Pigs & Pancakes
Children's favorite goes from page to stage
About halfway into Adventure Theatre's "If You Give a Pig a Pancake," Felicia and Laura discover two pairs of tap shoes. A casual dance lesson quickly turns into a Broadway-style showstopper. The spotlight shines on Felicia as she lies across a piano and begins to sing. Both performers then shuffle across the stage, arms flailing.
The scene would fit right into an old MGM musical, except Felicia is a pig and Laura is an 8-year-old girl. The play is based on Laura Joffe Numeroff's book, the third in her "If You Give A" series. Holly Twyford plays Felicia, and Branda Lock (a woman in her 20s), is Laura. Marianne Pendino, who adapted the book into a play, fleshed out the adventures of the very imaginative child and the pig that invades her kitchen.
"Should we tone down the screams at the beginning?" asks Twyford, who has changed into a T-shirt and sweatpants.
After the trio strategizes, they talk candidly about preparing for such a physically demanding show in only 10 days. Twyford says that most casts rehearse for at least a month before opening night. The term "children's theater" doesn't faze the actresses. Both put as much effort into the show as they would a full-scale musical or a Shakespearean tragedy.
"We started working on the tap [dance] well before we started rehearsals," Twyford recalls. "If we're going to do this, we want it to look good."
"Pancake" marks Twyford's first attempt at children's theater. With four Helen Hayes awards on the shelf, it seems she has conquered most of what the Washington, D.C.-area theater scene has to offer. But 3-year-old daughter Helena has changed Twyford's perspective.
"All my other shows have been for grownups," she says. "It's a chance for her to see what Mommy does when she goes to the theater."
Branda Lock, on the other hand, is appearing in her fourth Adventure Theatre show. She previously acted in "Harold and the Purple Crayon," "The Little Engine That Could" and "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."
"I'm so happy to be a human," she says with a laugh. "I've been a crayon and a mouse. It's a relief."
Numeroff and Pendino built two lessons into the play. The first is cause and effect. Every decision Felicia makes leads to another. The syrup from the pancake makes her sticky, which leads to a bubble bath and a rubber ducky that reminds her of the farm where she grew up, which encourages her to pack for a trip home, which leads to — well, you get the idea.
The second theme is more universal. That big song-and-dance number is all about spontaneity, an idea that both kids and adults can embrace.
Although the play only runs for 45 minutes, the actresses are always in motion. Laura is already mopping the bathroom floor with a towel as she scolds Felicia for making a mess. During a photo shoot, the characters quickly strike poses on several pieces of furniture. And they're constantly running offstage to gather the next round of props. The two-show days are tough, but the three-show Saturdays are brutal.
"Saturday is our triathlon. That's what it feels like when we're done," Twyford says.
All the action presented a challenge for director Jerry Whiddon, but like Twyford, he approached the show like any other.
"It's amazing how it's all part of a continuum with all my work," he explains. "It's really about tending as much as possible to storytelling. You have to make sure the story is clear, and there are elements where we do have to keep the audience's attention and reward them periodically."
Whiddon, who spent 20 years as artistic director for Round House Theatre, hadn't directed a children's show in three decades before handling "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" last year.
"I just loved watching [‘Cookie'] come to life in front of the kids," he says. "And it did remind of my early days. It felt right to come back. And Michael [Bobbitt] has done such a great job with the theater, it's hard to say no."
Parents need not dread taking their sons and daughters to "Pancake." Twyford brings razor-sharp comic timing to the role, and while there is plenty of slapstick, the falls and sight gags are never forced.
"They're the ones buying the tickets," says Bobbitt. "We need to make sure the parents will be entertained."
Young audiences are not only sophisticated, they're critical. So it was important to Twyford and Lock not to think of the tap-dancing pig as a juvenile gimmick.
"They are brutally honest with you," Lock remarks. "If you are not telling the truth in any way, shape or form, they will call you out on it."
It's not just parents Bobbitt has to worry about. The generation Adventure Theatre targets has grown up with the complexity of films like "Shrek" and "Up."
"Eight is different than it used to be," observes Lock. "Eight-year-olds now listen to Lady Gaga and are embarrassed to play with dolls."
Twyford, Lock and Whiddon agree that the success of the play has a lot to do with how much fun they've had staging the antics of Laura and Felicia.
"You can't find two more creative people," says Bobbitt. "They were cracking each other up."
"If You Give a Pig a Pancake"
Where: Adventure Theatre, Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo
When: Mondays, Saturdays and Sundays through Aug. 22
Tickets: From $12 to $15
For information: 301-634-2270 or visit www.adventuretheatre.org for a complete list of show times
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