The Bay Area Children’s Theatre to Perform in Shanghai

The BACT cast of James and the Giant Peach

We have GIANT news to share: Bay Area Children's Theatre is going international! Actors, artists and educators from BACT will be traveling to China this summer to perform our production of James and the Giant Peach! 

Many of you saw our presentation of Pasek & Paul's musical James and the Giant Peach in its California debut this past winter. The executive director of Shanghai Children’s Art Theatre also attended one of our performances and enjoyed the show so much, she has invited us to her theatre as part of a cross-cultural exchange!

Shanghai Children's Art Theatre performance venue.
Photo: Charles Xia

The Shanghai Children’s Art Theatre is a dynamic performing arts organization that is bringing cutting edge children’s programming to the families of Shanghai. It's that city's largest theater dedicated to professional productions for young audiences. BACT will debut James and the Giant Peach in Shanghai with four performances on August 1 and 2.

We are so honored to be included in the theatre’s roster of international visitors for 2015. Our cast and design team are very excited about taking our work abroad for the first time and introducing a vibrant new play in the great tradition of American musical theatre!

Genevieve Blogs: How to Make a China Rabbit Come to Life On Stage

BACT Blogger Genevieve is back! This time, she had a special assignment about our show The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane: How do you make a main character who is an inanimate object come to life on-stage? Genevieve is 12 years old and in sixth grade at Kensington Hilltop School. She loves theater and has been going to productions since she was three years old. Genevieve enjoys reading, writing, traveling, and playing piano. She lives in Kensington with her parents and two younger siblings. Genevieve just played Hamlet in her school play. She thinks BACT is awesome and everybody who works there really inspires her!

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     Most of us have had imaginary friends, stuffed animals, or dolls. Whenever we play with them, we usually imagine and create what this inanimate object is thinking, either by saying it out loud, or thinking it in our heads. In books, authors can simply write what the object is thinking. However, in live theater, it’s much harder to explain exactly what the doll or stuffed animal is thinking so that the audience will understand. 

     People who take part in productions with inanimate creatures must be very creative. In Bay Area Children’s Theatre’s (BACT) most recent production called The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, the main character is a china rabbit named Edward Tulane. He belongs to a little girl and one day he is lost and re-discovered by several new families. In this story Edward Tulane learns humility and love and is exposed to sadness for the first time and really does go on a miraculous journey. Although he imagines many things and tries to talk to people, he cannot be heard or understood by humans.

     I imagine that it was probably really hard to figure out how to make Edward heard by the audience. It is really important that he is heard, or else the story wouldn’t make very much sense. The creative and production teams explained what Edward was thinking on stage by having the characters hold a china rabbit doll, as if he was a normal doll. Nearby, another actor stood with a guitar, speaking Edward’s thoughts to the audience. The actor speaking Edward’s words stayed close to the doll and was perfectly still as if he was an inanimate object.

     It was brave of the playwright to take on the challenge of turning this story into a play, and for BACT to produce it, because it is more common for books to have objects as main characters. In books, authors can write about the adventures and the object’s conversations. In plays, it is different. I don’t know if I have ever seen a play like this one! It must have been a very difficult production to be a part of.

     I loved this production because it had live music and an interesting storyline. It was filled with happiness, sadness, hopefulness, and most especially love. I enjoyed the interesting people and props that were a part of the play. I also thought that the acting was really good. I am thankful to everybody who took part of this production.
 

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The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane runs thru March 22nd at the Osher Studio in downtown Berkeley, then runs from March 28-April 12 at the Children's Creativity Museum in San Francisco. Click here for tickets.

Three Little Birds is a Theatre Bay Area Awards Recommended Production!

Congrats to the entire cast, crew and creative team on this great honor!

• Learn more about the Theatre Bay Area Awards
• Get your tickets to Three Little Birds, now playing in San Francisco!

Genevieve Blogs: Ron S. McCan, Costume Designer for Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds

BACT Blogger Genevieve is back! This time, she was able to interview Ron S. McCan, costume designer for Three Little Birds. Genevieve is 12 years old and in sixth grade at Kensington Hilltop School. She loves theater and has been going to productions since she was three years old. Genevieve enjoys reading, writing, traveling, and playing piano. She lives in Kensington with her parents and two younger siblings. Genevieve just played Hamlet in her school play. She thinks BACT is awesome and everybody who works there really inspires her!
 

