PORT ANGELES — “Aesop’s Foibles,” a comic treatment of the classic stories about hares, tortoises, boys, wolves and other creatures, is headed for Port Angeles — courtesy of the Clallam County YMCA Drama Camp — this Friday and Saturday.
Admission is free to the three shows: at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday at the Port Angeles High School Performing Arts Center, 304 E. Park Ave.
In this 50-minute play by Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus, young Aesop is always hearing voices in his head.
Then they come to life as characters on stage: the indignant Fox, the unscrupulous Hare, the ambitious Tortoise, the Boy Who (prideful of his quick wit) Cried Wolf, the zen-like Grasshopper and the Aunt (his mother’s sister), the humiliated Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing and several others.
To deal with these voices, Aesop’s mother asks for intervention from the Goddess Hera and her husband, Zeus.
They send the muse Daphinity to help Aesop control the characters in his head.
“The play still retains the famous moral lessons in the original Aesop’s fables,” said Kelly Lovall, the camp director who, during the school year, is the drama coach at Port Angeles High.
It’s filled, though, with these whimsical characters portrayed by 25 young actors.
The cast features Rose Alexander, Charles Krause and Alex Anderson, all 15; Madelynne Jones and Brianna Yacklin, both 14; Amelie Atwater, Alisyn Boyd, Polly Price, Emily Sirguy, Myra Walker, Maizie Tucker and Sammy Weinert, all 13; Jordon Trautwein, Julian Jones, Talia Anderson, Liam Getzin and Sophie Orth, all 11; Lauryn Chapman, 10; and Trae Hanan, 8.
Six past and current members of the Port Angeles High School Thespian Society are volunteering as mentors and performers, Lovall noted.
They are Lucy Bert, Zoe Bozich, Ashia Lawrence, Grace Sanwald, Katie Bowes, Emma Szczepczynski, Kristin Kirkman and Alley Mon Wai.
Through their guidance, “they are an instrumental force in the success of this camp,” Lovall said.
The three-week drama camp, in its seventh year at the YMCA, 302 S. Francis St., includes improvisational games, acting exercises and play rehearsals, all culminating in the Friday and Saturday performances.
For information about it and other activities at the Y, phone 360-452-9244.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
