LOGAN – The next attraction in the Theatre Arts season at Utah State University is the debut of Pinocchio Teatrale.
The new musical version of the familiar fable, penned by playwright Nicole Adkins and composer Ashby Blakely, is set for production Feb. 24 to Mar. 4.
Each spring, the USU Theatre Arts program stages a show geared for children to give their student actors the experience of performing for younger audiences and introducing live acting to area school children of all ages.
The Pinocchio Teatrale will be a slight departure from that practice, as the musical is more appropriate for older children due its examination of darker themes in the story.
A puppet who dreams of becoming “a real boy,” Pinocchio is a cultural icon and one of the most reimagined characters in all of children’s literature.
His story – originally told by Italian writer Carlo Collodi in 1883 – has been adapted into numerous other forms of media, especially the 1940 animated film of Pinocchio by Walt Disney studios.
But that’s not the story being told by the new musical.
“The Pinocchio Teatrale takes you into a circus ring to explore what it means to be human,” according to guest director Stefan Espinosa.
Playwright Nicole B. Adkins and composer Ashby Blakely have been here in Logan during the spring semester to with work with the student cast of Pinocchio Teatrale.
Adkins is no stranger to the children’s theater genre. She is the co-author – with Matt Omasta – of Playwriting and Young Audiences: Collected Wisdom and Practical Advice from the Field (2017).
Recognizing that there was no contemporary guide for playwriting aimed at youngsters in professional and education contexts, Adkins and Omasta’s work compiled the collective wisdom of 75 children’s theater artists and practitioners.
Adkins has also taught classes and workshops to students of various ages at theaters, K-12 schools and universities.
She has also authored numerous plays that have been performed at theaters, schools and museums throughout the U.S. and abroad.
As director of Pinocchio Teatrale, Espinosa is well known to local audiences of both the Lyric Repertory Theatre and the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre.
Last summer, he starred in the UFOMT’s sleeper hit She Loves Me and in its revival of Man of La Mancha. His previous experience includes leading roles in Seussical the Musical, Into the Woods and Big River.
Espinosa is also the co-founder/director of the Utah Festival Conservatory of the Performing Arts.
Performances of the Pinocchio Teatrale are slated for Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.; Feb. 25 at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Mar. 1 to 3 at 7 p.m; and Mar. 4 at 1 p.m.
All performances will be staged in the Morgan Theatre of the Chase Fine Arts Center on the USU campus.
Ticket are available online at www.cca.usu.edu.