THEATER: Treasure Island map leads to Arr-ts Center, mateys
By Eric E. Harrison (Contact)
LITTLE ROCK — Nobody at the Arkansas Arts Center planned it that way - it’s just a coincidence.
But today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day - the perfect occasion for the Arts Center Children’s Theatre to open its production of Treasure Island.
Alan Keith Smith adapted the script for the opening show of the Children’s Theatre season from the classic by Robert Louis Stevenson about a young 18th-century lad for whom the stories he heard of treasure and pirates from travelers and old sea captains at his parents’ seaside inn come all too true.
After the suspicious death of old sea captain Billy Bones (John Isner) at the Admiral Benbow Inn, Jim Hawkins (George Elrod) and his mother find in Bones’ sea chest the map to the buried treasure of infamous pirate Captain Flint.
Jim sets off to find the treasure with Dr. Livesey (Josh Rice) and Squire Trelawney (Shawn Cox), who are tricked into hiring one of Flint’s former mates, Long John Silver (Mark Hansen), and many of Flint’s crew, who, Jim discovers, plan to mutiny.
Once they reach the island, the plot turns to a series of crosses and double-crosses over whether the good Englishmen or the bad pirates end up with the treasure.
In between is Silver, who in the thick of things receives from his mates the black spot, or official pirate verdict of guilt or judgment, and is deposed as leader of the pirate band.
Whether Silver is all villain or whether he has redeeming qualities is one of the challenges for the actor who plays him, Hansen says.
“Silver is kind of in the middle,” he explains. “He’s always looking out for his own interests. He’s a real opportunist, and even when he seems to be doing the right thing, when he’s in the stockade and won’t let the pirates get Jim, he’s really just grabbing a way out of a bad situation.”
The other big challenge, of course, is that Silver has only one surviving leg, so Hansen has to strap his left leg into a harness and walk with a crutch.
This is not Hansen’s first pirate experience: He was a member of the crew of Captain Hook’s ship the “Jolly Roger” inthe Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s 1994 production of Peter Pan.
Hansen, who also is part of the set construction crew with longtime colleague Jimi Brewi (who is also playing Black Dog, Ben Gunn and Mr. Arrow), praised the period costume designer Erin Larkin has come up with for him, but he will be minus one traditional Silver accessory.
“There will be no parrot on the shoulder,” he says. “We talked about it, but they assure me my ears and eyes would be in danger. But I am hoping for maybe one silhouette in the beginning with the parrot on my shoulder.”
Phillip McMath faces different physical challenges for both of the characters he plays: Blind Pew and mutinous pirate Israel Hands.
“They’re physical in completely different ways,” heexplains. “For Pew, I’m using my cane as an extension of my body, and having to express all my other senses. Israel is more of an alpha male type,” and also has a very physical fight scene with Jim.
McMath says Pew is the one role in this show he would want to play.
“He gets to give the black spot,” he says. “I remember seeing the [1934] movie version, and that Pew scared the living daylights out of me.”
McMath, who did his first Children’s Theatre show about 20 years ago (“I took my first class with Mark Hansen when I was 5,” he says), took about three years off from acting to pursue a degree in anthropology from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where he graduated with honors. His “day job” is as an archaeologist at Camp Robinson.
Elrod, an eighth-grader at Pulaski Heights Middle School, has one Children’s Theatre credit under his belt - he was in the chorus for Hercules in January.
But this will be the biggest role he has ever had.
His biggest challenge: “I have to be real organized with schoolwork and everything,” he says.
Rounding out the cast: Ashley Wright as Mother, Brett Ihler as Captain Smollet, Austin Blunk as Tom Morgan and Stephen Jones, Steven Savage, Kendrick Scorza, Brandon Taplin, Will Nicholson and Brian Strigel as pirates. Bradley Anderson directs.
At 2 p.m. before each Saturday performance, the Children’s Theatre Guild will host a special activity in which children can create telescopes and pirate patches. They’ll need a ticket to the show to participate.
Treasure Island 7 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m.
Sunday through Oct. 5, Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre, Arkansas Arts Center, MacArthur Park, 10th and Commerce streets, Little Rock Season sponsors: Target, The Logue Family Trust Tickets: $14, $11 children; Arts Center members and groups of 10 or more receive a discount (501) 372-4000; (800) 264-2787 www.arkarts.com
This article was published Friday, September 19, 2008.
Weekend, Pages 67 on 09/19/2008
