The Theatre Arts Department at Utah State University will debut the family drama ‘Getting Near to Baby’ at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the Morgan Theatre in the Case Fine Arts Department.
LOGAN – The next production by the Theatre Arts Department at Utah State University is a tear-jerker with a wry smile up its sleeve.
The award winning Getting Near to Baby will debut on Wednesday, March 2 and play for three nights only at the Morgan Theatre in the Chase Fine Arts.
This a stage play version of Audrey Couloumbis’ 1999 children’s novel of the same name, which was awarded the Newberry Honor as the best contribution in children’s literature a year later.
The theatrical version of Getting Near to Baby was penned by a playwright who calls herself Y York. She writes plays for both adults and children (more than 50 of them) and her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the AT&T Corporation and many local preforming arts organizations.
The Seattle Children’s Theatre staged a relatively recent production of Getting Near to Baby and its artistic director, Linda Hartzell, called the show “… one of the best scripts I have read in years.”
“Y York’s adaptation of this Newbery Honor book is a loving, poignant look at how we help build understanding between adults and children,” Hartzell explained. “It reminds us, through humor and warmth, that true kindness always trumps over artificial politeness.”
Harzell also added that the independent spirit, in either adults or children, can be simultaneously a blessing and a curse.
York deals with the deadly serious subject matter of Getting Near to Baby with her heart on one sleeve and her sense of humor on the other.
Precautious youngsters Willa Jo and Little Sister Dean are sent to live with relatives while their family deals with the death of an infant. When they are overcome with trying to deal with their Aunt Patty’s impossible rules, the girls take to the roof and refuse to come down. Their precarious perch not only gives them respite from Patti, it also makes the girls feel closer to Baby in Heaven.
Getting Near to Baby stars Anne-Marie Kate as Willa Jo, Meg Roberts as Little Sister and Carrie Jackson as the compulsive Aunt Patty.
Other cast members include Elise Willmore, Levi Hopkins, Mia Gatherum, Summer Jones Shoell and Cathy Frugal.
As an added benefit, audience members are invited to join USU experts for a pre-show panel discussion about Getting Near to Baby on Thursday, March 3.
The panelists for that discussion will be Dr. Jennifer Sinor (a literature and trauna scholar), Dr. David Lancy (a childhood anthropologist) and Mary Heers (a theater educator) to answer questions about coping with grief, family relationships and community dynamics.
That panel discussion will begin at 6:15 p.m. in Room FAV 615 of the Chase Fine Arts Center.
The curtain time for Getting Near to Baby is 7 p.m. in the Morgan Theatre.