Freedom (and fun) with Huck Finn and Ferdinand

Children’s theater offers diversity — and something for everyone

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Scott Suchman for Imagination Stage (Above) Huck (Matthew McGloin) and Jim (Donovan Hagins) prepare for adventure on the river, as the ensemble (From left, Lisa Lias, Michael John Casey, Jonathan Watkins, Steve McWilliams), provides musical accompaniment. (Right) It’s no bull — Ferdinand (Michael Mejia) just loves his flowers. Click here to enlarge this photo Bruce Douglas for Adventure Theatre Say it with flowers: Cochina (Priscilla Cuellar) turns her back on Ferdinand (Michael Mejia) and his flowers.

Freedom means different things to different people — and different age groups — and the juxtaposition of two plays at two children’s theaters this spring is a wonderful study in contrasts.

In downtown Bethesda, Imagination Stage sets sail with ‘‘Huck Finn’s Story,” a faithful adaptation of Mark Twain’s classic designed for children, 9 and older. In bucolic Glen Echo, not too far away, Adventure Theatre trots out ‘‘Ferdinand the Bull,” a Latin-flavored tale about a flower-loving bull for ages 4 to 10. These are two very different stories aimed at different age groups, but each has roots in literature — and each has wings with which young imaginations can fly.

‘‘I think a lot of people mix ‘Huck Finn’ up with ‘Tom Sawyer,’” says Imagination Stage director Kathryn Chase Bryer. ‘‘They think it’s a cute coming-of-age story about a sweet, lovable rascal. In truth, it’s a story about freedom — and about racism and slavery in pre-Civil War America.”

For older kids, it’s an opportunity to see where history and literature dovetail, and to watch friendship trump adversity big-time.

‘‘Here’s a boy who saves his friend even though everyone says it’s wrong,” says Bryer. ‘‘It’s a classic, it’s literature, but we are showing a child standing up and saying, ‘The rules of my society are wrong, and I’m going to do the right thing.’”

Actor Donovan Hagins says he wondered whether taking on the role of runaway slave Jim was indeed doing the right thing.

‘‘It’s the first time in my career I’m playing a slave, and I’ve been in this profession for 10 years,” says the Philadelphia native, a Temple University alumnus with a bachelor of arts degree in theater. ‘‘I talked to a couple of mentors of mine about approaching the character — there’s a guarded strength to him, knowing what he’s trying to get away from. He’s not a runaway slave who’s baffled and completely lost. He’s not being ridiculed. He’s grounded.”

Hagins calls it a learning experience — and a big responsibility.

‘‘It works well,” he says. ‘‘Kate [Bryer], me and Matt McGloin, who plays Huck, we can just sit down and create. It’s true for all playwrights: When an actor brings a certain quality to a role, it enlightens the playwright.”

The goal, it seems, is to temper Twain’s sometimes bitterly observed satire by focusing on the story’s positive elements.

‘‘There’s [Jim] and his friend, both running away from different things ... and they’re both experiencing freedom in two different ways.”

Toro’s tale

A bull and a matador eschew the ring to play in a field of flowers. The freedom at stake in ‘‘Ferdinand the Bull” may lack the historic resonance of ‘‘Huck Finn’s Story,” but director Michael Bobbitt sees it as a wonderful jumping-off point for youngsters — in half a dozen ways.

‘‘Ferdinand is a bull who likes to pick flowers. Danillo the matador, the son of the Duke of Spain, wants to be a dancer,” he says. ‘‘The two of them are stepping out of the box.”

And because of the play’s strong Latin flavor, their stepping involves the flair of flamenco — and their world bears the artistic imprint of Pablo Picasso.

‘‘I thought it would be great to have a Latino play with a Latino cast,” says Bobbitt, noting that ‘‘Ferdinand” was adapted from the book by Monroe Leaf by an award-winning team — Karen Zacarias and Deborah Wicks La Puma — both Latinas. ‘‘And because it’s based in Spain: Picasso. His work is so imaginative, one-dimensional and three-dimensional at the same time.”

Bobbitt says the Adventure Theatre designers have incorporated the brilliant colors and abstract images found in Picasso’s paintings into ‘‘Ferdinand’s” set, costumes, props and even lighting. Production manager Wendy Nogales says that for a children’s play, Picasso is a perfect fit.

