Once upon a time, on a Harvard Stage...

TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES

Location: Sunken Garden Children’sTheater

DATE: May 7: 11:30am, 12:30pm, 2:00pm; May 8: 2:00pm, 3:00pm

Director: Johanna S. Karlin ’05

Producer: Adam V. Kline ’02

An overprotective father locks his twelve daughters up at night, but each morning discovers their shoes have been danced to shreds. Sound like a remake of “The Virgin Suicides?” It’s not.

This year, the Sunken Garden Children’s Theater is staging a witty adaptation of the classic Brothers Grimm Fairytale, “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” as part of the Arts First festival. Written by Adam V. Kline ’02 and directed by Johanna S. Karlin ’05, the production promises invisibility cloaks and diamond trees for audiences of all ages.

In this well-known tale, twelve princesses escape their castle every night to a fantasyland where they dance until dawn with beloved princes. Their father, the king, offers any of the princesses as a bride to whomever discovers the destination of their nighttime escapades. Only when a ragged war-veteran refuses the soporific wine the princesses serve their guests, and follows them—shielded by the aforementioned invisibility cloak—does he learn their secret and marry the youngest.

“Children’s Theater is the best theater at Harvard,” says a confident Karlin. Now in its ninth year, The Children’s Theater delights its young audience with modern adaptations of classic tales. Past shows include the 2003 production of “The Princess and the Pea,” also written by Kline, which introduced Pea-Ditty, a rapper-servant who found himself under the princess’s mattress in place of the vegetable.

In addition to fairytales, the company has staged accessible versions of Shakespeare: they have updated “Julius Caesar” and, most recently, “The Taming of the Shrew.” The 2002 production of “Julius Caesar” featured a would-be emperor who died of a paper-cut, while Brutus and Antony played rocks-paper-scissors for sovereignty of the Roman Empire.

The company, which consists of about a dozen members, makes use of the Harvard-wide Common Casting services but also includes those who have successfully auditioned in previous years. Their low-budget shows, staged in the Radcliffe Yard Sunken Garden, run about half an hour and are free and open to the public. This year’s production of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” certainly promises to live up to the company’s esteemed reputation.