Submitted by Horizon Youth Theatre
Horizon Youth Theatre is pleased to announce its 2016 winter production, The Fabulous Fables of Aesop, adapted and directed by Keith Guion. Performances are at Otsego High School, 18505 Tontogany Creek Road, on Friday November 11 and Saturday November 12 at 7:00 pm; and Sunday November 13 at 2:00 pm. Tickets are $5.00 and will be available at HorizonYouthTheatre.org or at the door.
There will also be a preview at Wood County District Public Library on Saturday, November 5 at 10:30 am, which is free and open to the public. An excerpt will also be performed for John Zibbel’s Foundations of Inclusive Early Childhood class at BGSU on Tuesday evening to help demonstrate the benefits of theatre for elementary-age children.
Actors aged 6 to 12 from six area schools are featured, as well as online / home schooled: BG Middle School, Conneaut Elementary, Otsego Elementary, Montessori School of Bowling Green, Maumee Valley Country Day School, and Ohio Virtual Academy.
The play involves a company of twelve young players who arrive to share the fables of Aesop. Since Aesop wrote as many as 600 fables, this is an enormous undertaking. Several players try to accomplish this challenging task by sharing different fables at the same time, speaking over one another to be heard. When this method isn’t effective, the remaining players explain, through one of Aesop’s fables, exactly why it didn’t work. Then all the players collaborate to share several additional fables, some of them familiar, others not as well known.
By using very simple costumes and set pieces, and the players themselves in multiple roles as well as occasionally becoming inanimate objects to represent certain props, this unique version of Aesop’s classic fables will surprise and delight audiences of all ages.
Keith would like to emphasize the importance of the entire ensemble in this production, stating “the production team is as much a part of the ensemble as the actors.” Therefore, the stage crew members are also being listed, which is unusual for a pre-show press release.
Cast members:
Production Team:
Stage Manager – Alli Kulbago
Technical Director and Set Construction – Greg Hall
Costume Designer – Lynette Cooley
Props – Wendy Guion
Backstage Crew:
Ligaya Edge, Bindi Hoskay, Kate Ludwig, Alexandra and Isobel Roberts-Zibbel, Bob Walters*
HYT would like to thank OTSEGO SCHOOLS for the generous access to its facilities we’ve enjoyed since 2014. We couldn’t do this without you.
*Additional crew members and production staff may be added at a later date
