Along Came a Spider: The Inspiration for Charlotte’s Web

Zilah Mendoza, Fran De Leon, Larry Bates, Brad Culver, Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper and Lovelle Liquigan

Many people first encounter E.B. White’s classic book Charlotte’s Web as a school reading assignment: a book about a pig and a spider and other creatures and humans. But then, something wonderful happens—the story stays with the reader and becomes part of fond memories of childhood. Or adulthood, as people return to read it again and again. What do you remember most from reading Charlotte’s Web? Tell us!

Why did E.B. White choose to write about a pig? To answer the question that came to him from many readers, White wrote a letter to “kids” everywhere.

E.B. White

Dear Reader:

I receive many letters from children and can’t answer them all—there wouldn’t be time enough in a day. That is why I am sending you this printed reply to your letter. I’ll try to answer some of the questions that are commonly asked.

Where did I get the idea for Stuart Little and for Charlotte’s Web? Well, many years ago I went to bed one night in a railway sleeping car, and during the night I dreamed about a tiny boy who acted rather like a mouse. That’s how the story of Stuart Little got started.

As for Charlotte’s Web, I like animals and my barn is a very pleasant place to be, at all hours. One day when I was on my way to feed the pig, I began feeling sorry for the pig because, like most pigs, he was doomed to die. This made me sad. So I started thinking of ways to save a pig’s life. I had been watching a big grey spider at her work and was impressed by how clever she was at weaving. Gradually I worked the spider into the story that you know, a story of friendship and salvation on a farm. Three years after I started writing it, it was published. (I am not a fast worker, as you can see.)

Sometimes I’m asked how old I was when I started to write, and what made me want to write. I started early—as soon as I could spell. In fact, I can’t remember any time in my life when I wasn’t busy writing. I don’t know what caused me to do it, or why I enjoyed it, but I think children often find pleasure and satisfaction in trying to set their thoughts down on paper, either in words or in pictures. I was no good at drawing, so I used words instead. As I grew older, I found that writing can be a way of earning a living.

Some of my readers want me to visit their school. Some want me to send a picture, or an autograph, or a book. And some ask questions about my family and my animals and my pets. Much as I’d like to, I can’t go visiting. I can’t send books, either—you can find them in a bookstore or a library. Many children assume that a writer owns (or even makes) his own books. This is not true—books are made by the publisher. If a writer wants a copy, he must buy it. That’s why I can’t send books. And I do not send autographs—I leave that to the movie stars. I live most of the year in the country, in New England. From our windows we can look out at the sea and the mountains. I live near my married son and three grandchildren.

Are my stories true, you ask? No, they are imaginary tales, containing fantastic characters and events. In real life, a family doesn’t have a child who looks like a mouse; in real life, a spider doesn’t spin words in her web. In real life, a swan doesn’t blow a trumpet. But real life is only one kind of life—there is also the life of the imagination. And although my stories are imaginary, I like to think that there is some truth in them, too—truth about the way people and animals feel and think and act.

Yours sincerely,

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The Wonderment of "Charlotte’s Web"

“[Charlotte’s Web is about] friendship on earth, affection and protection, adventure and miracle, life and death, trust and treachery, pleasure and pain, and the passing of time. As a piece of work, it is just about perfect, and just about magical in the way it is done.”

–Eudora Welty, The New York Times Book Review

E. B. White’s beloved children’s book Charlotte’s Web tells the story of Wilbur—a young, runt of a pig—whose life is saved by the friendship of a young girl named Fern and a gifted, grey barn spider named Charlotte.

Nursed to health by Fern with bottles of milk, Wilbur soon goes to live on her Uncle Homer’s farm, where he grows up surrounded by a lively barnyard full of animals.

His motley crew of friends includes a scheming rat named Templeton, a prim and proper Goose and Gander, an ancient Sheep, and Charlotte, a wise, barnyard spider who concocts a brilliant plan to spin words into her web to save Wilbur’s life.

Seeing a series of incredible words—“Some Pig,” “Terrific,” and “Radiant”—written in Charlotte’s web, Uncle Homer declares them a miracle and takes his special pig to the County Fair to compete for a blue ribbon. If Wilbur wins, Homer promises that he’ll live a long and happy life, but he’ll need Charlotte’s help to make it happen.

Director Laurie Woolery returns to South Coast Repertory to direct Joseph Robinette’s stage adaptation of this classic, heart-warming tale of love, friendship and life on a farm. 

“SCR is my artistic home,” Woolery says. “Just as Fern has a coming of age in Charlotte’s Web, I had my own coming of age here.”

Woolery got her start in theatre through SCR’s Theatre Conservatory program in 1989, Where she served as director of the conservatory from 1999 to 2005. She wrote and directed many shows for SCR’s conservatory and went on to serve as the associate artistic director of Cornerstone Theatre in Los Angeles. She is currently the associate director of public works at the Public Theatre in New York City.

Costume renderings for Templeton, Wilbur and Charlotte by designer Soojin Lee

Woolery has assembled a phenomenal cast and creative team to adapt E.B. White’s classic book for the stage, including actors Larry Bates, Brad Culver, Fran De Leon, Lovelle Liquigan, Zila Mendoza, and Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper. The designers include scenic designers Nephelie Andonyadis and Trevor Norton, costume designer Soojin Lee, lighting designer Jeremy Pivnick and sound designer Corinne Carillo.

