Some of Aesop’s fables and the Brothers Grimm will come to life this week as Shawano Community High School drama students present “Story Theatre” in three performances Thursday through Saturday.
The play will be shorter than some of the more recent SCHS plays and fit for all ages, whereas last year’s nonmusical selections were mainly appropriate for ages 13 and up. “Story Theatre” intertwines five treasured tales, including “The Master Thief” and “Henny Penny,” in a storybook read by a young girl.
“It comes back to her life every now and then,” said director Alexander Konen, who is taking the reins from Mark Otte, who left during the summer for a teaching position at Waupaca High School.
Konen found out in late summer that he would be in charge of directing the fall and spring plays, so he fell back on familiar material.
“It was something that I had read before, that I had done before, and I knew I’d have a little bit of help on how to do certain aspects of the show,” Konen said.
There are 14 students in the show, and most of them are playing multiple roles.
Julia Heup is finding the ability to juggle more than one role to be an interesting but welcome challenge.
“It’s a really interesting twist on most of the traditional fables you hear with all the horrible endings,” Heup said. “It’s really interesting to get into it with such shortened scenes, and it’s been fun to get into each character.”
The fables are tweaked to show happier endings after each one. Henny Penny, for example, manages to escape the clutches of the villainous Foxy Loxy. In the traditional tale, she and her friends get gobbled up.
Most of the actors are ready for opening night, according to Konen, and the remainder are on the cusp of being ready.
“By the time we open, things will look really well,” Konen said.
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