Situation Grimm

The Brothers Baughman bring wacky fairy tales to life for The Fun Company

Thursday, Feb. 16, 2006

by Nicole Belanger

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Bill Ryan⁄the Gazette

Matt Baughman of Germantown and his brother Andrew Lloyd Baughman of Frederick are The Brothers Grimm in The Fun Company’s latest production. Above: Andrew Baughman huffs and puffs as a big, bad wolf.

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Matt Baughman puts on his thinking cap. The show begins Saturday at the Cultural Arts Center and runs through March 11.

There aren’t many plays where the kids in the audience get to write their own fairy tale, but then again there aren’t many shows like The Brothers’ Grimm Excellent Adventure.

The wacky production features two real-life brothers who have had years to perfect their slapstick comedy with each other.

Written by Andrew Baughman, a veteran of the Frederick theater world, the actor said he knew he wanted to write a script centering on him and his brother, Matt.

‘‘It’s been a work in progress for a while,” he said, noting that the entire script took him about a year to write.

Presented by The Fun Company, a children’s theatre troupe affiliated with The Maryland Ensemble Theatre, the two-man play opens Saturday.

The show is truly a family affair, with Andrew’s wife, Melissa, directing.

Matt said he is looking forward to the show, in which he plays Jacob Grimm. His brother plays Wilhelm Grimm.

‘‘It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s a really clever script and we get to do a bit of improv,” he said.

The story is based on several fairy tales, which run together and include familiar tales like Little Red Riding Hood, The Frog Prince, Rumplestiltskin and Rapunzel.

The Brothers Grimm Excellent Adventure
When: 2 p.m. Saturdays through March 11
Where: 31 W. Patrick St., Frederick
Tickets: $12 for adults, $8 for students
For information: 301-694-4744, www.marylandensemble.org

The Baughmans take turns playing many different characters. In Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, Matt plays all seven dwarfs, which he says will be a challenging, but fun experience.

During the one-hour show, the two teach the kids in the audience how to write a fairy tale, with a different tale created in each show.

The brothers have both been actors since they were teenagers and have appeared in different shows together, although they haven’t done a show together in Frederick for the past two years, Matt said.

Besides being an actor, Andrew is also a playwright, having written several scripts for his own theater company, The Landless Theater Company, based in Washington, D.C. Most of his plays are written for adult audiences, but he enjoys being able to target shows toward children. In addition to ‘‘Brothers Grimm,” he wrote ‘‘Mother Goose on the Loose” for the Fun Company last season.

‘‘Kids are a much more fun audience to play for,” he said.

Both brothers say rehearsing for the show has been pretty easy, since their brotherly relationship comes across naturally on stage.

‘‘We already have that comfortable relationship since we are brothers,” Matt said.

Andrew agrees.

‘‘A lot of this show is performances that we’ve already done,” he said, adding that for the script, he just threw the parts together.