ONCE UPON AN EXTRAORDINARY TIME...

WELCOME to 24th Street Theatre’s 2003/2004 Season, where we’re looking at the past through contemporary eyes. Classic fairy tales told with all of the sophistication of these extraordinary times we live in. Fairy tales for two different audiences: “Kate Crackernuts” for adult audiences and “Schneewittchen/Snow White” for family audiences. Centuries-old fairy tales still relevant for all ages in their political, social and moral observations. In extraordinary times like these, we often turn to classic tales for comfort, guidance and to help find our moral center again.

To bring you these tales, we offer some of LA’s best artists. We have Jessica Kubzansky directing Sheila Callaghan’s insanely brilliant “Kate Crackernuts.” Inspired by the English fairy tale of the same name, Callaghan creates a fantastical and sexy world where voices live outside their bodies and fairy tale remnants merge with modern reality. Then, in the spring, Debbie Devine gives voice to “Schneewittchen/Snow White,” a new version of Snow White for family audiences, being co-written with avant-garde artists Richard Alger and Tina Kronis and music by Brenda Varda. Both of our season productions examine prevalent themes of our post 9/11 world with great theatricality.

We also have our excellent “Intersections” Music Series in October, and our popular “Saturday Explorers’ Series” for family audiences in January.

We’re proud to be giving voice to important playwrights, directors, designers and actors, especially this year. Thank you for listening.

— Jay McAdams,
Executive Director

KATE CRACKERNUTS: THE ORIGINAL FAIRY TALE FROM THE 18TH CENTURY

ONCE upon a time there was a king and a queen. The king had a daughter, Anne, and the queen had one named Kate. The queen was jealous of the king’s daughter, and cast a spell that turned Anne’s head into a sheep’s head. Kate, so infuriated by her mother’s wrong-doings, took Anne with her to seek their own fortunes.
There was another king, who had two sons, and one of them was sickening away to death and no one could find out what ailed him. Now Kate was a very brave girl and needing a way to feed her and her sister, she offered to take care of him.

As 12 o’clock rang, the sick prince rose, slipped downstairs and out into the forest. Kate followed, collecting nuts as she went, but he didn’t seem to notice her. The prince entered a magnificent hall and many beautiful fairies surrounded the prince. Kate hid herself. There she saw the prince dancing, and dancing, till he could dance no longer and fell upon a couch. As the sun rose, the prince made all haste to return home.The next night Kate followed but did not watch the prince, for she knew he would dance and dance. But she saw a fairy baby playing with a wand and overheard one of the fairies say,“Three strokes of that wand would make Kate’s sister as bonnie as ever she was.” Kate rolled all the nuts she had to the fairy baby till the wand was dropped. She rushed and touched Anne three times with the wand, and the nasty sheep’s head fell off and Anne was her own pretty self again.

On the third night, the fairy baby was playing with a birdie; Kate heard one of the fairies say, “Three bites of that birdie would make the sick prince as well as ever he was.” Kate rolled all the nuts she had to the fairy baby till the birdie was dropped. In the morning, Kate cooked the birdie and fed it to the prince. Upon eating the birdie, the prince was revived, the kingdom rejoiced, the sick brother married the well sister, the well brother married the sick sister, and they all lived happily and died happily, ever after.

— From English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs