“Are there swords? Are there swords?”
That’s always the first question Steven Fogell gets from school kids eager to know more about “The Adventures of Don Quixote,” a Bainbridge Performing Arts‚ Theater School Outreach production running Tuesday through Thursday this week at the Playhouse.
Fogell is quick to reassure the assembled students:
“Well, duh!”
BPA’s Theatre School director has adapted the Cervantes classic in a new all-ages production designed to appeal to first through eighth graders.
The stage set has the characters literally appearing out of a giant 10-by-12-foot book, and even the backdrop resembles a classic volume.
Dynamic visual effects have been built in to satisfy younger students, Fogell says, but not at the expense of language and story elements that will keep older audience members entertained as well.
Throw in plenty of physical comedy, bring on a giant and a dragon, add a battle scene or two and you’re practically there.
It’s the “where” that’s especially interesting.
The production is legitimate community theater, with the company’s usual top-notch technical design and veteran BPA actors in all the key roles. But it’s also an ambitious attempt to synch theatrical performance with specific curriculum objectives in an educational effort that could have impact across the state and even beyond.
Fogell says BPA has been working hard over the past several years to develop outreach activities to island schools.
The current BPA Theatre School Outreach program is part of a larger arts consortium project that also includes some state funding.
The goal, he says, is to develop theatrical programming in tandem with other educational program materials to help teachers meet specific curriculum goals.
To that end, formal curriculum materials are developed along with the stage adaptation. These materials are designed to help teachers in various disciplines and at various age levels make effective use of the dramatic resource in their classrooms.
For “Don Quixote,” Fogell says, actual teacher guides were prepared.
Previews were also given to students at Wilkes, Ordway and Sakai, together with academic exercises and other activities linking the play to the appropriate field of study for each class – say, the Renaissance period of world history.
Students at Woodward will also see the play during its three-day run.
A similar Outreach production, “The Complete History of the World in 45 Minutes,” is scheduled for performance next April. That play – described as a breezy overview of every fact, figure and theory in the history of mankind– shares a similar format with “Don Quixote.” At 45 minutes, both are brief and have very compact casts – seven actors total between them.
They were designed that way, Fogell says, to facilitate possible touring across the state when their island run is over.
Budget cutbacks in public schools are decreasing the opportunities for many students to view live theatrical performances, he says, especially in remote rural locations without local theaters. He envisions rotating productions travelling to locations like Winthrop or Orcas Island to help provide those opportunities – and show off some of Bainbridge’s best performing and technical talent in the process.
Even if the touring program never comes to pass, however, teachers are responding to the idea of dramatic performance as an educational tool.
“We already have tons of bookings for the ‘Complete History’ shows!” Fogell said.
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The BPA Theatre School Outreach program presents “The Adventures of Don Quixote,” Oct. 29-30 at the Playhouse. School matinees are Wednesday and Thursday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.; the evening show is 7 p.m. Oct. 30.
School bookings: sfogell@theplayhouse.org or 842-1163. Tickets: $5 for matinees; $7 for students and seniors, $9 for adults for the evening show. Information: 842-8569.
