“Families wonder what is the first play they can bring their children to,” says First Stage children’s theater artistic director Jeff Frank. “They ask, ‘When will they be ready?’” Frank and his staff have provided an answer, and a creative solution, to that question with its “First Steps Series.” Well-regarded nationally as a preeminent children’s theater, First Stage continues to entertain and delight children of all ages, and with First Steps, now in its 10th year, they can start as young as 3 years old.
“We began to provide opportunities for families with younger children by having shows with the lights turned up and no intermission,” adds Frank. The first offering in the new First Steps season kicks off with The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, which includes a stage adaptation of one of the most popular children’s books ever and includes three additional stories as well: The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse, Mister Seahorse and The Very Lonely Firefly. All this in the space of 55 minutes with no intermission. Audience interaction is strongly encouraged and welcomed.
Sitting in the spacious cast and staff area of the colorful Milwaukee Youth Arts Center (MYAC) in Downtown Milwaukee, Frank and First Stage education director Julie Magnasco talked about the importance of the program as well as the upcoming production, which features 75 puppets of varying sizes and shapes.
“These are life-size-looking puppets,” explains Magnasco, who started out as a student in the First Stage Academy. “They are as small as a seahorse,” which she illustrates by putting her thumb and forefinger inches apart, “and as large as an elephant,” spreading her arms wide and sporting a big grin. Magnasco directs Caterpillar and talks about the importance with such a young audience of being able to communicate through actions as well as dialogue. And what’s unique about this production is that she uses child actors from the First Stage Academy to work the puppets as well; it’s the first time in the show’s history that younger actors have been cast.
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A ‘Caterpillar’ That Teaches and Entertains
“When a child grabs onto a puppet, it becomes a toy. It has a personality, and it comes to life with the imagination they bring to it,” she emphasizes. And, while this show entertains, it also teaches both the young actors as well as the young audience members.
Past Caterpillar productions typically use one actor per puppet; the First Steps production uses two, so that the younger actors learn to work together with others, says Frank. And for the young audiences, the show teaches children the days of the week and how to count based on that very hungry caterpillar’s voracious appetite; this caterpillar eats one apple on Monday, two pears on Tuesday, three plums on Wednesday... You get the idea. After getting sick from gorging on Saturday, the caterpillar eats healthy on Sunday (one green leaf) and is ready to cocoon—emerging two weeks later as a butterfly.
One of the key aspects to this production—a hallmark of First Stage’s innovative programming—is an American Sign Language (ASL)-interpreted performance on Sunday, Nov. 4, and a sensory-friendly performance for families with children on the autism spectrum on Saturday, Oct. 13. For the latter, lights are turned up in the intimate, 150-seat MYAC theater, and the sound is lowered, Frank explains. In addition, there is a “quiet space” for children who need to leave the theater that is staffed by an educator experienced in the care of children with autism and other developmental disabilities, says Magnasco. Families can also can get a specially designed kit ahead of the sensory-friendly performance to work with children with autism, which includes toys and other materials that explains the show’s storyline and what they will be seeing onstage.
Regardless of the performance, Frank wants the young audience members to respond and interact, so the seating is casual, with pillows on the floor, and the puppets close up and as large as life—certainly looming even larger through the eyes of a child. “We are taking these books as a base and literally bringing these stories and illustrations to life,” Magnasco says.
First Stage’s First Steps production of The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show runs Sept. 22-Nov. 4 at the MYAC, 325 W. Walnut St. It is suggested for families with children ages 3-7+. For tickets, 414-273-7206 or visit firststage.org.
