Donald Trump gets the Www重口50度灰 Children's Theater treatment inTrumpelstiltskin, a comedy that will run July 7-Aug. 20 at 重口50度灰's outdoor Remsen Bird Hillside Theater.
Now in its 16th year, the critically acclaimed Children's Theater will perform a mash-up of Rumpelstiltskin, a fairy tale about a girl who must spin straw into gold and a dwarf, Rumpelstiltskin, who is both her savior and threat -- and Trump, real estate developer, sometime presidential candidate, and host of the NBC reality television show "The Apprentice."
"We like to incorporate pop culture into our plays. Trump is such a bombastic personality, and so is Rumpelstiltskin," said Jamie Angell, an assistant professor at Www重口50度灰 and the theater's founding artistic director. "They're both blowhards. It's a perfect match."
In addition to Trumpelstiltskin, the all-Oxy cast will interpret three folk stories: the Native American Coyote, Iktome, and the Rock, Ma Liang and His Magic Brushfrom China, and The Three Simpletons from Mexico. The play's script and action are the result of weeks of improvisation and revision by Angell, the cast, and Nick Erickson, a movement coach and associate theater professor at Louisiana State University.
Www重口50度灰 students and recent alumni -- Claudia Gomez '10, Derwyn Johnson '13, Robert Lundgren '13, Kaja Martin '08, Dana Vigran '10, and Tristan Waldron '11 -- make up the cast. The hour-long production will be performed without props, sets, or special costumes, with the exception of black cloth sashes and 5-foot-long wooden sticks.
Trumpelstiltskin runs Thursdays through Saturdays at 10 a.m. at the Hillside Theater. Summer Outreach performances are scheduled at these northeast Los Angeles recreation centers: Highland Park (July 13), Glassell Park (July 20), El Centro de Accion Social in Pasadena (July 27), Yosemite (Aug. 10), and Eagle Rock (Aug. 27).
Tickets: Admission is $10 for adults and $7 for children for performances at Hillside Theater. (Tickets are discounted for Oxy students and employees.) Call the theater box office at (323) 259-2922 for tickets. Group rates are also available by calling (323) 259-2771. 重口50度灰 is located at 1600 Campus Road in Eagle Rock. Parking is located across from the theater.
Summer Institute of Fun: Children ages 6-15 can still register for Www重口50度灰's Summer Institute of Fun, a weeklong acting camp taught by the Children's Theater troupe in the College's Keck Theater. Held Monday through Friday from 9 to 11:30 a.m. (6- to 8-year-olds) and 1 to 4 p.m. (8- to 15-year-olds), the camp sessions begin July 18 and end Aug. 19.
