A Letter From The Artistic Director:
Dear Fellow Audience Members,
First of all, thank you for coming to our web site! We hope it will inspire you to make a trip to the theatre to see our upcoming season of plays. And if you are a teacher, we hope you will call us so we can work with you to make it possible for Pollyanna to visit your campus with one of our touring productions.
Theatre doesn't really happen until the audience arrives. It is impossible for us to create real theatre without the help of the community. In that respect, every single performance is unique. It happens only once between the imagination of the people in an audience and the actors and story on the stage. We work hard every day to create the best stories we can, but we need the community to bring their imaginative power to the experience in order for real theatre to happen. So we ask that you meet us half way. Come see one of our new plays while we are in a theatre space or bring us to your school where we can share theatre in your space.
Here is what we have coming up to share with you. I'm very excited about what is ahead of Pollyanna and the community in the next year. And coming to our web site regularly is the best way to see what is up next and where we will be. You can also sign up for our regular electronic newsletter that will send the information to you along with fun activities to do at home or in your classroom to prepare you to get the most out of your time as an audience member.
Our next production, More Patterns is a very fun exploration of the patterns found in nature, visual art, math, and human behavior. It is being created for the very youngest of our audience members, children ages 4 – 10 and their families. MORE PATTERNS will also be available to tour to Texas schools during the fall semester of 2007, so even more children can enjoy this colorful, original production by Pollyanna’s Resident Playwright, Emily Cicchini. More information about this production and how to make reservations can be found here.
Next we will be producing a collaborative effort with Ballet Austin, a new Dance Drama for old youth (middle and high school aged), OUT OF MANY, ONE: THE MONOLOGUE PROJECT. Information will be available on our site as well as the Ballet Austin site very soon about our October performances and our February school tour.
Also in the spring, we will be producing a children’s version of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream. Don’t be afraid! Some folks think that Shakespeare is hard to understand and that young children might not enjoy such a production. However, Pollyanna’s version is designed to be a young child’s very first introduction to the world of Shakespeare and focuses on the world of Shakespeare’s fairies and the comical “Rude Mechanicals” who produce a play within the play. With plenty of color, action, humor, and clarity, this production will entertain our audience ages 5–10. Scheduled for production in March of 2008, watch the site for more information about the exact times, dates, and locations.
Pollyanna will continue our new season in the summer of 2008 with a play by a playwright we have never worked with before but can’t wait to get to know. Spring Hermann has written a play entitled Mama Tomcat's Flying Lessons. Be sure to come see what happens when a group of tomcats takes on hatching a seagull egg and raising the baby bird. The play shows us that true love and caring can come in very unexpected packages. Planned for early June of 2008, Spring Herman’s new play will make you want to learn to fly.
Because we are very dedicated to the creation of new plays for young audiences, our Resident Playwright, Emily Cicchini is cooking up another new play for late summer of 2008: Duckling Sees The World which is the story of a young girl from Japan who longs to know her real mother. It is also the story of a huge flock of rubber ducks who must cross the ocean to find her. A wonderful mixture of humor and caring, Duckling Sees the World will touch audiences of all ages. This play will be presented at the Dougherty Arts Center on Barton Springs Road.
Now, you might wonder why I addressed this letter to “Fellow Audience Members.” It is because once our plays open, I’m just like you, sitting in the audience and watching our group of talented and dedicated artists do what they do best. My work of directing the play is over for that hour that the audience is with us. I am one of you in that hour and I love watching with you as my partner.
As the Director of this company, it is my greatest hope that in this season more and more children and families will discover the fun and true value of attending theatre. It is also my hope that more and more teachers will begin to use us as a resource. My greatest desire is to make real theatre with this community. Real theatre can’t happen until you join us. Be it in a seat in one of Austin’s theatre buildings or in your school where we tour, Pollyanna is incomplete without an audience. And our audience is growing! Won’t you join us?
Please sign up for our electronic newsletter so you can see what is coming. Please call us with your questions or comments. And above all, please bring the gift of your child’s imagination to one of our productions SOON. We can’t have theatre without it.
With Hope for Today,
Judy Matetzschk-Campbell, Ph.D.
Producing Artistic Director
Pollyanna Theatre Company