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News Releases 
The Children's Theatre Company's 2007-2008 Season - World premieres, international productions, classics - Nationally and internationally acclaimed guest directors 
For Immediate Release: March 28, 2007
Minneapolis, MN - The Children's Theatre Company 2007-08 season marks its third year of programming for preschoolers and teens on its Cargill stage in addition to its six-play mainstage season. The Theatre's commitment to new play development, working with international artists, and providing a cross-section of theatrical aesthetics, allows audiences the opportunity to see theater in its various and varied aesthetics. The season includes three world premieres, two adaptations of highly acclaimed and popular books, a production from Australia, a co-production with a Swedish Company and CTC classics. New to CTC are playwright Larissa FastHorse, directors Marion McClinton and Diane Paulus; and playwright and director Christer Dahl of Dockteatern Tittut. A special add-on this summer is a limited engagement of Disney's High School Musical on CTC's mainstage. The nine-play season is proudly sponsored by Target.
The mainstage season is Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day; Average Family; A Year with Frog and Toad; Bud, Not Buddy; If You Give A Mouse A Cookie; and The Magic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. The Cargill Stage season is Fashion 47, The Stones, and A Special Trade.
"We have an incredible audience, an audience that loves to share in the magic that only the theater can create," said Peter C. Brosius, CTC artistic director. "We are thrilled to bring them experiences that are funny, visual, touching, musical and wonderfully theatrical."
From THRESHOLD, CTC's new play lab, come the world premieres of Average Family by Larissa FastHorse, Fashion 47 by Diane Paulus and Randy Weiner, and A Special Trade, a co-production with Sweden's Dockteatern Titutt. To date CTC has produced more than 18 world premieres with the guidance of Elissa Adams, CTC's director of new play development. Each play is developed over the course of several years and include The Lost Boys of Sudan, Huck Finn, Tale of a West Texas Marsupial Girl, Esperanza Rising, Reeling, Brooklyn Bridge, The Monkey King, Snapshot Silhouette, PROM, Korczak's Children, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wigs, and Mississippi Panorama.
CTC Mainstage
Opening CTC's 42nd season is Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Based on the book by Judith Viorst, the production has lyrics by Judith Viorst, music by Shelly Markham and direction by David Schweizer.
It's a rough day for Alexander. At 7 a.m. he wakes up with a nasty wad of gum in his hair, trips on his skateboard, and drops his sweater in a sink full of water. And, to top it off, his brothers have expressed interest in trading him for some roller blades. And, all of that happens by 7:15 a.m.! As bad days go, it's tough to top Alexander's. He's at once funny, sad, frustrated and fed-up in this surprising, inventive, participatory and touching musical.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day previews August 21, 22, 23, opens August 24 and runs through October 28, 2007. It is most enjoyed by ages 5+.
Running in repertory with Alexander is Average Family, a world premiere by Larissa FastHorse, directed by Peter C. Brosius.
The Roubidouxs, an urban Native American family living in Minneapolis; and the Monroes, a hard core, back-to-nature clan from Northern Minnesota sign up to face-off in a reality TV show. Their challenge is to survive three months as an 1840's frontier family on the Minnesota prairie and they've been given roles to play. The Roubidouxs' assignment is to portray the "Indians" and the culture they've turned their backs on. Both families embark on an adventure fraught with laughable predicaments and harrowing incidents - all of which is caught on the confession cam! In the end, when one family reconnects with their Dakota culture, it leads to startling revelations for all, inspiring the true spirit of generosity.
Larissa FastHorse has been involved with the arts and been an advocate for her heritage for many years. After devoting some time to being a dancer and choreographer, she became involved with the Native American film community and spoke at film festivals and panels. In 2000, she was a delegate to the United Nations in Geneva, speaking on the power of film for indigenous peoples. She worked in feature film and television development at Universal Pictures and Paramount. Her film work has been seen at festivals all over the world. She's also served as a panelist and nominator for The Film and Video Fellowships (formerly Rockefeller). Her feature script, LAZARUS RISES, received a Sundance Institute/Ford Foundation Fellowship and Grant. She is from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Lakota and grew up in South Dakota.
Average Family previews September 4, 5 and 6, opens on September 7 and runs through October 6, 2007. It is most enjoyed by ages 9+.
CTC will celebrate the holidays with A Year with Frog and Toad, based on Arnold Lobel's Newbery and Caldecott Honor Books. With music by Robert Reale, book and lyrics by Willie Reale, this production is directed by Matthew Howe, based on original direction by David Petrarca.
They're back. The best of Amphibian friends, Frog and Toad, have their oh-so-glorious days as well as their not-so-good days, just like all best friends do. This CTC production was nominated for three Tony awards - Best Original Score, Best Book of a Musical and Best Musical. This production will be a cup of Christmas cheer with a plate of holiday cookies. Did someone say cookies? Where are the cookies? Who's bringing them - a snail?
A Year with Frog and Toad previews on November 13, 14, 15, opens on November 16 and runs through
January 5, 2008. Tickets will go on sale to the public on October 7, 2007. A Year with Frog and Toad is proudly sponsored by Piper Jaffray. It is most enjoyed by ages 4+.
