speeltheater show

Reviews —Stellaluna

a theatre adaptation of the famous book of Jannell Cannon

‘Stellaluna’ Comes To Life With Wit And Whimsy

Janet I-Chin Tu
Seattle Times Theater Critic, Entertainment & the Arts: Tuesday, October 14, 1997

"Stellaluna" by Janell Cannon. Conceived for stage by Onny Huisink and Saskia Janse of Speeltheater Holland, with music by Guus Ponsioen. Directed by Onny Huisink. Seattle Children's Theatre, at Eve Alvord Theatre, Second Avenue North and Thomas Street. Most Fridays-Sundays through Jan. 18. 206-441-3322. Fans of the bestselling children's book "Stellaluna" needn't worry. This production preserves the original story (about a baby fruit bat who becomes separated from her mother and is adopted by a nest of birds) in much of the original words. It even, if one dares say it, improves on the book, adding wit, humor and hummable tunes to this fable about being different yet fitting in.
The lesson is this: Stellaluna learns to accept that she's a fruit bat and while she'll never be exactly like her adopted bird family, they can all still be friends. In this adaptation, that lesson goes down easy, with plenty of humor and lots of good-natured ribbing. Most fun is the trio of baby birds, Pip, Flap and Flitter, whom Stellaluna literally falls in with. They're sassy, carping, fun little sidekicks, singing songs in praise of yummy centipedes and mosquitoes ("Yum! Tastes like chicken!" one quips, chirps). Speeltheater Holland's stage adaptation features puppets as the bats and birds and five actors (Lisa Estridge-Gray, Richard Gray, Billy Seago, David Silverman and Vickielee Wohlbach) who handle the puppets onstage, and also sing, dance, play the piano and/or sign-language interpret. The actors nimbly switch back and forth between playing human characters and puppet characters. It's a bit like watching a very skillful juggling act, with the humans commenting on the action, then merging with the puppets into a seamless act. When Wohlbach's Stellaluna puppet makes a skillful landing, and the actress herself, sans bat puppet, throws her arms up in triumph, you know she's doing it as Stellaluna and you cheer that baby fruit bat.
The puppets are a blend of realism and cuddliness. The bats have realistic, drapey wings and big, googly, Muppet-like eyes. A big, bad owl, all glowering eyes and huge wing span, is particularly impressive, swooping amongst the luminous tree limbs on several movable blocks that serve as the simple and effective set.
The sign-language interpretation by Seago is integrated into the action, with Seago signing as he dances and acts. Seago also shines in "A Day at the Beach," a one-act play which audiences see before "Stellaluna." It's a whimsical performance piece about a guy and a clam (really), created by Todd Jefferson Moore and Seago, with original music by Richard Gray. The wordless piece has the charming buoyancy of a Charlie Chaplin short, fueled in large part by Gray's lighthearted music and the expressive Seago, who actually manages to make us care about a big, silent clam.

Puppet Theater From The Netherlands Tells A Story Of The Birds And The Bats

Janet I-Chin Tu
Seattle Times Theater Critic
Theater preview ‘Stellaluna’ Opens Friday and runs most Fridays-Sundays through Jan. 18. Seattle Children's Theatre, in Eve Alvord Theatre, Second Avenue North and Thomas Street; 206-441-3322. Forget Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer. Never mind about George Clooney or Alicia Silverstone. Batman and Batgirl are in town and they're two fortysomething puppeteers from Holland.
Onny Huisink and his wife, Saskia Janse, co-founders of Speeltheater Holland, the premier puppet theater in The Netherlands, have bats on their minds. For the past month, they've been working at Seattle Children's Theatre bringing to life the story of "Stellaluna," based on the popular children's book by Janell Cannon about a baby fruit bat who becomes separated from her mother and is adopted by a family of birds. Linda Hartzell, artistic director at the Children's Theatre, had first seen the 21-year-old, award-winning Speeltheater Holland while in The Netherlands and had wanted to work with them for a while, said Susan O'Connell, Children's Theatre spokeswoman.
The opportunity came when both theaters received a grant (from Theatre Communications Group and The Pew Charitable Trusts) to support international artistic collaboration.
On a recent Friday, Huisink and Janse were watching rehearsals of "Stellaluna," which has been about a year in the making. Janse adapted the script and designed the costumes. Huisink directs the show and designed and created the set and the bird and bat puppets (some with wing spans more than 3 feet wide). There is also original music composed by Guus Ponsioen.
Five Seattle actors - including a deaf actor who will be doing sign-language interpretation of the play throughout and is integrated into the action - "play" the bats and birds by operating the puppets on stage, often while singing and dancing.
Huisink leapt onto the stage now and then, his agile body - clad in a natty black vest, checked shirt, black jeans, canvas sneakers and plastic-orange-rimmed glasses - leaning this way and that to show the actors how he'd like them to move. "I'd like to have the feeling there is direct contact between you and the audience when you are doing this," he said, his arms swooping up and down like wings. It's something new for the actors to learn, Janse said later during a lunch break. "Actors are used to having concentration on themselves or the situation. Now they have to focus attention on the puppet."
"The actors have to sing, dance, act, play with the puppets," Huisink said. "They have to think about their whole bodies and their hands." It takes time, including time to get to know the puppets. "It's important they can find out by themselves how the puppets are, how they move, what is their language in movement," Huisink said. " .…before I direct puppets, I want to have them in my own hands first, so I can get to know them," he said, his fingers wiggling as if cradling a puppet. "When Stellaluna is flying, you want to have the feeling that the actor is flying, too," he said. Having the audience see the puppet and puppeteer onstage, as well as the combination of acting, puppetry and music, are characteristic of Speeltheater Holland productions. It's all about: "How you can make the emotion bigger, the expression bigger," Huisink said.

