Recognize any of these literary lovelies aimed mostly at the younger set?
Little Women
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Frog and Toad
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
You surely remember one or two from your youth, or that of your now-grown child’s. And if you currently have elementary schoolers under your roof, many of these tomes likely line your bookshelves.
What do these classics all have in common (besides being fabulous reads)? Each has been a part of the Olympia Family Theater’s current season.
Olympia Family Theater (OFT) has been providing affordable, high-quality children’s theater for five years, entertaining children of all ages and parents alike.
Artistic Director Jen Ryle co-founded OFT in 2006 with Samantha Chandler.
“We both had the same goal of starting children’s theater in Olympia,” says Ryle. “We thought there was lots of great theater in Olympia, but not a lot for kids and families to see. We wanted to really build the next generation of theater-goers, patrons, and performers.”
The theater’s 2010-2011 season comes to a close this weekend with the final four performances of If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, a play by Jody Davidson, based on the popular book by Laura Numeroff, and directed by Ryle. Tickets can be purchased here.
Most OFT productions take place at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts black box theater in downtown Olympia. After four years in a 90-seat theater at South Puget Sound Community College, OFT’s bump up to 120 seats at the downtown theater is nearly ideal.
“We could probably use a few more than that, but I never want it to be too big,” says Ryle, “It’s important to us that the actors and audience are able to relate to one another – you never want them to be so far away that you can’t see faces and expressions and hear everything, to set up that relationship.”
At a recent If You Give a Mouse a Cookie performance, the full house was delighted by the frenzied energy of four-time OFT actor Amy Shephard as the whirligig mouse of the play’s title.
“Amy just came that way, that’s how she is,” Ryle says with a laugh. “It was the perfect role for her.”
Equally engaging to watch was Jon Tallman, brimming with befuddled anxiety as the boy tasked with reining in the mess-making, energy-draining mouse he invited into his house.
“Jon is 6 foot 3, so we had to build a really big set to make him look small,” says Ryle. “We wanted to set the actors in a world that was fantastically large for them, so they seemed like children and small animals within it. That was part of the fun, scaling up all the props and the whole kitchen.”
A third actor, Whitney Worden, played Shephard’s mouse mirror image, delightfully re-enacting with Shephard the Marx Brothers’ infamous looking glass routine from Duck Soup.
Ryle says If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is a perfect first play for little ones. “We’ve seen a lot of two-, three-, and 4-year olds, which are a new audience for us.”
After this weekend’s close of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, OFT directs its energies toward prepping for several one-week summer camps for kids ranging in age from 5 to 17.
This year’s lineup includes “Musical Story Theater,” “O.F. Glee,” “Camp Triple Threat,” and “It’s the Hard-Knock Life,” as well as a rehearsal and performance of Goldilocks. Each camp culminates in a performance for family and friends.
They also offer an evening workshop camp for adults and teens age 16 and up to help prepare for and improve their skill at auditions.
Next season’s schedule is already set, with performances planned for Bunnicula, A Christmas Story, Phantom Tollbooth, Animal Farm, and Goodnight Moon. It promises to be another fun-filled season fit for the whole family, with a mix of shows geared toward younger and older kids.
For example, next spring’s Animal Farm will be geared more toward kids 11 or 12 years old and up, because it takes on more serious subjects. “And honestly, we have more trouble selling those seats because teens don’t necessarily want to go to shows with their parents,” Ryle says with a laugh. “But we feel it’s important to cover some of those important social issues or other sorts of stories. We try to mix it up.”
And no matter what the age of child parents bring to an OFT show, they’re bound to have a great time themselves.
“Oh, the adults laugh too,” assures Ryle. “There’s absolute enjoyment.”
OFT couldn’t exist without its generous volunteers, from the actors to stagehands. But they also look to the public for help with everything from general office work and running errands to organizing props and costumes and putting up posters. They’re also currently looking for a volunteer coordinator. Anyone interested can contact OFT through its website.
Olympia Family Theater
360.570.1638
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie runs through May 29, Thursday–Saturday at 7pm and Sunday at 2pm. $8.50–$15.50
All photos by David Nowitz
