Black And Brown Theatre Presents ONCE UPON A RHYME: THE FROG PRINCE

This fall, Black and Brown Theatre, a 501c3 non-profit theatre company in Detroit creating professional opportunities for theatre artists of color while celebrating the diversity of the city, will present their adaptation of The Brothers Grimm fairy tale The Frog Prince. This adaptation of the classic tale is presented entirely in rhyming couplet verse, but not all of the rhymes are easy to hear which provides a fun challenge for interested audiences to listen carefully for the rhymes while other audience members can sit back and enjoy the timeless plot of friendship and sacrifice.

Black and Brown Theatre's adaptation of The Frog Prince will be presented in the garden of the Scarab Club. "We're thrilled that the Scarab Club is inviting us into their space because we love being able to perform in Detroit and we've been looking for more opportunities to perform outdoors so that audiences can enjoy the beautiful weather that we get every fall," says director Emilio Rodriguez. The Scarab Club reached out to Black and Brown Theatre after hearing about Black and Brown Theatre's performance of Cloud Spinner, their last fairy tale which was also presented for free to families in Detroit as well as at GEE White Elementary School.

For audiences who are worried about the unpredictable Michigan weather, the performance of The Frog Prince will move indoors to the beautiful, main floor gallery of the Scarab Club if rain or other inclement weather occurs.

In addition to the rhyming couplets, this new adaptation also tried to look at the fairy tale from a current lens to deal with the controversial kissing scene. Rodriguez adds, "We realized that children aren't interested in kissing or romance. That's something that is thrown into fairy tales for the adults, but really children want to see stories of friendship, just like the friendships they experience in their own lives. We decided to make the focus of the story the unlikely friendship between a frog and a princess that is developed when both learn to become selfless. We have an interesting alternative to the usual ending that makes the story relatable to all ages, including adults."

The performance of The Frog Prince is presented free to audiences thanks to Black and Brown Theatre and The Scarab Club but donations are welcome via the "donate" button on the company's website: www.BlackandBrownTheatre.org. All donations go towards offsetting the production costs and creating free, family-friendly performances in the future.

The Frog Prince performs Saturday September 28th, 2019 at 11:30am and Sunday September 29, 2019 at 1:00pm at the Scarab Club (217 Farnsworth St, Detroit, MI 48202). For more information, please visit www.BlackandBrownTheatre.org or follow the company on Facebook and Instagram @BandBTheatre

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