MOTHER GOOSED and New Fable Festival to Open at DreamWrights

This fall, DreamWrights Center for Community Arts brings four brand-new fables to the stage for the first time, written by voices ranging from a thirteen-year-old in her playwriting debut to a professional playwright, a retired grandfather, and a classroom of summer campers. Three of the fables were selected by community vote at this summer's New Fable Festival Readings; the fourth was written entirely by DreamWrights' own campers. The New Fable Festival shares the Main Stage with Mother Goosed, a comedy by Jason Pizzarello, September 18–27.

Mother Goosed follows a news crew trying to cover a crisis in Fairytale Land, where nursery rhyme characters have stopped playing along with their own stories, from Humpty Dumpty to Miss Muffet to Peter Piper.

About the New Fable Festival

Bee Out of the Box, by Sadie Jarmer, follows Honey, a bee who doesn't like making honey. With help from her best friend Sting, she tries out different jobs in the hive to find one that fits her, and discovers she's meant to think outside the box. Jarmer is a thirteen-year-old Pennsylvania writer, and this is her debut play.

When the Bell Rings, by David Schoenfeld, follows Thomas the Turkey, who becomes convinced the farmer's bell will soon ring for him and begins preparing for the end. With help from his barnyard friends, he learns that life is too precious to spend waiting for the bell. Schoenfeld is a former dermatologist whose second act has been devoted to storytelling for the stage, with plays produced in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, California, and Florida.

The Three Little Pigs and the Bid Bag Wolf, by Alan Dudley, is Romeo and Juliet meets the classic fairy tale: Polly Pig meets Peter Wolf while her parents shop for a new house at the Bid Bag Wolf Home Construction Company, borrowing from Shakespeare, folk tales, and classic children's films. Dudley is a retired administrator and a DreamWrights grandparent.

The Stolen Jewels of the Capybara Kingdom was written by Lauren Caples, Addison Caples, Amaura Day-Johnson, Ashton Farley, Lily Jansen, Eliza Medina, Devin Moyer, Arvin Paleshi, Soren Paleshi, and Giovanni Russo, campers in DreamWrights' Once Upon a Twist: Fractured Fable Writing camp, with assistance from Hannah Kuhn and Chris Koslosky. The royal capybara children sneak off to play, and a smooth talking stranger convinces them to trade the crown jewels for their lost ball. When the theft is discovered, the wrong people take the blame.

Mother Goosed is double cast, with two full casts of children and adults alternating performances throughout the run. The New Fable Festival plays are performed by a single cast.

Performances take place Fridays at 7pm and Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm, September 18 through 27, at DreamWrights Center for Community Arts, 100 Carlisle Ave, York, PA 17401. 

Gallery Exhibit: Creatures BIG & small

Running alongside the production, from September 4 through October 2, DreamWrights presents Creatures BIG & small, opening First Friday, September 4. From the smallest firefly to a colorful flock of geese, the exhibit celebrates the animals, natural world, and imaginative creatures that inspire us to look more closely at the world around us.

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