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     Bay Area Children’s Theatre’s (BACT) has just started showing an amazing production called Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds. It is colorful, filled with expression, and very true to Jamaican culture and music. When I looked around at the rest of the audience, everybody looked so engaged, sitting at the edge of their seats, thinking, “What’s going to happen next?” The show was a perfect mixture of exciting, silly, and even just a little bit scary. One thing that really struck me was the amazing, detailed costumes that were designed by Ron S. McCan.

Ron S. McCan

     This is Mr. McCan’s first time designing costumes for BACT, and he absolutely loves it. Everybody there is really supportive and fun. This play, Three Little Birds, has actually been his favorite production that he has designed costumes for. It has fun music, and it just felt right for him. When Mr. McCan first found out that he would be designing costumes for Three Little Birds, he was so excited. He loves the work that BACT does. He likes how exciting it is for kids. He also thought that all the different bird characters were cool and fun.
     When he was a kid, Mr. McCan didn’t think that he would be a costume designer. He thought that he would be an actor. However, his mom was a costume designer, so that’s how he got interested. Now, he designs costumes and acts (and he likes both of them equally because you have to be creative for both of them). The most recent play that he acted in was called Jesus Christ Superstar. He also teaches high school. Mr. McCan is a Bob Marley fan. His favorite song by Marley is “Is This Love”, which is actually a song used in Three Little Birds.
     Ziggy and Nansi are the main characters. They are average, eleven-year-old kids. Because Mr. McCan is a high school teacher, he found his inspiration for these kids by looking at how his freshman students dress. He also based their costumes off nephews and nieces. He wanted them to look cool and colorful, but like normal kids. Mr. McCan knew that in Jamaica it is very hot. Other than that, people in Jamaica just dress like how we dress in America. So Mr. McCan dressed them the way we dress here, but in clothes that will keep them cool. Mr. McCan buys some parts of costumes and makes some of the costumes.

Anthony Rollins-Mullens as Duppy

     The hardest costume that Mr. McCan designed for Three Little Birds was Duppy’s costume. This specific costume took him the longest to make out of any other character in this play (it took him two whole months!). Duppy had big, glowing eyes, and had hair on the back. These were hard to create. Duppy had so many things that he had to do, and, to make it even more challenging, he had a big headdress. Mr. McCan had to glue every individual feather on to this headpiece. Actually, he had to do this for every bird costume in Three Little Birds. Mr. McCan gets his inspiration for costumes from pictures. He got a lot of inspiration for Three Little Birds by looking at pictures of Caribbean carnivals.

The cast of Three Little Birds

     Mr. McCan loved making many of the costumes for Three Little Birds. One of his favorites was Dr. Bird because he was modeled after the Red-Billed Steamertail Hummingbird which is the national symbol of Jamaica. He loves the bright colors. He also loved making Duppy because of the hair he stole from children and the glowing eyes. He liked Nansi because of her bright color scheme. Her shirt also played with cool shapes and patterns. He enjoyed doing Tacoomah, as well, because the actress who played her (Taylor Jones) really wanted a big headdress, which was fun to make.
     If Mr. McCan could design costumes for any production, it would be You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. It’s about kids, and it’s very cartoony, which means he could use colorful costumes. The most challenging play that he ever designed costumes for was The Mad Woman of Challiot. The reason it was so hard was because it took place in Paris in 1915, when there was a very specific style. Men had tuxedos and woman had to wear lots of wigs.
     Thanks for being such a fun person to interview, Mr. McCan! You love to imagine and create amazing things. I think he was the perfect costume designer for this particular production. Also, thanks to Min Kahng for organizing this interview. And, of course, thanks to the whole crew at BACT for putting on the amazing, creative, colorful production…Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds! I can’t wait for the next play!!!

BACT Receives National Endowment for the Arts Grant

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has selected the Bay Area Children's Theatre as one of 919 organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant.

The NEA has recommended that BACT receive a grant of $10,000 to help develop and produce an original musical inspired by stories created by children with special needs.

“We are thrilled to have been honored with this NEA grant, which recognizes our commitment to creating new work and to representing the stories of all children on our stages,” said BACT Executive Director Nina Meehan.

Playwright and composer Min Kahng

BACT will work with playwright and composer Min Kahng to create the new musical.  Kahng most recently wrote and composed BACT’s award-winning musical adaptation of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. 

