Who Are Those Kids, Anyway?

Back row: London Walston, Bella Browne, Jacqueline Vellandi, Aoife McEvoy, Emily McDaneil, Zoe Hebbard, Maximos Harris and William Lynam.  Front row: Alexis Cueva, Joshua Myran, Ben Susskind, Karoline Ribak, Sophia Utria, Katherine Parrish, Mitchell Huntley and Olivia Drury

South Coast Repertory’s annual production of A Christmas Carol has a cast of 25 actors who play 49 roles. Eight of those actors are kids, who play eleven of the roles. And those eight young actors are, in fact, sixteen!

Confused? In 1980, when SCR produced A Christmas Carol for the first time, no one, including the director—then, as now, John-David Keller—knew that the play would run annually for the next 35 years! But they did know that the kids’ roles should be double-cast, allowing the young actors every other day off to spend with their families during the holiday season.

So the kids were divided into two groups—and named after the Christmasy colors of “red” and “green.” Each team has its own performance days, but during rehearsals both teams are often called, so that one can watch the other onstage. According to Keller, “This is a wonderful way for the young actors to see their characters, played by other actors, and learn from the experience. It’s actually great training.”

But who are these kids and how do they get the enviable roles that range from Tiny Tim and his brothers and sisters (the Cratchits) to Scrooge and Marley as boys, to poor kids on the street, to beautifully costumed singers and dancers in the party scenes? They’re students in SCR’s Theatre Conservatory, 16 very lucky kids, who won their roles through audition after at least a year in the program.

Because so many kids want to be a part of A Christmas Carol (more than 70 audition each season), most of the cast is new each year. This season’s young actors, from 13 cities throughout Southern California, are Alexis Cueva/Katherine Parrish (Martha Cratchit), Joshua Myran/Mitchell Huntley (Peter Cratchit), Emily McDaniel/Zoe Hebbard (Belinda Cratchit), Jacqueline Vellandi/Aoife McEvoy (Tiny Tim), Karoline Ribak/Sophia Utria (Fan/Teen Girl), Olivia Drury/Bella Browne (Girl About Town), Benjamin Susskind/London Walston (Young Ebenezer/Oliver Shelley), William Lynam/Maximos Harris (Turkey Boy).

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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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Conversation Abounds on First Night of "Zealot"

There was a lot to talk about on October 24, after First Night of Zealot, as playgoers gathered for the Cast Party, co-hosted by The Center Club.  The conversation revolved around the main topics of power and gender, as seen through the eyes of playwright Theresa Rebeck in her world premiere set in the turbulent Middle East.

Among those expressing their enthusiasm for the production were Honorary Producers Yvonne and Damien Jordan, who said, "To see Theresa Rebeck's compelling play come to life under the masterful direction of our own, Marc Masterson, with an outstanding cast and an amazing set, we could not be more thrilled with the outcome. Thanks to everyone involved with this production!"

Paul Hodgins, in his OC Register review, concurred.  Among his accolades: “Crackles with a potent mix of humor, raw emotion and conflicting ultimatums. Uncannily timely!”



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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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“Words That Rest on My Heart:” Charlayne Woodard Talks About the Power of Zealot

Alan Smyth and Charlayne Woodard in Zealot.

Actor Charlayne Woodard is drawn into the world created by playwright Theresa Rebeck in the new play, Zealot. Woodard portrays Ann Haddad, United States undersecretary of state.  “She speaks the words that rest on my heart,” Woodard says. “I totally identify with her passion to be of use and to help make things a little bit better for women globally.” We caught up with Woodard after Zealot opened at South Coast Repertory and asked her a few questions to delve into her love of theatre and this new play.

Nikki Massoud, Woodard and Smyth.

What attracted you to acting—and once there, did you have a mentor?
When I was in tenth grade, living in Albany, N.Y., I had a teacher who turned us on to the Greek tragedies and to Shakespeare. His name was John Velie and he was also the head of our Albany High School theatre club. He also introduced me to his favorite modern playwrights, like Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neill, by casting me in their plays, from tenth grade through graduation. Mr. Velie also encouraged me to write and create for the theatre, because at the time, there was very little for a young black girl to work on as an actress.

What three words describe you?

• Passionate. Life doesn't seem worth living if you don't put your whole heart and soul into it. This is the only day I have; I always try to make it count for something. Day by day. I believe, as artists, we don't have the luxury of remaining in our safe little bubbles. We must stretch and go exploring in different communities, various cultures and disciplines.
• Curious. We are as interesting as our choices. Why not know as much as we can about everything and everybody and then bring it to our work. Let our explorations inform and enhance our work.
• “Funster.” And of course, all work and no play makes Charlayne a very dull creature. So, I never forget to include joy in my day. I love the feeling of just throwing back my head and laughing out loud. I came to live out loud. Didn't Goethe say that?

What attracted you to Zealot?
I have been a fan of Theresa Rebeck's brilliant work for years now. Zealot is a bold, courageous, important play. My character, Ann Haddad, speaks the words that rest on my heart. I totally identify with her passion to be of use and to help make things a little bit better for women globally. We have a responsibility to our tribe. And there it is: a play with a feminist at its center. Her writing style and use of language poses a particular challenge to any actor. Every night I take on that challenge. Why are we working, for heaven's sake?

Woodard and Smyth.

What are some of the delights and challenges you found in creating “Ann” in Zealot?
I delight in sparring with Alan Smyth during eight shows a week. He is a great scene partner: funny, gifted and full of heart. He is dangerous as Edgar Featherstone. I have to say that one of the challenges of doing Zealot is the commute from LA! I am a New Yorker at heart and freeway driving is scary to me. Alan suggested we carpool. Brilliant! We ride to work together, taking turns with the driving. Those trips to and from work could be the material for a new two-character play. We tell each other the best stories. Sometimes we just drive home in the dark listening to great music, and one night we even sang. Needless to say, we discuss every nook and cranny of Zealot.

What do you hope audiences come away with having seen Zealot?
I hope they see the brilliance of Theresa Rebeck's writing. This play is about the times we are living in. The debate is fierce and all of the characters feel they are right. We are all zealots. I hope Zealot opens people's hearts and minds to the fact that not everyone is blessed to live as we do. That the “Boys' Club” is running the show now, women must share in power if we are ever going to change this world for the better. Change is good...for everybody.

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