A character is shown in the Bright Star Touring Theatre’s presentation of “African Folktales.”
Photo provided
Bright Star Touring Theatre must rely on small, portable, spartan sets for its sometimes big life-education messages.
“We have to be able to fit into any facility that will have us,” said Lucy O’Brien, tour manager of the troupe based in Asheville, North Carolina.
Those facilities range from library conference rooms to intimate, multi-purpose gathering spaces. Come Friday, a two-person cast will present the show “African Folktales” at 6 p.m. at The Commons, 300 Washington St. in downtown Columbus. The show is part of the kickoff of the Columbus Area Arts Council’s ever-popular, monthly First Fridays for Families series.
Organizers say the presentation appeals best to an audience ranging from pre-K through fifth grade.
“This show is so silly and so fun,” O’Brien said. “And it’s very engaging.”
The two performers even slightly mimic creatures such as giraffes and elephants with a little help from props.
The 45-minute production “brings to life the vastness of the African landscape and a variety of clever animals,” according to promotional material. With imaginative costumes, African music and lots of audience participation, this production also includes what organizers call “valuable character-education themes.”
“We try to work in conjunction with educators,” O’Brien said, adding that Bright Star’s CEO is a former longtime teacher. “So we try to bring some of our material to life in ways that will complement students’ classroom curriculum. I think that just helps information stick in kids’ brains a little better.
“We strongly believe in arts integration as a part of learning. Seeing information on a stage and on its feet with actors gives elements of learning just another layer, and another way to stick in a kid’s brain.”
Each year, Bright Star serves nearly 1,000 audiences nationwide, traveling some 300,000 miles while doing so. The troupe has performed in locales ranging from Washington, D.C., to Moscow. And in an age where scholastic arts funding can be in short supply, Bright Star literally becomes a bright star of sorts.
“We are now going into a lot of schools where we are the first live theater of any kind that a student has ever seen,” O’Brien said.
Presentations always include time for a question-and-answer session at the close of a show, hoping to light the fuse of youngsters’ imaginations.
“We always love to drive home the point to students that, ‘Hey — this is accessible to you if it’s something you would want to do,’” O’Brien said. “We let them know that, even as children, all they really need is one other friend to put on their own show.”
