Performances Across San Diego

SDSU is currently putting on Jungle Book in the Don Powell theatre, but around San Diego there are a number of other productions coming up based on or inspired by children's literature.

Little Women: The Musical will play at Bailey Bees Theatre in Escondido. The musical is produced by 413 Project, a non-profit supporting students' explorations in theatre. Check out their blog detailing the making of this production. Playing from May 30-June 1.

Sleeping Beauty Ballet is coming up at the San Diego Civic Theatre, produced by the California Ballet Company. Performance dates are Saturday, May 17 - 2:30pm & 7:30pm, and Sunday, May 18 - 2:30pm. The afternoon performances include a thirty minute pre-performance lecture one hour prior to curtain and Post-performance meet the cast following the show.

The Disney adaptation of Tarzan is being staged by the J*Company Youth Theatre at David & Dorothea Garfield Theatre in La Jolla. Based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs classic, Tarzan of the Apes, TARZAN tells the story of an infant boy orphaned on the shores of West Africa and taken in and raised by a tribe of gorillas. This performance will include the music from the Disney film, and runs from May 9-18.

And lastly -- based on the character most often adapted to theatre, film, and tv, and one whose stories have been read by young and old alike -- The Coronado Playhouse is currently staging Sherlock Holmes: the Final Adventure.  It plays Thursdays-Sundays between April 11-May 18.

Jungle Book Production and Pre-Show Discussion

Jungle Book is currently appearing on the stage until May 4 as part of the SDSU's Theatre, Television and Film season of plays. This Friday (May 2) at 6:30 pm, you can join the National Center for the Study of Children's Literature in "Conversations with Children's Literature," a pre-show discussion on Rudyard Kipling’s stories as well as the process of adapting them to the stage. Building on the tradition forged by a similar discussion held last year for Peter Pan & Wendy, this conversation will be led by Director Margaret Larlham, Dramaturg Megan Abell, and a panel from the NCSCL: Dr. Joseph T. Thomas, Jr., Dr. Mary Galbraith, and Graduate students Alya Hameed, Paloma Hoyos, and Alixandria Lombardo.

Discussion Info:
Friday May 2, 6:30 pm 
Dramatic Arts Building, Room 101
Open and Free to the Public
Plan to join our discussion and continue the experience by attending the play directly after!

 About Jungle Book:
Margaret Larlham has created an action-packed version of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Books stories performed in the Don Powell Theatre. The story is set in a secret jungle in our own Balboa Park, a magic place between the leaves and vines bounded by park, zoo, and the freeways. Here Mowgli, a lost child, has many adventures and learns the “laws” of the jungle from a pack of wolves, Bagheera the panther, Baloo the bear, and the unscrupulous tiger, Shere Kahn. Larlham’s updated version sets the adventure in a modern jungle where the impact of global warming escalates the danger of drought and disaster for the animals. 

Remaining Performance Dates:
Thursday May 1 - Friday May 2 at 7:30 pm
Saturday May 3 - Sunday May 4 at 2:00 pm

More details and ticket information can be found on the SDSU Theatre Website
You can also check out the production's blog: http://junglebooksdsu.com/

San Diego Theaters featuring Children's Lit: Pam Muñoz Ryan, Dr. Seuss, and Rudyard Kipling adapted for the stage!

Running from January 3-17th, Esperanza Rising adapted for the stage will appear at the Casa del Prado Theatre in Balboa Park. Esperanza Rising is an amazing novel by local author Pam Muñoz Ryan about a young girl living a privileged life in Mexico when tragedy strikes. Esperanza must relocate to California with her mother, and face the hardships of working on a farm camp during the Great Depression. Esperanza Rising won many awards, including the Pura Belpré Award which honors work that best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino/a cultural experience. 

Pam Muñoz Ryan is an alumna of SDSU, a friend to the National Center for the Study of Children's Literature, and an overall stunning figure in the world of art for children. Keep an eye out for an interview with Pam Muñoz Ryan titled "Writing the Whole Child" in the Unjournal of Children's Literature. 

Visit the Junior Theater website to purchase tickets ($10-$15) to Esperanza Rising. There will be a noon showing on January 14th for schools, and a post-show talk with Pam Muñoz Ryan herself following the January 10th showing. 

The Junior Theater will also showcasing another famous San Diego children's author: Dr. Seuss! On January 8th and 14th you can see a production of The Cat in the Hat. If you'd like to see some Seuss for the holidays, you can visit The Old Globe for their 16th annual production of How the Grinch Stole Christmas- it's running now through December 28th.  

In Spring 2014 a production of the Jungle Book will appear in the Don Powell Theater here at SDSU. Director Margaret Larlham will bring a local perspective to this classic by setting the story here in San Diego, "in a secret jungle in our own Balboa Park, a magic place between the leaves and vines bounded by park, zoo, and the freeways." 

Details for Peter Pan & Wendy Discussion Circle, Thursday Nov 29

This Thursday (Nov 29) at 6:30 pm in the SDSU Black Box Experimental Theater, The National Center for the Study of Children's Literature, in collaboration with director Margaret Larlham, SDSU's School of Theatre, Television, & Film, and our own Children's Literature Graduate Student Association, will be leading a discussion circle about J.M. Barrie and Peter Pan. This discussion can be part of your experience of seeing the production of Peter Pan and Wendy now showing at the Don Powell theatre or simply for your own edification (attending the show is not mandatory, and the discussion circle is FREE). Please tell your students and friends, and plan on attending yourselves. It should be a wonderful event, with or without (though especially WITH) the added delight of Peter Pan and Wendy.

Participants include Joseph Thomas, the director of the NCSCL, children's literature scholar Mary Galbraith, the director Margaret Larlham, and SDSU English graduate students (and ChildLit Grad Student Association members) Kelsey Wadman, Alya Hameed, Alix Lombardo, Lauren Benard, and Jill Coste.

Please attend! For more information, follow the link above to the School of Theatre, Television, & Film's Peter Pan & Wendy site, or contact Joseph Thomas at jtthomas@mail.sdsu.edu.

To Never Grow Up! Peter Pan & Wendy Production and Pre-show Discussion Circle

Peter Pan & Wendy will appear onstage this fall as part of the SDSU's Theatre, Television and Film season of plays. Professor Joseph Thomas, the director of SDSU's National Center for the Study of Children's Literature is helping to organize a pre-show discussion about J. M. Barrie's play and novel in collaboration with production director Margaret Larlham, dramaturgs Shelley Orr, Erica Paulson, and Jamie Gillcrist, and members of the ChildLit Graduate Student Association on Thursday Nov 29 from 6:30 - 7:00 pm.

Peter Pan & Wendy is a bold, imaginative retelling of the magical tale about a boy who never grows up, and his fantastical adventures with Wendy, her brothers and the Lost Boys in Neverland despite the attempts of the vengeful Captain Hook and his pirates to thwart their plans and hasten their demise. Fairies, pirates and mermaids sing and dance to music provided by a live band - “Tiger Lily and the Brave Ones”. Grassroots magic and puppeteers play out onstage as a love letter to the original story and to the creative theatrical process.

Performance Dates:
Friday Nov 16 at 7:30 pm
Saturday Nov 17 - Sunday Nov 18 at 2:00 pm
Thursday Nov 29 - Friday Nov 30 at 7:30 pm
Saturday Dec 1 - Sunday Dec 2 at 2:00 pm

More details and ticket information can be found on the SDSU Theatre Website