By Michelle Hines, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted 1-16-07
GREENSBORO, NC – If a couple of married giants, two cows, magic beans and a very fertile hen aren’t enough to stimulate your imagination, how about some good ole mountain music?
“Jack and the Wonder Beans,” the latest production from the North Carolina Theatre for Young People at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, has it all. And more.
The show tours beginning Feb. 1 and will play at the Greensboro Historical Museum March 27-April 1. The museum is located at 130 Summit Ave. in Greensboro.
Director Kim Cuny, a communications studies professor at UNCG who is also completing an MFA in Theatre for Youth, said the show carries some important lessons for kids. “It’s all about Jack coming to realize that he has everything he needs at home. Jack has folk toys, a cow, a jaw harp and his mom, which is all he needs. They’ve got food and shelter; they’ve got each other.”
Adapted by Larry E. Snipes from the book by James Still, “Jack” is set in the Appalachian Mountains, against the stratified socio-economic background of the 1920s and 30s.
“For me this is a story about the beauty in the simple things,” Cuny said. “For me, Jack’s world is the rural mountain life. In that world Jack lives in they have everything they need, as opposed to the giants’ world where they always have a need for more. But underneath that stratification undertone, it’s really about celebrating folk life and accepting the ways of another group of people.”
To get a sense of the social climate they wanted to evoke, Cuny and the crew investigated the impact of the Vanderbilts’ Biltmore House, which included a dairy, on the Asheville area. They also approached Paperhand Puppet Intervention of Saxapahaw for help with costume and prop design. The giants’ costumes are worn on the actors’ heads for the needed height. One is a backpack assembly, the other a bike helmet assembly. The actors’ pink-gloved hands become the cows’ tongues, and look for a mechanical hen who literally lays an egg in her part.
Then there’s the music. The actors play folk instruments including guitars, fiddles, spoons, washboards, paper bags and jaw harps. “There’s lots of music,” Cuny said. “Toe-tappin’ folk music.”
A storyteller and the storyteller’s apprentice take turns telling Jack’s story, mirroring the folk tradition of passing stories and storytelling skills down through the generations, Cuny said.
All actors are undergraduate or graduate theatre or theatre education majors. The cast includes: Jared Taylor as Jack; Molly Malone as Mam, the Chicken Lady, the Toy Maker, the Gypsy and the High Tall Giantess; Megan McIver as Storyteller; Dylaney Edinger as Storyteller’s Apprentice, Cow One and the High Tall Giant; and Lori Cargill, tour manager and assistant director, as Cow Two. Set designer is Debra Holmes, costume designer is Ashley Newby, stage manager is Coral Alkire, assistant stage manager is Justin Peavey, property mistress is Lorin Williams.
Call (336) 334-4015 to schedule “Jack” at your school or community center, or to reserve or purchase tickets for the Greensboro Historical Museum performances. Show dates and times are: March 27-30, 10 a.m. and noon; March 31, 11 a.m. and a sign-interpreted performance at 3 p.m.; and April 1, 3 p.m. Tickets are $7 for adults; $6 for seniors, children and students; and $5 for groups of 10 or more and UNCG students.
For a behind-the-scenes look at the show, log on to the “Jack” blog at http://wonderbeans.nctyp.org.
