Wayside School is falling down!
If this phrase strikes a chord with people, they might be excited that this weekend No Refund Theatre (NRT) is bringing the Wayside School books to the stage of 111 Forum at 8 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday.
The books, written by Louis Sachar, comprise a well-known and beloved children's series that tells the tales of students at the very special Wayside School. The material for the stage adaptation comes from the first book, Sideways Stories from Wayside School. As assistant director of the production, Jess Hoover (sophomore-Spanish) said the show is pure comedy, involving "children's humor that isn't obscure or bizarre."
"The books are funny, so the show is goofy, pretty off-the-wall," she said.
Hoover said NRT adapted the book from the third-person perspective to the first by focusing heavily on monologues. Except for this change, she said the play is pretty much the same as the book, but only half the content.
The books tell how Wayside School was accidentally built on its side, with 30 stories consisting of one classroom each instead of one story with 30 classrooms. The builder apologized, showing young children that huge mistakes can easily be solved by saying you're sorry.
Ryan Hennessy (senior-general science), an actor in the production, said the stories focus on the children in the classroom on the 30th floor. Naturally, the children have fun with a sideways school. Who wouldn't?
"The books are still my favorite children's books," Hennessy said. "I read them again every few years and I was so excited to audition for [the play]."
Hennessy said that the usage of monologues and dialogues helped the books adapt well to the stage, in addition to having fun source material.
Kim Cicconi (sophomore-journalism) plays several characters throughout the production. Cicconi said the play includes many favorites from the book and was very excited to be involved in the production.
"I remember in third grade, if you didn't read [the books], you weren't cool," Cicconi said.
Cicconi noted that people who are unfamiliar with the stories will enjoy the show as well. She explained the humor as "very light-hearted and zany" and easy to enjoy.
"I think people will like the show even if they haven't read the books because it's like having the book acted out for you," Cicconi said.
"Everyone can enjoy it."
Each segment of the show concentrates on a different character and is about 3-5 minutes in length, Hoover said. The entire show will probably run about an hour and will be "nonstop fun." She also added that it could be a welcome relief for college students because there is absolutely no thinking required for this "completely entertaining" show.
Hennessy is counting on the notion that what people read as children influences who they become in life.
"It's something a lot of people have familiarity with," Hennessy said. "If [people] have any fond memories of the book, hopefully we'll be able to evoke them. It will be a really enjoyable show."