The creation process will begin with a series of workshops in partnership with schools and organizations that serve children with special needs. BACT will lead dramatic workshops with the children to help them find and express their creative voice and storytelling skills.  Kahng will use selected stories from the children as inspiration for a musical, which will be performed by professional actors during BACT’s 2016-2017 season. 

“It has been a dream of mine to offer sensory-friendly performances to children with special needs,” Meehan said.  “This NEA grant helps us take that dream even further, by representing the voices of children with special needs on our stages.  We will be working hard in the months ahead to secure the additional funding required to bring this exciting project to fruition.”

Announcing the NEA grants, NEA Chairman Jane Chu said, “I’m pleased to be able to share the news of our support through Art Works, including the award to the Bay Area Children’s Theatre. The arts foster value, connection, creativity and innovation for the American people, and these recommended grants demonstrate those attributes and affirm that the arts are part of our everyday lives.” 

Art Works grants support the creation of art, public engagement with art, lifelong learning in the arts, and enhancement of the livability of communities through the arts.  The NEA received 1,474 eligible applications under the Art Works category, requesting more than $75 million in funding. Of those applications, 919 are recommended for grants, for a total of $26.6 million.

Becca's Notes: Learning through Live Theatre

The cast of James and the Giant Peach

During a particularly lively number at James and the Giant Peach, I took my son’s hand to move it in time with the music.  “Mommy,” he objected, “I’m watching!” 

Eli is four. I was thrilled that he was so engaged in the performance! If, at the age of four, he can devote such attention to the action onstage, I chuckled to myself, we were in good shape for the college lectures he would have down the road.

Going to the theatre is not only great entertainment for our kids, it is a learning experience on many different levels.  At the Bay Area Children’s Theatre, it’s an opportunity to see a favorite story come alive onstage or to be introduced to a story that a child will enjoy reading later on.  It’s the chance to share and discuss an artistic experience with family members, and the discipline of watching, wondering, absorbing, analyzing, and then responding—as life often demands.

As BACT’s education director, I focus on the experiences children have as participants in making theatre, but I’m equally delighted when I see youngsters become involved with live theatre as audience members.  Both artistic experiences are enriching, and both are invaluable preparation for the future.

See you at the theatre!
Becca

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Becca Posamentier is a founding company member of Bay Area Children's Theatre and currently serves as the Director of BACT's Education Program.

BACT Blogger Julietta Meets Actor Betsy Picart

Julietta writes her first blog for BACT! She recently watched our production of James and the Giant Peach in Berkeley, and met and interviewed actor Betsy Picart. Julietta is a Bay Area native.  She enjoys art, crafting, theater, nature, and outdoors. In 8 years of soaking up creative talents, she has found many outlets for her creative energy. Activities such as Rainbow Loom, 4-H classes, Lego building and cartwheels take up most of her time.

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The James and the giant peach is one of my favorite plays ive seen. I read the book and the play is so much like it. The costumes make them look so much like their character, and when you see the play, it'll feel like the book has come to life! They use puppets, images, and other props to make you feel more like your in the book. It was really cool how they used imagery to make the peach grow into a giant peach. I also liked it when they put fake seagulls on stands and put them on the peach for the part when the peach flies. My favorite part was when the peach went rolling into the water. At the start of the play the actors who played the bugs held puppets when they were tiny bugs, and dressed up as the bugs at the part when they were bigger. The peach even rolled over a famous chocolate factory, but thats another story.

When the play was over, Betsy, who played the ladybug, showed me around the backstage area. Her performing was amazing and she was really good at being a ladybug for the play.  Backstage I saw an alley from one entrance of the stage to another and there was two dressing rooms. The boys dressing room was further away from the stage then the girls. There was also another room called the green room. Inside there was a piano and a couch. I sat down and did an interview.

Actor Betsy Picart as Ladybug

I asked what her history in theatre is, and she has done theatre since she was 13 and is a teacher.  Betsy has been in educational theatre for 6 years.

She likes some insects and if she could be one she would be a ladybug with 12 spots.If she could be inside any giant fruit she would be in a Blueberry.

Her favorite part of performing onstage for this play is the "plump and juicy" song.

Betsy's favorite Roald Dahl Book is The BFG. We donated to the theatre and its great to support them, since their plays are always amazing.

From seeing BACT plays i really want to start acting so im thinking about doing the childrens program.

I really look forward to seeing the next BACT play.