Historic Glen Echo Park, Glen Echo, MD. Sept, 2008. Adventure Theatre announces its first show of its 2008-2009 season: the world premiere of Harold and the Purple Crayon, Sept 19 - Nov 4, 2008. The play is based on the book by Crockett Johnson with book, music, and lyrics by Adam W. Roberts and directed and Choreographed by Michael J. Bobbitt
Come join our hero, Harold, who sets out to conquer the world armed only with an oversized purple crayon. Ready, set, draw! Need a setting? Harold draws a landscape full of beauty and excitement. Stuck in deep water? He sketches a boat. See if Harold can draw himself out of any dilemma! This show is appropriate for all ages.
"I miss those days when
I Used To take a paper towel roll or a bath towel and go on numerous adventures as a pirate or a super hero. It was awesome. Harold shows us, or better yet reminds us that the imagination is powerful and should never to be taken for granted. Would we have the internet or cell phones or ipods had it not been for someone's imagination? The imagination should be stewarded and nursed." Says
Michael J. Bobbitt, Producing Artistic Director for Adventure Theatre (who is also the director of "Harold and The Purple Crayon.")
Adam Robert's musical theatre adaptation of the beloved children's book Harold and the Purple Crayon was developed and had its first reading in 1997 at Wesleyan University. It had its 2007 Educational Theatre premiere at Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Portsmouth, NH. Adam W. Roberts is a Boston-area screenwriter, playwright, and composer. His debut TV pilot script, "Life Without Green," is slated to be shot in the coming year. He has composed scores for the musical Subway Days (Theatre at Old South), and the plays Molly's Dream (Boston Theatre Works), Marat/Sade (Bridge Theatre Company), I Go Solo, Learn from the Self-Made Man, and A Random Bit of Nonsense About
Yul Brynner (Essays on Theatre Company). Music directing credits include Company (Longwood Players), Molly's Dream (Boston Theatre Works), Marat/Sade (Bridge Theatre Company), and Assassins (Manhattan Project Theatre Company). Roberts sings with Boston-area a cappella sensation Honorable Menschen, serves on the board of The Longwood Players, and works for the
Huntington Theatre Company.
The whole cast are recent graduates from American University, Susquehanna University, Howard University, University of Miami, and Catholic University.
Adventure Theatre will host a Crayon Recycling Project. Partners include Bethesda Green, GreenKids Program Audubon Naturalist Society, McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant, BlackFinn Restaurant and Saloon, and Gaffney's Restaurant. Student and patrons are encouraged to bring their old crayons to any of these locations for donations. On Oct. 26th at Adventure Theatre, some of the crayons will be melted down in a fun interactive arts project with/for kids at the Children's Inn at NIH. Volunteers and recyclers that participate in the art project or bring crayons to the theatre will be entered into a raffle to win four free tickets to our next production.
Showtimes are Saturdays and Sundays at 11am & 1:30pm. There is only one performance on Sunday November 2 at 12:30pm. Additional Saturday Performances are October 4, 11, 18, 25, and November 1 at 4pm. Weekday Field Trip Performances are at October 1-3, 7, 10, 14-16, 21-24, and 28-30 at 10:30am. No-School Day Performances are September 30, October 9, 17, and November 3-4 at 11am & 1:30pm. Special Friday Evening Performances are September 19, 26 and October 24 at 7pm. Book Club Performance is Saturday, October 4, 1:30 pm and an ASL Interpreted Performance is Sunday, November 2, 12:30 pm
Adventure Theatre, located in historic Glen Echo Park, is the longest-running children's theatre in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area and in addition to presenting 6 mainstage productions of classic children's stories, offers classes, field trips, after school and home school programs, touring productions, birthday parties and book club memberships.
