By Natasha Parnian
When my nine-year-old leaned over to me mid-show and whispered, “Mother, I wish to be on this,” I knew Journey Theatre MTC had achieved one thing proper. The opening evening of Aesop’s Fables had that uncommon high quality that one of the best theater for younger audiences achieves: it made the children within the room really feel like they had been a part of one thing, not simply observers. By the point the curtain got here down, the one criticism in our row was that it was over.
Aesop’s Fables by Mike Kenny is constructed round an idea as previous as theatre itself — a touring troupe of gamers arrives to placed on a present, and issues don’t go fully in keeping with plan. Wolfie (the chief of the troupe) and her ragtag performers take the viewers by means of 5 beloved fables: “The North Wind and the Solar,” “The Tortoise and the Hare,” “The Lion and the Mouse,” “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” and “The Wolf and the Crane.” Every fable is advised merely and with power, many inviting the viewers immediately into the motion — a selection that paid rapid dividends with the opening-night crowd, who had been very happy to shout, clap, hush, and cheer on cue.
Director Ray Ficca demonstrates a assured, assured hand all through. Working throughout the intimate confines of Journey Theatre’s area, Ficca finds inventive options at each flip — utilizing ranges, sightlines, and bodily comedy to maintain the power kinetic. It often veers right into a extra cacophonic power, with moments the place the complete solid’s enthusiastic, high-volume supply turns into a bit overwhelming (not less than to the grown-ups within the viewers). The decision-and-response warm-up sequence that opens the present was a masterstroke: it primed the younger viewers to take part, set the tone of joyful collaboration, and established the performer-audience relationship that will carry the remainder of the manufacturing. Ficca clearly trusts his ensemble, and that belief is seen in each scene.
That ensemble is outstanding. Susan Marie Rhea anchors the present as Wolfie, the troupe’s self-appointed chief, and he or she performs the function with precisely the best mix of authority and playfulness. Rhea has real stage presence — she’s the grownup within the room, however she leads with heat reasonably than weight, guiding each her fictional gamers and the actual viewers by means of the scripted chaos with a realizing smile. Ariel Pleasant‘s Harriet is pure effervescence, though her efficiency at occasions feels screechy. She possesses, nevertheless, a pure, childlike high quality that made her the best bridge between the world of the performers and the world of the youngsters watching — each child within the viewers appeared to really feel like Harriet was their individual onstage. Carl L. Williams as Syd is a revelation in versatility: watching him shift from a fragile, long-necked crane to a broad, thundering lion inside minutes is genuinely pleasant — the form of dedicated bodily character work that takes actual ability and makes it look easy. Noah Mutterpearl rounds out the quartet as Barry, the troupe’s lovable catastrophe — by no means fairly in the best place, by no means fairly on cue, however all the time charming in his wrongness. What shocked me was a second close to the tip the place Mutterpearl dropped the comedy fully and landed a quiet, trustworthy beat of reflection that I discovered unexpectedly shifting. It was a small second, and it landed fantastically.
The design workforce deserves full credit score. Megan Holden‘s set captures the storybook spirit of Aesop with out being literal — incorporating ranges for the performers to play on, cleverly hid prop storage, and title indicators that assist youthful viewers members observe every fable. Paris Francesca‘s costumes are a triumph of sensible ingenuity: minimalistic sufficient to rework rapidly between characters, however particular sufficient that every new function reads clearly. That is precisely the best strategy for kids’s theater of this scale. Sound designer Kenny Neal contributes an impressed contact with dwell, actor-generated sound results through musical devices, giving the manufacturing an acoustic heat {that a} soundboard merely couldn’t replicate.
There are just a few well-placed Easter eggs for the grown-ups within the room — a West Aspect Story nod right here, a Chariots of Fireplace throwback there — rewarding grownup consideration with out alienating the children. It’s a beneficiant inventive gesture, the sort that alerts a manufacturing workforce serious about everybody within the room.
It’s value pausing to notice how well timed this materials feels proper now. Honesty, humility, compassion, the results of deception — these are usually not small themes. In a cultural second the place youngsters are absorbing a lot noise and confusion from the world round them, there’s something quietly radical about gathering them in a room and saying: kindness issues, fact issues, the small will help the mighty. Journey Theatre deserves actual credit score for placing this explicit present in entrance of younger audiences proper now. It’s precisely what we’d like.
Aesop’s Fables is Journey Theatre MTC doing what it does greatest: delivering professional-quality theater for younger audiences that respects its viewers at all ages stage. At simply 40 minutes, it’s pitch-perfect in size, pitch-perfect in power, and genuinely tough to go away and not using a smile. My youngsters are already asking once we can return. I don’t have argument for why we shouldn’t.
Operating Time: 40 minutes, with no intermission.
Aesop’s Fables performs by means of Could 24, 2026, at Journey Theatre MTC (ATMTC), Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd, Glen Echo, MD. Tickets are $26 with group, area journey, and particular occasion charges obtainable. Buy tickets on-line or name the field workplace at 301-634-2270.
For households and younger audiences.
Aesop’s Fables
By Mike Kenny
Directed by Ray Ficca
CAST
Susan Marie Rhea: Wolfie
Noah Mutterperl: Barry
Ariel Pleasant: Harriett
Carl L. Williams: Syd
Brenna Horner: Wolfie & Harriet U/S
Bryan Stopak: Syd & Barry U/S
CREATIVE TEAM
Megan Holden Set Designer
Kenny Neal: Sound Design
Paris Francesca: Costume Design
Lynn Joslin: Resident Lighting Design
Andrea “Dre” Moore: Resident Props Design
Natasha Parnian is the managing creative director of Darkish Horse Theatre Firm, which she based in Washington, DC, in 2009. She studied at UNC College of the Arts and has been energetic within the DC theater scene since 2005. She is a director, playwright, and producer identified for her immersive staging and dedication to psychological realism. Past her theatrical experiments, Natasha owns two small companies, leads company and academic workshops, however largely enjoys life as a homeschooling mom, cross-country motorcyclist, and animal lover. She additionally serves as a efficiency strategist for TEDx and Toastmasters. She is a multifaceted artist devoted to truth-telling and pushing the boundaries of the craft.
