West Coast Premiere Of THE WTICHES Announced

Los Altos Youth Theatre presents West Coast Premiere of The Witches LOS ALTOS, February 15, 2019 - Los Altos Youth Theatre proudly presents the West Coast Premiere of Roald Dahl's classic story The Witches as its Winter 2019 production.

"A REAL WITCH spends all her time plotting to get rid of the children in her particular territory. Her passion is to do away with them, one by one. It is all she thinks about the whole day long. Witches absolutely detest children. To a witch, a child smells like dogs' droppings. And now the Grand High Witch is planning to get rid of every child in England - can anybody stop them?"

This faithful adaptation of Dahl's quirky, scary tale tells the story of a brave young boy and his Norwegian grandmother as they battle against England's child-hating witches who are holding a conference at an English seaside hotel. Unfortunately, the boy is turned into a mouse, but with the help of his loving Grandmother, he manages to spoil the witches' evil plot, saving England's children from suffering the same fate.

When he was a child himself, Roald Dahl used to spend every summer holiday with his family in Norway, where he was inspired by bedtime stories of witches and magic. He wrote about these holidays in Boy: Tales of Childhood. It is also said that the grandmother in The Witches was partially inspired by Roald's own mother.

In 1983, the year it was published, The Witches won three awards: The New York Times Outstanding Books Award, The Federation of Children's Book Groups Award, and The Whitbread Award.

A film version of the story, starring Angelica Huston as the witches' leader, The Grand High Witch, was released in 1990.

The show is directed by Cindy Weisberg and will be performed by youth actors from Los Altos and surrounding communities. It features Katie King, Marco Casillas, Ellie Lucas, Solomon Salem, Lois Pribble, Ellie Campbell, Raya Sapiro, Kaitlyn Lu, Nayeon Kim, Amit Boiman, Jillian Analla, Libby Frey, Tamara Reed, Eliana Roy, Amelia Hutchin, Rory Hu, Danielle Gillai, Annelise Hein, Lindsay McKinley, and Emalyn Vo.

The Witches plays at the Bus Barn Theater March 15-24. Friday and Saturday evening performances begin at 7 pm. Saturday and Sunday matinee performances begin at 2 pm. Ticket prices range from $15 (student) to $20 (adult). Tickets can be purchased online at www.losaltosstage.org or by calling the Box Office at 650-941-0551.

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