CTC will venture into the New Year with Bud, Not Buddy, based on the Newberry Medal and Coretta Scott King Award winning book by Christopher Paul Curtis (who also authored The Watsons Go to Birmginham - 1963). Adapted for the stage by Reginald André Jackson with direction by Marion McClinton, Bud (don't call him Buddy) is a boy on a mission to find his father. Never mind that he's an orphan - four years since his mother died - and all he has to go by is a bunch of flyers for a band. Surely the only reason his Mama would have saved those flyers was if Herman H. Calloway, the band leader, was his father, right? Armed with some luck, a lot of pluck, and his own self-constructed "Rules to Have a Funner Life and Make a Better Liar Out of Yourself", Bud sets out to walk from Flint Michigan to Grand Rapids where he finds love, family and a home, but not quite the way he'd imagined them.
Marion McClinton's Broadway productions include Drowning Crow, the revival of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and King Hedley II for which he received a Tony Award nomination. His Off-Broadway credits include Jitney, which received Obie and Lortel Awards as well as the Olivier Award for Best Play in London; Roar, Talk and Breathe, Boom. He is an Associate Artist at CENTERSTAGE, as well as Mark Taper Forum, Playwrights Horizons, and Pillsbury House Theatre; an alumnus of New Dramatists, and a long time member of the Penumbra Theatre Company.
Bud, Not Buddy previews January 15, 16, 17, opens January 18 and runs through February 16, 2008. It is most enjoyed by ages 9+.
CTC's second winter production is If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, based on the book by Laura Joffe Numeroff, adapted for the stage by Jody Davidson and directed by Peter C. Brosius.
What starts off innocently enough - a boy gives a mouse a cookie - soon grows into a wild, ever expanding romp of cause and effect. Like an impetuous child, Mouse is always on to the next thing - getting one thing makes him just all that more excited about the next thing. He leaves a lot of messes in his wake, but it sure is fun to see what happens when he's around. A boy could find himself figure skating on scrub brushes, wrestling boa constrictors and climbing mountains.
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie previews February 26, 27, 28, opens February 29 and runs through April 6, 2008. It is most enjoyed by ages 4+.
Closing CTC's 2006-2007 mainstage season is The Magic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle with book, music and lyrics by Chad Henry. Adapted from the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Books by Betty MacDonald, the production is directed by Peter C. Brosius.
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle is one of a kind and one of children's literature's greatest characters. She lives in an upside down house (except for the staircase and bedroom) and has a lump - not a hump - on her back that is good for attaching wings and storing magic. She's a friend to kids and parents and always find a way to make humdrum tasks better than bearable. After all, who else would say, "Fighter-quarreleritis is a common childhood disease. It's very contagious, but easy to cure." Now that's magic!
The Magic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle previews April 22, 23, 24, opens April 25 and runs through June 15, 2008. It is most enjoyed by ages 5+.
Recently added to the CTC mainstage schedule is a limited engagement of Disney's High School Musical. The original television movie Disney's High School Musical has a book by David Simpatico; songs by Matthew Gerrard, Robbie Nevil, Ray Cham, Greg Cham, Andrew Seeley, Randy Petersen, Kevin Quinn, Andy Dodd, Adam Watts, Bryan Louiselle, David N. Lawrence, Faye Greenberg and Jamie Houston; music adapted, arranged and produced by Bryan Louiselle; and is based on a Disney Channel Original Movie written by Peter Barsocchini.
"We felt fortunate to be able to stage the first theatrical version of this cultural phenomenon with a fantastic creative team and one of the hardest working casts in America - all from Minnesota," says Peter Brosius, CTC artistic director. "And, now we get to do it again on the mainstage."
CTC's original creative team for the first theatrical version of Disney's incredibly popular TV movie, will reunite with director Peter Rothstein, choreographer by Michael Matthew Ferrell, music director John Lynn, scenic designer by Kate Sutton-Johnson, costume designer by Rich Hamson, lighting designer by Geoff Korf, and sound designer by C. Andrew Mayer.
Disney's High School Musical will preview on June 28, 29, open on June 30 and run through July 22. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on May 29, 2007.
Cargill Stage at CTC
FOR TEENS
CTC's first 2007-2008 production on the Cargill Stage CTC4teens is Fashion 47, a world premiere by Diane Paulus and Randy Weiner and directed by Diane Paulus.
This world premiere production takes place at the final taping of a fashion contest/extravaganza called FASHION 47. The energy and electricity of this event spills out into the Cargill Lobby as the 47 designers fight to be photographed by the paparazzi and interviewed by the tabloid-t.v. journalists. The doors to the stage are opened when its time for the audience to take a seat for the runway show. The audience members can dial in their votes, but it's the judges who will finally decide. However, in the fickle world of fashion, everything is not what it seems. And when the stakes are high, revenge and revolution might just become part of the show!
