This past Monday, Mountlake Terrace Library pivoted off a marvelous fact: their imaginations are what drew kids into the Library’s reading program this summer. The question was: how to end the program and keep the kids reading? The answer was Last Leaf Productions.
Here is a team of four actors headquartered in Monroe, touring the state and specializing in children’s theater. These folks’ stock in trade is imagination.
With minimum props, limited space, the fewest of basic sound effects, character-defining costumes and a fun-based attitude toward straightforward storytelling, this troupe engages and exchanges. And I mean, in ways big-budget productions all too often only hope to.
The material Last Leaf worked their magic on, they themselves titled “The Artist’s Brush.” Why did they title it? Because not even the great god Google knows who dreamed the story up. It is a Dutch folktale the actors happened to have heard of.
Imagine that, a great story without somebody’s ego insisting on personal credit. Talk about putting first things first. Last Leaf is one of a kind in more ways than one.
The story is about a kid with a lot of talent who wants to be rich and famous painting what his eyes see. A mischievous fairy trades the kid his brush for a brush that paints what his eyes see. The magic brush makes the kid rich and famous till he paints the mayor’s wife.
The mayor adores his wife. She’s a dog, the kid sees her that way, paints her that way and the mayor sends him to jail for life for painting what he sees. The kid learns to paint from his imagination shows him, imagines his way out of jail, paints it and lives happily ever after.
The message: imagination can show you the way to freedom.
The performance lasted fifty minutes. The actors asked kids questions, the kids answered. The mischievous fairy asked for two volunteers to seal the trade for the magic brush. Two went forward, she costumed them. They officiated, she took the costumes back. That was that. No one made a sound. Everyone was involved. The mind set was imagination in action.
Credit the fine acting to Lee Kessler, Asa Sholdez, Julie Drummond and Pat Haines-Ainsworth. Credit the production to Last Leaf and the appearance of Last Leaf to Friends of the Library.
Also, credit the event in its entirety to Mountlake Terrace Library. They set out to motivate kids to keep reading. “The Artist’s Brush” was spot on.
For information about upcoming events and opportunities at Mountlake Terrace Library, call 425-776-8722 or visit www.sno-isle.org. For more information about Last Leaf Productions, call 360-805-9379 or visit www.lastleaf99.org.
Reactions? Comments? Contact Dale Burrows at entfeatures@heraldnet.com or grayghost7@comcast.net.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
