Stage Version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Creates Laughs by Going in Circles
October 6, 2006
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie targets children's funny bones with its circular story of a bossy rodent who sets in motion a seemingly unending series of predicaments. Omaha Theater Company's adaptation of the popular picture book by Laura Joffe Numeroff–on stage at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 29, in Penn State's Eisenhower Auditorium–features an energetic boy, a traveling mouse and a delightful dose of animal antics.
Tickets for the Center for the Performing Arts presentation are $15 for an adult, $10 for a University Park student and $10 for a person 18 and younger. For tickets and information, visit www.cpa.psu.edu or phone (814) 863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at Eisenhower Auditorium and Bryce Jordan Center, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays; Penn State Tickets Downtown, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday; and HUB-Robeson Center, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays.
When the exuberant mouse asks for a cookie, the little critter sets off a series of related requests that fall like dominos. First, the mouse needs a glass of milk to wash down the cookie. And how about a straw? Wouldn't a mirror come in handy to properly wash off the milk moustache? And so it goes. By the time the boy is done fulfilling the mouse's urgent requests–plus cleaning up after the whiskered creature–it's little wonder the lad's head is spinning.
As is the case with Numeroff's other children‚s books, including If You Give a Pig a Pancake and If You Give a Moose a Muffin, what lies beneath the folly is a host of life lessons that parents, at least, are sure to notice and appreciate.
The cast includes three actors, two of whom are married to each other. Jen Martinez, who has been with Omaha Theater Company for four seasons and is touring nationally for the second time, portrays the mouse. Queño Martinez, in his second national tour with the company, and Konrad Case, an alum of the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, alternate in the roles of the boy and the mirror.
Playwright Jody Davidson adapted Numeroff's 1985 story. Scenic designer Terry Jachimiak created the set based on Felicia Bond's illustrations for the book.
According to Omaha Theater Company, the play is best for children ages 4 and older.
The third largest professional children's theater in the country, Omaha Theater Company reaches more than 700,000 people each year at home in Nebraska and on tour to more than two dozen states.
McQuaide Blasko Attorneys at Law sponsors the performance. Radio station Froggy 98 is the media sponsor. Free audio description, which is especially helpful to patrons with sight loss, is available for this performance at no extra charge to ticket holders. Kidz Connections, in the Eisenhower Auditorium Conference Room, begins one hour before the show and is free for ticket holders. Children can create their own mouse masks and decorate paper cookies that'll be displayed on cookie jars in the lobby after the performance. Snacks and juice will be provided. Children are encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes.
Contact: Laura Sullivan, 814-863-6379