Diane Paulus is a highly acclaimed director of theater and opera. She is the creator and director of The Donkey Show, a disco adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which ran for six years Off-Broadway and toured internationally to London, Edinburgh, Madrid, and Evian, France. Her recent work includes Best of Both Worlds, a gospel/R&B adaptation of A Winter's Tale produced Off-Broadway by Music-Theatre Group and The Women's Project; and The Karaoke Show, an adaptation of Comedy of Errors set in a karaoke bar, produced by Jordan Roth Productions. Also for Music-Theatre Group, she directed the Obie award-winning and Pulitzer Prize finalist Running Man by jazz composer Diedre Murray and poet Cornelius Eady.
Fashion 47 previews September 25, 26, 27, opens September 28 and runs through October 21, 2007. It is most enjoyed by ages 13+.
Continuing for the teens is The Stones, written, directed, and performed by Stefo Nantsou and Tom Lycos.
Two actors with electric guitars play multiple roles as they act out this story (based on a real event) of two boys charged with murder after throwing rocks off a freeway overpass and killing a driver. This production is physical, volatile, manically energetic, tough, and funny. The audience is asked to become judge and jury and actually votes at the end of the play as to whether or not the boys should be convicted of manslaughter.
The world-renowned The Stones was created by Stefo and actor/writer/acrobat/musician Tom Lycos in 1996. Since then, it's been performed over 900 times and has toured extensively throughout Australia, Europe, Asia and North America. The Stones has also been translated and performed in 18 other languages, with Stefo and Tom having directed the show in Dutch, Welsh, Hungarian, Danish, German and Canadian.
The Stones previews February 12, 13, 14, opens February 15 and runs through March 9, 2008. It is most enjoyed by ages 13+.
Cargill Stage at CTC
FOR PRE-SCHOOLERS
CTC's pre-school production for the season is A Special Trade, a world premiere and co-production with Dockteatern Tittut's Christer Dahl with translation by Anne-Charlotte Harvey. Based on the book by Sally Wittman, it is directed by Christer Dahl.
Nelly and Bartholomew are neighbors and friends. Nelly is very young and Bartholemew is very old, but they both love walks on bumpy sidewalks, outwitting the mean dog next door and, most of all, helping each other. The story begins when Nellie is a baby and Bartholemew takes her on walks in her stroller. As Nelly grows up, Bartholomew grows older and soon Nellie is taking Bartholmew for walks in his wheelchair.
"We commissioned this from Christer Dahl during Docteatern Tittut's production of The Cat's Journey," said Elissa Adams, CTC's director of new play development. "We knew we wanted a brand new piece for preschoolers, but that we also wanted to continue to experience the mastery of the Tittut artists. We brought this book to Christer's attention and he fell in love with it. The script, music and puppets will be created by the Tittut artists and it will be performed by local actors."
Dockteatern Tittut was established in 1977 in Stockholm and is one of the world's first and oldest theaters performing for very young audiences (ages 2-5). The theater, which has spent many years developing a unique dramatic aesthetic for very young children, has been awarded several distinctions, including Prix d'ASSITEJ (International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People) and have toured to great acclaim at Festivals around the world.
A Special Trade will preview November 6, 7, 8 and open November 9, 2007 and run through January 6, 2008. It is most enjoyed by ages 2+.
CTC's 2007-2008 Season is proudly sponsored by Target. Minneapolis-based Target serves guests at 1,330 stores in 47 states nationwide by delivering today's best retail trends at affordable prices. Whether visiting a Target store or shopping online at Target.com, guests enjoy a fun and convenient shopping experience with access to thousands of unique and highly differentiated items. Target (NYSE:TGT) gives back more than $2 million a week to its local communities through grants and special programs. Since opening its first store in 1962 Target has partnered with nonprofit organizations, guests and team members to help meet community needs.
Season subscriptions for The Children's Theatre Company are available immediately. Five-play package prices for mainstage productions range from $49-$105 for children, students and seniors, and $71-$131 for adults. Three-play package prices for the mainstage range from $33-$71 for children, students and seniors, and $48-$87 for adults. Prices for the teen three-play package consisting of 2 plays in the Cargill and an additional production on the Cargill Stage are $46 for teens (19 and under) and $71 for adults. Five Play Pick 'Em package prices range from $78-$104 for children, students and seniors and $107-$131 for adults. Tickets for the Holiday production A Year with Frog and Toad and Disney's High School Musical are available to subscribers only and range from $15-$50 for children, students and seniors, and $20-$50 for adults. Single tickets for all productions (excluding A Year with Frog & Toad and Disney's High School Musical) go on sale Monday, July 23, 2007. Single tickets for Disney's High School Musical will go on sale Tuesday, May 29, 2007 and for A Year with Frog & Toad on Sunday, October 7, 2007. For further information, call The Children's Theatre Company ticket office at 612.874.0400 or visit our website at www.childrenstheatre.org.
Select photos are available at www.ctcpix.org.
The Children's Theatre Company is the recipient of the 2003 Regional Theatre Tony® Award for Outstanding Theatre.
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