E. B. White—His Life, Work and Inspiration

E. B. White, the author of such beloved children's classics as Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan, was born in Mount Vernon, New York. He graduated from Cornell University in 1921 and, five or six years later, joined the staff of The New Yorker magazine. White authored seventeen books of prose and poetry and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1973.

In addition to writing children's books, White also wrote books for adults, as well as poems and essays, and he drew sketches for The New Yorker magazine. Some of his other books include: One Man's Meat, The Second Tree from the Corner, Letters of E. B. White, The Essays of E. B. White and Poems and Sketches of E. B. White.

Funnily enough for such a famous writer, he always said that he found writing difficult and bad for one's disposition but he kept at it!

“All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.”
—E. B. White

White won countless awards, including the 1971 National Medal for Literature and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, which commended him for making “a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.”

During his lifetime, many young readers asked Mr. White if his stories were true. In a letter written to be sent to his fans, he answered, “No, they are imaginary tales… But real life is only one kind of life—there is also the life of the imagination.”

White lived on a farm in Maine where he kept animals; some of these creatures made their way into his stories and books, like Stuart in Stuart Little, or Charlotte in Charlotte's Web. White said, “I like animals, and my barn is a very pleasant place to be, at all hours!”

White said of his inspiration for Charlotte’s Web: “I had been watching a big grey spider at her work and was impressed by how clever she was at weaving. Gradually I worked the spider into the story that you know, a story of friendship and salvation on a farm.”

Source: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/contributor/e-b-white

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"Charlotte’s Web:" Six Actors Spin a Beloved Tale of Friendship

The cast of Charlotte's Web: (left to right) Zilah Mendoza, Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper, Lovelle Liquigan, Brad Culver, Fran De Leon, Larry Bates.

E.B. White’s cherished classic, Charlotte’s Web adapted by Joseph Robinette, will be brought to life and kick off SCR’s 2014-15 Theatre for Young Audiences series. The cast is a mix of new and familiar faces including an actress who has performed for the United Nations Associations, three actors returning from The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales and an actress who works with an organization that uses the arts to enrich youth in communities.

Larry Bates (Wilbur) returns to South Coast Repertory where he has appeared in numerous productions—including Mr. Marmalade by Noah Haidle, Jitney by August Wilson and Top Dog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks—and he has been in Theatre for Young Audiences productions such as Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing and last season’s The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. He says he loves being part of productions that reach out to younger audiences. His television credits include “NYPD Blue,” “The Unit,” “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” “Huff,” “Dark Blue,” “Numb3rs” and “Boston Public.”

Brad Culver (Mr. Arable/Templeton/Lurvy/Judge) returns to South Coast Repertory after his debut in last season’s The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. He started acting when he was a child. At the age of five, he appeared in The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein and fell in love with the stage. He is active in theatre, film and television, and has voiced characters on Cartoon Network’s “Regular Show.” He has performed in around the world, in venues in Croatia, Germany and Scotland. He writes music and is a bass player in a band. Culver grew up in Pasadena and earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts.

Fran De Leon (Mrs. Arable/Sheep/Edith Zuckerman/Reporter/Spectator) is making her South Coast Repertory debut. She was inspired to act when her mother took her to see Jesus Christ Superstar. She enjoys traveling and recently was able to tour her one person show Faces of America across the United States and for the United Nations Associations. She runs Will & Company with her husband Colin which performs at schools in the L.A. and Orange County areas. Her television credits include “Charmed,” “Titus” and “That’s So Raven.”

Lovelle Liquigan (Fern/Goose/Spectator) returns to South Coast Repertory after last appearing in Life is a Dream. Past credits include Romeo and Juliet at the Independent Shakespeare Company, Steel Magnolias at East West Players and Cymbeline at Santa Clarita Shakespeare Festival. She credits SCR for reinvigorating her as an actress after taking the advanced actors workshop lead by Karen Hensel.

Zilah Mendoza (Charlotte) is making her South Coast Repertory debut. She has performed across the country and has toured with MAPP (Mentor Artists Playwrights Project) whose focus is arts enrichment for youth and developing programs in their communities. MAPP has taken her to places such Idaho (Lapwai and Coeur d’Alene), Alaska and Canada. Her television credits include “The King of Queens,” “Modern Family” and “One on One.”

Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper (Avery/Homer/Gander/Uncle the Pig) is a Theatre for Young Audiences veteran at SCR. He appeared last season as a gaggle of characters in The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. Mongiardo-Cooper also appeared at SCR in The Night Fairy, adapted by John Glore, The Borrowers by Mary Norton, adapted by Charles Way; Lucky Duck by Bill Russell and Jeffrey Hatcher, music by Henry Krieger and lyrics by Bill Russell; and Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business by Joan Cushing. A favorite production of his was Ferdinand the Bull—where he portrayed Ferdinand—at the Lewis Family Playhouse. Born in New York City, Mongiardo-Cooper appeared there in numerous plays and musicals before moving to California. He attended the High School of Performing Arts and New York University.

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