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"At
the end of this disastrous day,
after the shadows have gotten long
and are long gone and the sun has
fallen down and the street lamps
begin blinking on and the burglars
and night monsters are getting dressed
for work, our heroes meet each other
in the woods."
–Narrator,
"A Fairy's Tail"
A child's music box is all that
remains when a giant foot belonging
to a giant Giant smushes a little
girl's house with her family in
it. Thus begins the first play in
Shotgun Players' tenth anniversary
season, a world premiere by acclaimed
playwright Adam Bock. A Fairy's
Tail is an adult play suitable
for children who can stay awake
past 8 PM. It is the story of a
girl, Little Missy What's-Her-Face,
and her odyssey of revenge and personal
transformation. Other tragedies
early in the first act provide the
companions who accompany our hell-bent
little hero on her journey to find
and kill the offending Giant.
Little Missy What's-Her-Face (Beth
Donohue), Mrs. Piffle (Trish Mulholland)
and Norbert Longlegs (Brian Yates
Sharber) set off on their journey,
but any similarity to a conventional
fairy tale soon vanishes. And in
a nod to post-modernism, Little
Missy What's-Her-Face begins to
take over the telling of her own
story, causing no end of grief for
the Narrator (Ana Bayat). A pushy
Princess, a myriad of puppets—including
a herd of spry goats and a giant
Squid— a Flamingo Singer, the
capricious Wind, a School Teacher
Fish, quicksand, flying knives and
a world seriously out of kilter
are some of the elements dreamed
up by the playwright.
"This is the story of a tough
little girl who is at the center
of the action. She's the actor in
the sense that she's the agency
of the action," explains Bock.
"It's a play about transformation
and the freedom to tell your own
story." There are dark moments
and times when it is quiet and still,
"but at other times there's
a kinetic rhythm and the colors
turn pink and orange and things
sparkle and glisten."
A Fairy's Tail was written
expressly for Shotgun Players and
is the first play penned by a Shotgun
Company Member. Artistic Director
Dooley asked Bock to write an adventure
play for both kids and adults, a
play that combines elements of the
real world, but a world that exists
only at that brief and exquisite
moment in childhood when all things
seem possible. "A Fairy's Tail"
has laughter, darkness, grief, rude
noises, silliness, murder, revenge
and love, all mixed up in a wild
hullabaloo subject to the uncertain
mechanics of the universe.
"What makes Adam's work so
good and so strong is that he walks
the fine line between the utterly
ridiculous and the most deep and
universal truths," says Dooley.
"He softens you up with laughter
and then hits you with a truth and
you know everyone else in the audience
feels it—that regret, that
sorrow—and you walk out of
the theatre feeling everyone made
that connection."
Music and lyrics also were composed
by a Shotgun Company Member, Clive
Worsley, with arrangements and production
by Kristin Miltner. Six new songs
are performed to a recorded score.
Is it a musical, or a play with
music? You be the judge. Choreographer
Andrea Weber has designed the movement
and highly imaginative dance numbers.
Pay particular attention to the
luscious ballet in the Fart Swamp.
Like all mythic stories about
heroes on journeys—okay, it
is conventional in that sense—Little
Missy What's-Her-Face is transformed
as she comes to the end of her odyssey.
With her music box, her new friends
and her newfound identity—and
you'd better call her by her right
name from now on—our little
hero lives happily ever after. Probably.
Adam Bock is an award winning
playwright whose most recent success,
the critically acclaimed Five
Flights, an Encore Theatre production,
just closed following an extended
run at Thick House in San Francisco.
Bock is familiar to Shotgun audiences
for his smash hit, Swimming in
the Shallows (1999), which won
Bay Area Critics Circle Awards for
Best New Play, Best Ensemble and
Overall Production; it is headed
for a London production.
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PUBLICITY
STILLS
HEAR
A SAMPLE!
Listen
to a sample of the original music
composed for Shotgun Players' production
of A Fairy's Tail.
Fart Ballet
in MP3 format
PRODUCTION
INFORMATION
Directed
by Patrick Dooley
Costume Design by Valera
Coble
Scenic Design by Michael
Frassinelli
Props & Puppets by Sylvia
Dawkins
Lighting Design by Alex Lopez
Music Design by Kristin Miltner
Choreography by Andrea Weber
Music Composition & Lyrics
by Clive Worsley
Stage Management by Marilyn
Stanley
Assistant Direction by Joanie
McBrien
Production Management by
Liz Lisle
CAST
Narrator: Ana
Bayat
Little Missy What's-Her-Face:
Beth Donohue
Mrs. Piffle: Trish Mulholland
Norbert Long Legs: Ty Blair
Princess: Katie Frassinelli
Wind: Kimberly Wilday
Flamingo Singer: Kathleen
Antonia
School Teacher Fish: Reid
Davis
Ernie: Andy Alabran
PREVIEWS
Friday, March 15 at 8 PM
OPENS
Saturday, March 16 at 8 PM (Press
Night)
CONTINUES
Sundays:
March 17, March 24 and March 31
at 5pm
Thursdays:
March 21 and April 4 at 8pm (sorry,
no show on March 28)
Fridays:
March 22, March 29, and April 5
at 8pm
Saturdays:
March 16 (opening night) and March
30
ASL
INTERPRETED PERFORMANCE
Friday, April 5, 8 PM
CLOSES
Friday, April 5 at 8 pm
PERFORMED
AT
The Thrust Stage at Berkeley Rep
2025
Addison in Downtown Berkeley
Click here
for a map.
ADMISSION
Preview $10
Thursdays $10
Opening $25
General $18
Students, Seniors & TBA $12
For
reservations, and further information,
call 510.704.8210 or email
us at reservations@shotgunplayers.org
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