Thursday, Oct. 01, 2009

Springer's Children's Theater presents 'Ramona Quimby'

Ramona Quimby is a smart, precocious and fearless 8-year-old girl.

The heroine of the children’s books by Beverly Cleary comes to life on the Springer Opera House Children’s Theater stage this weekend.

Jef Holbrook, who plays Ramona’s dad in the play, says Ramona “is the star of her own soap opera.”

Kern Clark, who plays Ramona’s mother, says the play, written in 1981, and the books, published between 1955 and 1999, contain themes relevant to today’s world.

“I am the oldest of two children and the arguments Ramona and her sister, Beezus, have are a lot like ours were,” Clark said. Clark used to torment her brother by regularly making him drink concoctions like orange juice and milk.

“I think it’s because of that, that he’s become a picky eater,” she said with a laugh. “It’s probably my fault.”

Clark and Holbrook, are former Springer Opera House Theater Academy students and current teachers. They make up half of the adult portion of the cast. The Academy students are split into two teams — Red and Blue — because there are so many daytime performances (12) as well as the public shows (six).

When Academy director Ron Anderson first announced that “Ramona Quimby” was part of the season, the daytime performances sold out almost immediately, he said.

Anderson said though he didn’t require the cast to read the “Ramona” series, most actors did. Lena Thomas, who plays Ramona’s Aunt Bea (plus Mrs. Griggs and Tammy), said she went out and bought the series and is enjoying reading them all over again.

Elements of the play are taken from four of the books. The main focus of the play is about Ramona dealing with a group of “mean girls” at school and her father losing his job at home.

“When kids see the play, they’ll see problems that maybe they have at their own home,” Thomas said. “What I admire about this play is that it will take the audiences to places that are not fantasy land.”

The set will take older folks back to the 1970s show “Laugh-In.” Jeff Weber, the set designer, built a colorful set with cut-out “windows” where actors will pop in and out throughout the show.