Creativity is king in "Story Time with a Princess"
BY MARLI GUZZETTA INDEPENDENT ARTS EDITOR
It's too much for children to refuse - a beautiful young princess, with her own castle, asking them to join her onstage. Theatre Workshop of Nantucket's "Story Time with a Princess" has all the trappings of magic, with no intimidation, according to TWN producing director Jordana Fleischut, who has established the Story Time sessions as part of her new children's theater offerings. It's an hour-long theater experience that involves everyone to cultivate an apprecia- tion for stagecraft among the youngest theatergoers.

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Tiffany Page is Theatre Workshop of Nantucket's resident princess.

"All the kids come in, and the princess comes out in her gown while the kids are all sitting in the castle, and she welcomes everyone and says she wants to tell the story but needs help from the audience," Fleischut explained. "The kids who want to participate onstage come on stage, and she works with them for 20 minutes to prepare them to help them to tell the story. And everyone else becomes part of the court, and they go out into the hallway and get their faces painted. Everything is set up so the kids feel like they're in the story."

Fantastical bars of music play from somewhere behind the vivid castle set (which has been made transportable, for birthday parties and other events), and even the people in the audience are part of the story.

Tiffany Page, who plays the princess, adapts a new fairy tale each week for the interactive staging - creating enough roles for a number of kids to participate. Page said she reads a few different versions of each story, and writes the lines to be short enough for children to repeat. Page enacted "Rumpelstiltskin" for the first week and "Sleeping Beauty" for the second. "Rapunzel" is on deck for next week.

"A lot of kids are timid at first, so I like to get them up onstage and tell them it's okay to use outside voices in the theater. It's called 'projection.' I like to let them explore that idea and walk around onstage to get comfortable. It takes a minute to get used to being under the lights and to having all those people looking at you" said Page, who kneels down to speak to the kids "on their level" in order to make them feel more at home.

"Story Time" is meant to foster a love of theater for kids who know little or nothing about it. Page knows firsthand the power of introducing theater to children. A graduate of the University of Rhode Island's theater program, Page grew up participating in children's theater. "I started when I was 8 and haven't looked back since," said Page, who stressed that the show is meant to be appropriate for any age - with participants ages 3 to 14 being the target audience. Some little girls even brought their own gowns and tiaras. (Costuming is heavily encouraged, though not necessary.)

Even though a princess directs each show, the stories are not solely for girls, Fleischut maintained. The first week, a boy visiting from Chicago played Rumpelstiltskin. Another group of boys decided to return the minute after their friend finished onstage, after seeing how much fun he had.

"There are just as many parts for boys as there are for girls," Fleischut said. "And I think it's really important that boys make that connection, because in our society we steer boys more toward sports, which is great, but theatre bridges gaps, especially for boys who are not bent on sports. It's another venue for them to be artistic and creative."

The show sends the kids home with a little bit of creative wonder, even down to the face paintings they receive.

After the last two performances, some of the young participants grabbed their parents' hands and begged to make a beeline to the bookstore.

"I guarantee in the bedrooms of those kids, they're playing with their dolls or reading those stories or they're casting their own play," Fleischut said.

Even if a child doesn't participate, there is something to be gained in having them see their peers onstage, according to the producing director.

"All the kids, whether they are on stage or in the court, they get their own bow. They get that applause. They really feel like they told the story and brought the book to life," she said. "It's a safe, supportive environment. It teaches them appreciation for the theater and for how it differs from going to the movies. And they're a part of it, so it's not too scary. It's a building block."
STORY TIME WITH A PRINCESS
When: Tuesdays - July 3, 10, 17, 5 p.m.
Where: TWN Mainstage, downstairs at the
United Methodist Church, 2 Centre St.
Cost: $10
For more information on "Story Time with a
Princess" - or on any of TWN's other
Children's Theater programs -
go to www.theatreworkshop.com and
click on "Children's Events."