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Children’s
Theatre of Charlotte Sets Sail for Adventure with “Treasure Island”
Pirates,
buried treasure and swordfights abound in Children’s Theatre of Charlotte’s
“Treasure Island,” coming to the McColl Family Theatre from March 12-28. Ken
Ludwig’s stage adaptation captures the swashbuckling danger and excitement of
Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic adventure story.
Jim Hawkins
is only 14, but the responsibility of running the Admiral Benbow Inn with his
mother has made him wise beyond his years. When a secretive old pirate shows up
at the Inn and entrusts Jim with a map pointing to buried treasure, Jim embarks
on the high seas adventure of a lifetime. Surrounded by a crew of
double-crossing characters, including the charming but infamous pirate Long John
Silver, Jim must decide who to trust and how to make his own way if he wants to
return with the treasure and his life.
First
published as a book in 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island has
had a vast influence on the popular perception of pirates. The one-legged pirate
with a pet parrot, the map with “x” marking buried treasure and the famous
“fifteen men on a dead man’s chest” song, now part of pirate mythology,
were all originally Stevenson’s inventions.
Stevenson’s
novel is both an adventure yarn and a coming-of-age story, and Ludwig’s script
highlights Jim’s growth from boy to man. This stage adaptation also focuses on
the relationship between Jim and Long John Silver, who serves as both Jim’s
mentor and his primary antagonist. Combining honorable and treacherous
qualities, Long John Silver is one of the most memorably ambiguous villains in
the history of literature.
Talented
student actor Isaac Josephthal, who plays young Jim Hawkins, joins a strong
ensemble of professional adult actors, including Ashby Blakely, Chad Calvert,
Matt Cosper, Jon Parker Douglas, James Dracy, Steven Ivey, Matthew Keffer,
Nathan Rouse, David Sebren, Mark Sutton and Barbi VanSchaick. Mark Sutton, who
played Jim Hawkins in Children’s Theatre’s 1995 production of Treasure
Island, takes on the role of Long John Silver in this season’s production.
Treasure Island is directed by Alan Poindexter, Artistic Director at
Children’s Theatre of Charlotte.
Performance
times and dates are:
Friday,
March 12
7:30 pm
Saturday,
March 13
3:00 pm
Saturday,
March 13
7:30 pm
Sunday,
March 14
2:00 pm
Friday,
March 19
7:30 pm - SOLD OUT
Saturday,
March 20
3:00 pm
Sunday,
March 21
2:00 pm
Friday,
March 26
7:30 pm
Saturday,
March 27
3:00 pm
Sunday,
March 28
2:00 pm
Performances
will be held in the McColl Family Theatre at ImaginOn, 300 East 7th
Street. Front Orchestra tickets are $24.00; General Admission tickets are
$18.00. For tickets to the productions, call the Children’s Theatre Box Office
at 704-973-2828 (10 am-5 pm, Mon.-Fri.) or visit our website: www.ctcharlotte.org.
For ages 10+/ Grades 6+. The adaptation is faithful to the book and contains
scenes with flintlock pistols, swordplay and blood.
Children’s
Theatre of Charlotte is supported, in part, with an Operating Grant from the
Arts & Science Council, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Inc. and the North Carolina
Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.
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