By Kelli Samson
On the heals of the success of last spring’s youth production, Orphan Train, Olympia Family Theater (OFT) is turning its gaze toward something a little closer to home. Their latest main stage, youth-focused play focuses on something that most of us don’t give much thought to, past, “Eww, gross!”
Something that eats our gardens.
Something that sometimes rides into my house on the fur of my dog.
Something that Bellingham playwright Drue Robinson wrote in such a way as to make it quite cute for audiences.
A slug.
That’s right. Make room in your holiday schedule, and in your heart, for spending time at OFT’s new location with one of those slimy critters. Prepare to be touched by this tender story about one slug’s wish for more sunlight and the ways she learns to find light in the ever-growing darkness.
If you think that title sounds a little familiar and, perhaps, Seuss-esque, you’re right. It’s a play on How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and the lines are also written in rhyming verse.
Some lines from the original production were turned into lyrics by local songbird and frequent OFT actress Terri Charles for the OFT show.
Kate Arvin, director of How the Slug Stole Solstice, grew up acting under the tutelage of Drue Robinson at the Bellingham Children’s Theatre. She made her theatrical debut at the age of nine in one of Robinson’s productions, playing the part of an alien.
The Evergreen State College is what first brought Arvin to Olympia. “There’s a higher density of theater-loving people in Olympia. It’s kind of marvelous,” explains Arvin of her decision to put down roots in the Olympia community post-graduation in 2008.
Nowadays, Arvin keeps busy splitting her time between theater jobs here in town and touring as a technician on the Russian National Ballet’s annual U.S. run. “I have my fingers in as many pies as possible,” she says. “There isn’t a theater space in town where I haven’t worked at this point.”
Arvin is fresh-faced, humble, and absolutely gob-smacked to have found herself going from a theater technician at OFT to the director of this season’s holiday production. “There’s a lot to fall in love with here at OFT,” she gushes.
She loves the ways in which Robinson has woven little tidbits of our distinct, Pacific Northwest culture into her productions. For example, this is a play where a character wears socks with sandles in the winter.
“It’s completely charming. It’s very Northwest-y,” smiles Arvin. “It takes place in a Northwest forest, and the main character is a Banana Slug named Sally.”
As the winter solstice approaches, Sally is having difficulty with the decreasing daylight hours. She goes on a journey to find the sun and bring him back early. Along the way, she meets all kinds of critters who explain how they find light and happiness amidst the ever-lengthening darkness, a message not lost on us as the days have grown shorter.
“We make our own light for each other,” says Arvin.
Making her theatrical debut as Sally the Slug is Hansen Elementary School’s Meredith Morgan, age eight. She was inspired to pursue acting through her admiration of Christine Goode, her kindergarten teacher at Centennial Elementary and a frequent actor at OFT. “She would invite us to come see her, and I wanted to do what she was doing,” explains Morgan.
Prior to this production, the young actress attended camps at OFT and participated in two summers of Creative Theater Experience. Her dream role would be playing Jane Banks in Mary Poppins. She loves theater because “I’m really loud, and in theater you’re supposed to be loud.”
Sally the Slug is “kind of a ‘fraidy-cat, and I like playing that,” explains Morgan. “Sally’s pretty determined. And I love all my lines.“
Auditioning, which may sound terrifying for many of us, was “super-exciting” for Morgan. “It’s so cool,” she assures me. “It’s really fun getting to act with all these great people. I’ve made a lot of new friends. And it’s really fun to come here and watch a play because it always turns out to be magical.”
Grab a little bit of that magic for yourself and your family. How the Slug Stole Solstice runs November 28 through December 21, weekends only.
Visit OFT’s website or follow them on Facebook.
Olympia Family Theater
612 4th Ave. E in downtown Olympia
(360) 570-1638
