Children’s Theatre Troupe a Local Blockbuster

February 15, 2017

Grove School’s Arts Department is proud to have recently founded its very own Children’s Theater Troupe. This group of talented students creates and performs their own unique adaptations of popular children’s books before heading into the community and performing at local pre-and-elementary schools.

In the summer of 2016, the first production was a fun adaptation of the children’s picture book, The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, with illustrations by Oliver Jeffers.  The book tells the story of a box of crayons whose inhabitants decide to go on strike after growing sick and tired of how they’re being used. Among the lead characters: a white crayon with an existential crisis because he never shows up on white paper, a black crayon who longs to color a rainbow, and a pink crayon who is fed up with coloring nothing but princesses. The book was on the New York Times Bestseller list for over 60 weeks and won numerous national awards.

This was followed up in the Fall of 2016 with the troupe’s latest production; an adaptation of, “I Read to You, You Read to Me,” by Mary Ann Hoberman.  This bestselling children’s book showcases various fairy tales with slight twists in their retellings.  Students took on classic characters that included Little Red Riding Hood, three little pigs, and Little Bo Peep.

Grove School’s Children’s Theater Troupe has already performed for assemblies and classes at Ryerson Elementary, Killingworth Elementary and the Learning Tree of Madison.  With upcoming performances planned for the spring and summer, this unique endeavor is an exciting part of our ever-expanding Arts Program.