April 1 & 2, 2011
UBU: a play for children
24 Church Street
Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts
Our historic theater is located in downtown Vineyard Haven
Friday at 7:00 p.m.
Saturday at 2:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m.
Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School students are performing two one-acts this Friday and Saturday at the Vineyard Playhouse. "Ubu" by Jeff Goode is a children's adaptation of Alfred Jarry's absurdist play "Ubu Roi," in which a "silly bafoon" becomes king of Poland and makes a mess of everything. The second play is "The Everyday Adventures of Harriet Handelman (super genius)" by Greg Atkins. It follows a typical day in the life of a 10-year-old whiz kid, from getting up and catching the school bus, to uncovering a plot to destroy the world and chasing a villain across the world with the help of a dreamy CIA agent, all in time to get to her school's science fair. Performances are Friday, April 1, at 7 pm; Saturday, April 2 at 2 and 7 pm. Admission is $8; $5 seniors and students; $20 for families. For more information, call the school at 508-693-9900.
Hi Jeff- I am looking at producing The Ubu Plays with the middle/high school kids I teach. I have a student director working on it with me who will be taking on one of the plays on his own. I just love the humor and satire of the plays, but I am wondering how it has been received by elementary aged children. I tend to stay away from violence and I am thinking that the characters should be over-the-top caricatures with colorful costumes, outlandish costumes so that the fighting takes on a cartoon feel. Also, how does one avoid 'political preaching' so that the adults don't leave with a feeling of being manipulated? I am sure that much will be achieved in rehearsals and when the costumes are brought into the mix... I appreciate that you make yourself available for questions and comments and look forward to hearing your thoughts! Sincerely, Treather Gassmann Mar 17 - Hi Jeff I got pretty busy and never got back to you. My apologies! We had a few snags that prompted me to change the date to April 1st. Snow days, flu, etc. We also broke down and are only doing the first Ubu play. The kids were really having a hard time understanding the other plays and the concept of absurd theater. On top of this, we also lost several actors which made the recasting extremely complicated. They are enjoying the one play and everything seems to be going well now. Needless to say, this has been quite an interesting year on all fronts! We would like to video tape the show and air it on our community TV station. Would this be something that you would approve of? We would need written permission from you in order to do this. It would be wonderful if you would list our performances on our website! April 1st @ 7pm and April 2nd @ 2pm and 7pm.