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Ruby and Bob, two towering cardboard box figures, twirl, whirl, dance, and welcome their “Best of Friends” to the show. As they gracefully exit, the downbeat of the next number has already begun, “Hot Feet, Hot Feet!” A classic Paper Bag Players song composed by Donald Ashwander that sizzles with summer heat. The Players sing Judith Martin’s lyrics as the stage fills with a huge kraft paper banner painted with feet! Red feet, blue feet yellow feet, Hot Feet!
Then, just as quickly, it’s onto a bicycle race, the “Tour de Bag”. With little more than corrugated cardboard, chalk, and amazing music, the high pedaling Players have you out of your seat cheering. And on your feet is right where you’ll want to be for the next number---“Potato!” Kevin’s been transformed. Will he be a spud forever? Not if some brave, strong, energetic people (that’s where you come in) join in the singing and dancing to help mash that spell!
And there’s still more---a musical ride on a crowded subway, the poetical tale of the “Lady and The Storm” drawn as you watch and the rousing, paint-flying finale, “Dots & Spots.”
The Paper Bag Players 50th Birthday Tour of “Make A Little Room For Me!” begins on October 26th at the Reach Performing Arts Center in Deer Isle, Maine. From Maine the company will travel to Decatur and Opelika, Alabama onto Buffalo, NY and then make stops in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware, Virginia, Maryland and in all five boroughs of New York City. The tour runs through May 17th and by the end “Make A Little Room For Me!” will be seen by over 70,000 children.
The acting company this year includes: Ted Brackett, tall, bushy-haired and forthright; Kevin Richard Woodall, that comic kettle of good humor always ready to explode with glee; and Laura Canty-Samuel, resident comedian who guarantees you a deep bagful of belly laughs. Their genuine friendliness spills right off the stage and making everyone more then willing to join in their adventures.
John Stone, who now calls the seat at the electric piano his own, has composed some wonderful new music for the show. With everything from keyboard to slide whistle, kazoo, and tin can he plays his and Donald Ashwander's music with so much verve “Make A Little Room For Me!” percolates with melody.
Judith Martin, founder and Artistic Director of The Paper Bag Players, says, “For this year’s show, we had fifty years of stories, jokes, songs and dances to chose from and I think with “Make A Little Room For Me!” we have hit the mark.” Ted Brackett, associate Artistic Director enthusiastically agrees, “From the first moment when Ruby and Bob merge from their pile of boxes and bags the show is as fresh and magical as any we have ever performed!”
Current theater so often relies on the technical, the mechanical, the amplified but The Paper Bag Players have held tightly to simplicity and to the belief that drama, adventure, and humor are all around us and only need the slightest coaxing to emerge--that and plenty of paper bags and cardboard boxes. A belief has helped this remarkable theater for children to reach 50 years of performances and has kept those performances absolutely brand new!
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