{"id":10036,"date":"2018-12-07T18:03:59","date_gmt":"2018-12-07T18:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=10036"},"modified":"2018-12-07T18:03:59","modified_gmt":"2018-12-07T18:03:59","slug":"humanity-is-shown-through-toys-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/07\/humanity-is-shown-through-toys-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Humanity Is Shown Through Toy\u2019s Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Company of Fools to present ‘The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane’<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Dana DuGan<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Aly Wepplo unveils her toy rabbit, Edward. Photo by Kirsten Shultz, courtesy of Company of Fools<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For its final show of the year, the theatrical wing of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Company of Fools, will present \u201cThe Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on Kate DiCamillo\u2019s beloved novel of the same name, the play has a small ensemble of veteran actors who play some 35 characters.<\/p>\n

A journey through many different locations and emotions, it\u2019s simple enough to appeal to the very young and yet has enough insight to catch adults\u2019 attention, too. In fact, it\u2019s an ideal holiday production for being the kind of play that takes the audience on a journey of sentiment, as well. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOnce in a house on Egypt Street,\u201d it begins. Denise Simone, as the narrator, gets the show rolling in a time-honored fashion. David Janeski provides guitar accompaniment and also plays\u2014or shadows and voices\u2014Edward Tulane, a rather self-important toy rabbit.<\/p>\n

From Egypt Street, Edward\u2019s journey \u201ctruly is magical.\u201d Adored by his little girl, Abilene, and living in a fine house, Edward\u2014and the abandoned theatre in which the storytelling takes place\u2014transform throughout the show.<\/p>\n

Props and set pieces from other shows help move the toy from scene to scene as the pages turn in the tale of Edward Tulane. He shuttles from the mansion to a seaward ship\u2014from which Edward falls overboard\u2014to the bottom of the sea, to a fishing village, and onward. Edward lives with, and is bestowed with humanity, by those who happen into his life and need him most. He becomes both a receptacle and a kind of security blanket for an array of struggling souls, both young and old.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to come up with a concept to suit the breadth of the story,\u201d said Natalie Battistone, the director, who can usually be found at The Spot, of which she is a co-founder. \u201cIt\u2019s a book you read aloud, and it\u2019s visceral and engaging. The abandoned space will be made magical through the actors and stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are, in fact, only four actors playing all the roles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe narrator is a classic storyteller, keeping the story on its arc, the little engine,\u201d Simone said. \u201cI also get to play 10 different roles that are delicious, especially the grandmother of Abilene, who may or may not have some magic to her. Scott and I play a couple scamps\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2014little heathens,\u201d her fellow cast members interrupted, chuckling.<\/p>\n

Aly Wepplo, who plays Abilene, among others, said it feels like \u201cdiscovering a classic,\u201d though it was only published in the last decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get to play two children who have a total love for a toy,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s fun to remember and explore. It\u2019s warm and joyful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott Creighton plays, among others. the fisherman and the main boy, Bryce.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow often do you get to play a child, a fisherman, a hobo, a dad, and a doll-mender?\u201d he said. \u201cThe journey is fun. The rabbit is the connection to all these scenes. We just add in the characters for this rabbit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janeski, the actor, never interacts with the other characters as Edward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI provide his thoughts and spirit,\u201d he said. \u201cI play him as a doll infused with life. He doesn\u2019t know about the world. He\u2019s very self-important, but through these meetings he learns to open his heart. It\u2019s a human journey that he\u2019s on. He has no concern about being real. He\u2019s about himself and slowly that changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Battistone, who was asked to direct the play, but had never read the book, said she\u2019s \u201ccome to see why it\u2019s so popular with children. The play presents many interesting challenges for the actors,\u201d she continued. \u201cThey must interact with the doll like children do.\u201d<\/p>\n

These actors have been shocked at how fast the story seemed to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much movement and changing costumes, and it\u2019s really like cracking open a storybook,\u201d Battistone said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s making a point that the best magic comes out of simplicity,\u201d Wepplo added.<\/p>\n

That ease pulls in the audience. After all, who hasn\u2019t loved a stuffed animal as though it was real and imbued in with feelings and a voice?<\/p>\n

The show will be seen not just by holiday theatregoers in the evening, but by 1,488 students, from first through eighth grades, during the sold-out matinees.<\/p>\n

Finally, the audience, and Edward, are shown that even a heart of the most breakable kind can learn to love, to lose, and to love again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s profound on lots of levels,\u201d Simone said. \u201cIt\u2019s about coming home, realizing that home is not a place but a state of being.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

The Liberty Theatre, Hailey<\/i><\/p>\n

Wednesday, Dec. 12\u2013Sunday, Dec. 30 Tickets through Sun Valley Center for the Arts, sunvallycenter.org, or (208) 726-9491 $35 member \/ $40 nonmember \/ $35 senior (62 and over) \/ $15 student (with student ID) \/ $35 group (8 or more) \/ \u201cSecond Night 23\u201d ($23 full price for all seats)<\/p>\n

Ticket prices do not include taxes or processing fees<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Company of Fools to present ‘The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane’ By Dana DuGan For its final show of the year, the theatrical wing of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Company of Fools, will present \u201cThe Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.\u201d Based on Kate DiCamillo\u2019s beloved novel of the same name, the play […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,4,18,36],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-art","8":"category-entertainment","9":"category-news","10":"category-slider"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}