate Director Keith Smith adapts, with the assistance of local theater music director Lori Isner, this Grimm's fairy tale of a poor cobbler with a good heart and a grateful spirit.
The Laughable Legend of Fancybeard the Bully Pirate
(Feb. 3-19)
Smith is also the writer of this tale, an adventure the theater calls "swashbuckling, rope-swinging, skeleton-rattling fun as pirate cadets Reynaldo, Esmeralda and Brian discover the difference between a leader and a bully."
Fancy Nancy The Musical
(March 10-April 2)
This musical, which debuted Off-Broadway in 2012, finds Nancy and her friends Wanda, Rhonda, Bree and Lionel getting ready for their first show, Deep Sea Dances. Even a change in Nancy's dreams won't stop her from being fancy and having fun.
Fancy Nancy The Musical includes spring break matinees March 21-24 at 2 p.m. each day.
Rapunzel
(April 28-May 14)
Another fairy tale made famous by the Brothers Grimm (although its true origin is murky), this classic is the story of a young girl with beautiful and long, long hair who is locked away in a tower in the woods.
The theater says this production is a reminder that "even caged, a bird can sing."
For more information about the Arkansas Arts Center Children's Theatre 2016-2017 season or to order tickets, visit arkansasartscenter.org/childrenstheatre or call (501) 372-4000.
Family on 09/07/2016