Cast members of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” participate in a peer critique, while "Cinderella" musician Jeffrey Sheerer looks on.

When these two shows were selected many months ago, we thought of so many ways all kinds of artists in our community could make valuable contributions. Having professional musicians, costume designers and playwrights contribute their expertise would not only yield great shows on our stage, but would provide our young actors with a unique opportunity to explore their talents under the mentorship of working artists. We developed a proposal for the New Clothes Collaboration: pairing young actors with guest artists from Portland’s thriving theatre community to design, direct, score, rehearse and perform Cinderella and The Emperor’s New Clothes.

The "Cinderella" royals. Sebastian Grimm as Andre, Gabe Walker as Prince Louis and Elias Grimm as the King.

Thanks to the support of the Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust, the Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust and the Simmons Foundation, we were able to make this dream a reality! Our casts (all under fifteen years old!) have worked closely with director Claire Guyer, choreographer Gretchen Berg, costume designer Christina Klein, lighting designer Nicole Sirois and musicians Jeffrey Sheerer, Gregory Reed and Shawn Cole to bring scripts by Michele Livermore Wigton to life on our stage.

We’re so grateful for the generosity of the Burnham, Morton-Kelly and Simmons foundations for making this project possible. We’d also like to tip our hats to our show sponsors: the Neudek family (Debby, Tom and Alexandra); Andrucki & Mitchell Family Law of Lewiston; and Sudzie Autowash of Scarborough.

As anyone who has caught the shows can tell you, the New Clothes Collaboration yielded magical results!

Be sure to catch both shows, playing alternating weekends through March 21^st. Shows are selling out, so click here to get your tickets in advance!

Cinderella (Christian Rowe), Stepmother Calvina (Alexandra Neudek) and Stepsisters Clio & Claudette (Julia Swett & Lilly Walker)

I think there might be some confusion about our Cinderella and The Emperor’s New Clothes show dates! Sunday was not the final performance of Cinderella, there is still a chance to catch it again March 11-14. The Emperor’s New Clothes opens this week and again March 18-21. Below are all the performance dates:

The Emperor’s New Clothes

• Thursday, March 4 at 4pm
• Friday, March 5 at 4pm
• Saturday, March 6 at 1pm & 4pm
• Sunday, March 7 at 1pm & 4pm
• Thursday, March 18 at 4pm
• Friday, March 19 at 4pm
• Saturday, March 20 at 1pm & 4pm
• Sunday, March 21 at 1pm & 4pm

Cinderella

• Thursday, March 11 at 4pm
• Friday, March 12 at 4pm
• Saturday, March 13 at 1pm & 4pm
• Sunday, March 14 at 1pm & 4pm

Click here to buy tickets  to both shows!

IN THE NEWS

Cinderella and The Emperor’s New Clothes are featured in:

• Maine Sunday Telegram, February 21
• Mane Sunday Telegram, February 28
• “Perspectives” with Sandra Harris on 94.9 WHOM, 102.9 WBLM, Q97.9 and 94.3 WCYY, February 28
• The Portland Phoenix, March 3

In addition to working on Exhibits and Operations at the Museum & Theatre, Chris Fitze has done behind-the-scenes work for local theatres. He’s been involved in the design, construction or installation of the sets for every onsite production since the Children’s Theatre merged with the Children’s Museum. I asked him a few questions about how these versatile sets are created, and he gave me some very enlightening answers!

Who comes up with the idea for the set?  Is it the playwright?  The director?  The people who build it?

Friday, 2/5: Chris and Reba (Theatre Artistic Director) try out the turntable that supports the rotating throne.

It’s a little of all three. Every playwright that writes a play has a setting in mind. Even if it’s a general as “the woods” or “in a house,” the playwright needs to know where the characters are, so she can know how they will interact in with their environment. Some playwrights will be very specific and even include a detailed drawing of the set!

The director, having read the play, will also come up with ideas for the set. Some directors may want to pick a different era that the play takes place in. Or they may want to use a particular style. At the Children’s Museum & Theatre, we meet early on with the director (usually before the play is even cast!) to talk about set design.

The people who build the set here at the Children’s Museum & Theatre have much more say in the overall design than at other theaters. Partly because the set needs to be built in such a way that it will hold up to the rigors of day-to-day activity at the Museum & Theatre, and partly because the people building the set probably helped to design it!

Tuesday, 2/9: The turntable is now at the top of a four-tiered stage; Chris makes sure it’s sturdy! (The stripes on the wall are left over from Raggedy Ann and Andy!)

When you are starting a new show, do you create the whole set from new parts?

Sometimes. For Emperor’s New Clothes and Cinderella, we are creating several new pieces. But usually we recycle as often as we can. We hope to be able to save some of the new pieces we are building for future productions. For this set we are using wall coverings that were saved from last year’s production of The Sun Shines On: Raggedy Ann and Andy.

Monday, 2/22: The throne and wall coverings are freshly painted in bright new colors, and the stage floor is carpeted. The pieces are sturdy and safe enough for visitors to play on during the day, and actors to perform on when it’s showtime!

What was the hardest part of this set to complete?

This set is based around triangles, and trying to get some of the angles to fit just right was a challenge. We also tend to get bogged down when it comes to painting. This set requires a lot of fun design, but that always takes a long time to paint.

What’s your favorite part of this set – what makes it especially cool?

There is a spinning wall that’s really cool. We haven’t ever used a real turntable before, so I think this will be a fun surprise for our audience. I also really like the throne, because I designed and built it in a day, and I’m hoping it’s a piece we can keep and use over and over again!