Robert Moore
April 27, 2007
Specialty Eye Care America following the course of Imhotep
May 1, 2007“Aesop was such a strong personality that his contemporaries credited him with every fable ever before heard, and his successors with every fable ever told since.” -Willis C. Parker
The quote describes accurately how greatly revered is Aesop, the ancient Greek fabulist, who is probably most associated with the story, “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.”
Legend states that Aesop, who was born a slave, possessed such strong intelligence that his master freed him because he was so witty.
Many believe that it is impossible, however, for Aesop to have written all the fables that are traditionally attributed to him.
South Louisiana Center for the Arts (SoLa), the arts instruction institute located in Houma, is putting on a production of playwright Kim Esop Wylie’s “Aesop’s (Oh So Slightly) Updated Fables” May 11-13, at Le Petit Theatre de Terrebonne (7829 Main St. in downtown Houma). The Friday show is at 7 p.m., and the Saturday and Sunday shows are at 2 p.m. Admission is $5 for all.
The play is a comedy featuring variations on six of Aesop’s fables: “The Dog and the Bone,” “The Lion and the Mouse,” “The Miller, His Son, and the Donkey,” “The Tortoise and the Hare,” “The Country Maid,” and “The Fox and the Grapes.”
Pat Crochet, who is a member of SoLa’s board, is directing the first three stories, and Jillian Vedros, a SoLa theater instructor, is helming the other three.
All 29 of the actors in “Fables” are students at SoLa. Their ages range from six to 17, except for one who is 43.
“There’s a lot of personification in the play,” said Vedros. “The fox talks, the grapes talk.”
Fables “makes fun of the notion of your kid just being part of the scenery, of your kid having a tiny part,” she said. “It’s good for kids to see. They won’t just fall into the background.
“It’s a cute little show,” she said.
Wylie is noted for taking well-known children’s stories, and looking at them from a different n usually more adult n perspective. She is best known, perhaps, for her send-up of ancient Greek mythology, “Myth Adventures.”
Each of the six fables interpreted by Wylie has a different onstage narrator, Vedros said.
“The narrators get the audience involved,” she said. “They interact with the audience, and with the players onstage.”
Crochet said the play has “family” appeal.
“Adults will appreciate it,” she said. “We encourage children to come because they will enjoy it.”
Crochet laughed when she spoke about the whimsical personification in “Fables.”
In the play, besides the language-proficient fox and grapes, “a donkey talks, Mrs. Hare is an aerobics instructor, and the pond is an actor (in ‘The Dog and the Bone’),” she said.
The play production is a component of an acting class Vedros is teaching at SoLa this semester.
“Jillian and I worked in (the play) ‘Snacks’ together with Le Petit” in the fall 2006, Crochet said. “I thought she might be good.”
Vedros has a bachelor’s degree from LSU in Theatre-Performance.
“I asked Jillian to do the classes, and the production,” she said. “Jillian taught classes for seven weeks, and they did rehearsals for eight weeks.”
Call SoLa at 876-2222 for more information.