‘‘Kids are your biggest critics,” says Nogales. ‘‘Sometimes when you try to create a world in naturalism, they point out your mistakes.

‘‘But their imagination is creating the world these characters live in. It’s a world of imagination — this abstract fun world with amazing colors and crazy characters — and it’s a hundred percent fun!”

Talk back

For Matthew McGloin, 23, it has been a winding road to Huck Finn.

‘‘Any role takes some time to immerse myself in, but there’s a moment when everything starts to click,” he says. ‘‘I’ve been finding a little Huck Finn in myself, [going to the] places I need to go.

‘‘I learned a lot about freedom from Huck, how life is supposed to be lived.”

McGloin calls it the privilege of being an actor: ‘‘to go somewhere you’re not used to.” Not that he goes there alone — all six members of the ensemble cast are onstage throughout the 70-minute show.

‘‘I haven’t seen it from the audience,” says Hagins, ‘‘but the musicians come behind Jim and Huck — if I can use the term — like a Greek chorus.”

A Greek chorus ‘‘using live instruments: guitar, mandolin, banjo, percussion. All the actors participate, and old folk tales, old Negro spirituals — it all intertwines with the play.

‘‘It’s pretty exciting.”

McGloin says the music ‘‘underscores the show. The sounds are bluesy, twangy. There’s a bottleneck effect on the guitar; there’s African drumming. It prompts the atmosphere in terms of tension and danger.”

‘‘My character is sometimes providing the obstacle without knowing it,” notes McGloin, who describes his character’s rite of passage from ‘‘a place of innocence — but not blamelessness.”

Indeed, the subject of slavery has come up during post-show ‘‘talk back” sessions, and the play’s ‘‘serious, edgy” subject matter means it really is recommended for older kids.

‘‘There are moments that are quite powerful, when the audience is hushed,” says McGloin. ‘‘And the questions they ask at the end say it all.”

Answering those questions has helped the cast become more attuned to the play and its message.

As Bryer says, ‘‘there are some tense moments,” but she and the cast stress the play’s overarching humanity.

‘‘It’s about larger things, but it’s about smaller things, too,” the director says. ‘‘That’s what makes the book a classic. This is the first book that was really, truly the American voice.”

Love and peace

Of course, the American voice sometimes speaks with an accent, as Priscilla Cuellar can tell you. Cueller grew up in Montgomery County, but her parents are from Bolivia. She jumped at the chance to portray a Latina character — even a pig like Cochina.

‘‘It all takes place in Spain,” she says, ‘‘and I don’t think there’s much Latin theater out there, but anytime Michael Bobbitt calls me to do a play, I’m up for doing it.”

She says that’s because Bobbitt, whom she first met as a student at Montgomery College, likes to spice up his productions with characters [and actors] from a variety of cultures and races.

‘‘It’s good for children to see that,” says Cuellar. ‘‘The show is especially good because we’ll say a word in Spanish, then in English. They’re always learning.”

And not just learning a language.

‘‘It’s a show about people, and how each person is different in their opinions,” the actress says. ‘‘Just because they’re supposed to be a certain way doesn’t mean they are. There can be peace among people who are meant to be enemies. There can be friendship.”

For Ferdinand and Danillo, and for Jim and Huck, friendship is the bottom line.

‘‘A child coming of age, learning who he is in the world, standing up for what he believes in,” says Bryer. ‘‘All of us getting to know each other’s humanity.

‘‘If there’s an answer, to me, that’s the beginning of the answer.”

‘‘Ferdinand the Bull” is at Adventure Theatre, Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo, through April 23. Shows start at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. A performance with sign language interpretation is set for 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 23. Tickets are $7. Call 301-320-5331.

‘‘Huck Finn’s Story” runs through April 15 at Imagination Stage, 4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda. Performance times are Saturdays at 3:30 and 7 p.m., with the 7 p.m. Saturday shows designated ‘‘Kids Night Out.” A weekday Spring Break matinee will be held at 10:30 a.m. April 14. Tickets are $12. Call 301-280-1660.