Photo Flash: NW Children's Theater's JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, Begin. 9/28

Take to the skies on the wings of a...peach? Anything is possible when young James Trotter (J.J. Pen) discovers a magical escape from his dreary life with aunts Spiker and Sponge (Tai Sammons and Melanie Moseley). A chance encounter with a magical stranger, a bag filled with mysterious crocodile tongues, and an unexpected accident lead to the creation of the largest peach the world has ever seen! After climbing aboard the giant fruit, James finds himself surrounded by a rag-tag group of friendly insects: Centipede (John Ellingson), Spider (Annie Willis), Earthworm (Sam Burns), Grasshopper (Zero Feeney), and Ladybug (Madeleine Delaplane). Adventure awaits the unlikely crew as James captains the peach across the Atlantic; flying, floating, and rolling away from a life of loneliness and isolation into to a brighter, more hopeful future. Check out a first look below!

James and the Giant Peach, a "fantasy adventure for children" by master storyteller Roald Dahl, was originally published in 1961. Dahl's first-ever novel for children, the book enjoyed wild popularity and was made into a animated film by Disney in 1996. This fall, NWCT will open our 2013-14 Season of Plays with a theatrical adaptation which, dramatized by playwright Richard R. George with direct input from the author, retains the original story's richness of character.

Co-directed by NWCT Artistic Director Sarah Jane Hardy, the play brings insect-protagonists to life through a combination of mask and puppetry designed by Co-Director John Ellingson (whose designs for last year'sThe BFG earned him a 2013 Drammy Award for Outstanding Puppetry). "It was very important to me that the bugs look like bugs," says Hardy. "People generally don't view bugs as having potential, and the way they are treated and despised reflects Jame's forced isolation. The more human they are, the less impact they have."

Photo credit: ©2013 David Kinder

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