GREENSBORO – Almost all of the children in the Greensboro primary school participated in this spring’s theatrical event at the Highland Center for the Arts on Monday, May 19, at 5 p.m. Some 16 students performing as the Lakeview Elementary School Players. The drama was “The Pigs’ Tale,” adapted by director Rosann Hickey from the old familiar story of “The Three Little Pigs.”
The play started with all the cast coming on stage singing and then sitting down in a row of folding chairs, each of which had a painting of a house they had done on the back, thus forming a kind of Greek chorus.
The old mother pig, Reece, talked to her three young pigs, Fox, Silene and Rylie, about their needing to have houses of their own now, but she warned them to look out for the big bad wolf.
The wolf, acted with convincing character by Solace came in following his nose to find pigs to eat. People from the chorus tried to distract him by humorously offering different foods, Bryan with a whole chicken on a platter, Dorthy with flowers, Rowan with a bunch of garlic, Paisley with a basket of rolls and Xavier with a large dill pickle, all of which he contemptuously rejected. In frustration he asked, “Where are the pigs?,” to which Jasper and the chorus yelled, “Maybe you should try the other side of town.”
The three young pigs found various materials to construct their houses.
Russell, a straw seller, made a sale to the youngest pig based on how cheap it was. Finnley, who sold twigs, got the second pig to buy his product based on how quickly it could be put together. The third pig was very skeptical of those choices and went for bricks, which he purchased from Jasper after some amusing bartering. He reasoned that bricks were more expensive initially than either straw or sticks and would take more time to build with, but the house would last longer.
Soon the big bad wolf returned and knocked on the door of the straw house, demanding, “Let me in.” The pig replied, “Not by the hair on my chinny-chin-chin.” So the wolf threatened, “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house in,” which he succeeded in doing. The pig escaped to the stick house and the wolf asked the chorus where it went, and they responded “The pig went thataway,” pointing in the opposite direction.
The same scenario was repeated at the stick house, with similar destruction, so the two pigs ran off to the brick house. Again, in exasperation, he asked what happened to the pigs and the chorus unhelpfully repeated, “thataway.”
Meanwhile the three pigs inside the brick house made a plan of what to do when the wolf came. When he appeared, he went through his routine of “Let me in,” but when the pigs refused, he failed to knock down the brick house with all his huffing and puffing. Undeterred, he got a ladder and attempted to enter through the chimney. Much to his surprise, he landed in a cauldron of very hot water the pigs had prepared for him, and he ran away. He gave up his appetite for pigs and became a vegetarian, reappearing with a sign on his chest saying, “I love broccoli.”
The whole cast came to the front of the stage for the happy ending and to bow to the applause from the audience of their parents and friends.
Additional members of the chorus than those mentioned above were Leona and Bentley. The producer was Lorelei Wheeler, the keyboard accompanist was Karen Miller, the choreographer was Rose Leach, the set construction was by Ted Fullard, the scene painters were Jayne Donahue and Ed Lemery, the costumes were by Penny Bretschneider, Ana LaPoint and Nancy Hill, lighting was by Cavan Meese, and the stage hands were Ted Fullard and Jasper.
While it might seem a little silly to draw any great lessons from “The Pigs’ Tale,” we could state he obvious, that anything built well is going to outlast something cheaply or carelessly constructed, which applies to everything we do, raising the wider issue of the perpetual conflict between short-term and long-term thinking. And we could even mention the current dilemma of affordable housing and the increasing dangers of violent weather due to climate change.
We should be grateful to all those who made this production possible, especially Rosann Hickey, who initiated the performance and guided it through many rehearsals, as well as the generous support of the staff of the Highland Center for the Arts. Introducing children to live theater is a great way to encourage their creative imaginations and to discover their talent and delight in acting, which otherwise might remain unexplored.
Full disclosure: The author of this review was a mason for all of his working life and therefore has a certain preference in favor of the pig with the brick house.
David K. Rodgers
David K. Rodgers is a writer, mason and card carrying dilettante, who dabbles and babbles in art. He has lived in East Craftsbury for the past 40 years.