	Reviews —Stellaluna a theatre adaptation of the famous book of Jannell Cannon ‘Stellaluna’ Comes To Life With Wit And Whimsy Janet I-Chin Tu Seattle Times Theater Critic, Entertainment & the Arts: Tuesday, October 14, 1997 "Stellaluna" by Janell Cannon. Conceived for stage by Onny Huisink and Saskia Janse of Speeltheater Holland, with music by Guus Ponsioen. Directed by Onny Huisink. Seattle Children's Theatre, at Eve Alvord Theatre, Second Avenue North and Thomas Street. Most Fridays-Sundays through Jan. 18. 206-441-3322. Fans of the bestselling children's book "Stellaluna" needn't worry. This production preserves the original story (about a baby fruit bat who becomes separated from her mother and is adopted by a nest of birds) in much of the original words. It even, if one dares say it, improves on the book, adding wit, humor and hummable tunes to this fable about being different yet fitting in. The lesson is this: Stellaluna learns to accept that she's a fruit bat and while she'll never be exactly like her adopted bird family, they can all still be friends. In this adaptation, that lesson goes down easy, with plenty of humor and lots of good-natured ribbing. Most fun is the trio of baby birds, Pip, Flap and Flitter, whom Stellaluna literally falls in with. They're sassy, carping, fun little sidekicks, singing songs in praise of yummy centipedes and mosquitoes ("Yum! Tastes like chicken!" one quips, chirps). Speeltheater Holland's stage adaptation features puppets as the bats and birds and five actors (Lisa Estridge-Gray, Richard Gray, Billy Seago, David Silverman and Vickielee Wohlbach) who handle the puppets onstage, and also sing, dance, play the piano and/or sign-language interpret. The actors nimbly switch back and forth between playing human characters and puppet characters. It's a bit like watching a very skillful juggling act, with the humans commenting on the action, then merging with the puppets into a seamless act. When Wohlbach's Stellaluna puppet makes a skillful landing, and the actress herself, sans bat puppet, throws her arms up in triumph, you know she's doing it as Stellaluna and you cheer that baby fruit bat. The puppets are a blend of realism and cuddliness. The bats have realistic, drapey wings and big, googly, Muppet-like eyes. A big, bad owl, all glowering eyes and huge wing span, is particularly impressive, swooping amongst the luminous tree limbs on several movable blocks that serve as the simple and effective set. The sign-language interpretation by Seago is integrated into the action, with Seago signing as he dances and acts. Seago also shines in "A Day at the Beach," a one-act play which audiences see before "Stellaluna." It's a whimsical performance piece about a guy and a clam (really), created by Todd Jefferson Moore and Seago, with original music by Richard Gray. The wordless piece has the charming buoyancy of a Charlie Chaplin short, fueled in large part by Gray's lighthearted music and the expressive Seago, who actually manages to make us care about a big, silent clam. Puppet Theater From The Netherlands Tells A Story Of The Birds And The Bats Janet I-Chin Tu Seattle Times Theater Critic Theater preview ‘Stellaluna’ Opens Friday and runs most Fridays-Sundays through Jan. 18. Seattle Children's Theatre, in Eve Alvord Theatre, Second Avenue North and Thomas Street; 206-441-3322. Forget Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer. Never mind about George Clooney or Alicia Silverstone. Batman and Batgirl are in town and they're two fortysomething puppeteers from Holland. Onny Huisink and his wife, Saskia Janse, co-founders of Speeltheater Holland, the premier puppet theater in The Netherlands, have bats on their minds. For the past month, they've been working at Seattle Children's Theatre bringing to life the story of "Stellaluna," based on the popular children's book by Janell Cannon about a baby fruit bat who becomes separated from her mother and is adopted by a family of birds. Linda Hartzell, artistic director at the Children's Theatre, had first seen the 21-year-old, award-winning Speeltheater Holland while in The Netherlands and had wanted to work with them for a while, said Susan O'Connell, Children's Theatre spokeswoman. The opportunity came when both theaters received a grant (from Theatre Communications Group and The Pew Charitable Trusts) to support international artistic collaboration. On a recent Friday, Huisink and Janse were watching rehearsals of "Stellaluna," which has been about a year in the making. Janse adapted the script and designed the costumes. Huisink directs the show and designed and created the set and the bird and bat puppets (some with wing spans more than 3 feet wide). There is also original music composed by Guus Ponsioen. Five Seattle actors - including a deaf actor who will be doing sign-language interpretation of the play throughout and is integrated into the action - "play" the bats and birds by operating the puppets on stage, often while singing and dancing. Huisink leapt onto the stage now and then, his agile body - clad in a natty black vest, checked shirt, black jeans, canvas sneakers and plastic-orange-rimmed glasses - leaning this way and that to show the actors how he'd like them to move. "I'd like to have the feeling there is direct contact between you and the audience when you are doing this," he said, his arms swooping up and down like wings. It's something new for the actors to learn, Janse said later during a lunch break. "Actors are used to having concentration on themselves or the situation. Now they have to focus attention on the puppet." "The actors have to sing, dance, act, play with the puppets," Huisink said. "They have to think about their whole bodies and their hands." It takes time, including time to get to know the puppets. "It's important they can find out by themselves how the puppets are, how they move, what is their language in movement," Huisink said. " .…before I direct puppets, I want to have them in my own hands first, so I can get to know them," he said, his fingers wiggling as if cradling a puppet. "When Stellaluna is flying, you want to have the feeling that the actor is flying, too," he said. Having the audience see the puppet and puppeteer onstage, as well as the combination of acting, puppetry and music, are characteristic of Speeltheater Holland productions. It's all about: "How you can make the emotion bigger, the expression bigger," Huisink said.