Free Reading: How To Catch a Leprechaun
“HOW TO CATCH A LEPRECHAUN” TO PREMIERE AT 2012 KENNEDY CENTER PAGE TO STAGE FESTIVAL
Free Reading on Saturday, September 1, 2012, at 6 pm on Millennium Stage South
Virginia Children’s Theater, a pilot venture aimed at bringing more family-friendly theater to Northern Virginia, announced today that it would premiere a brand new comedy, “How To Catch a Leprechaun” by Mario Baldessari and Ethan Slater, at the 2012 Kennedy Center Page To Stage Festival. The staged reading and post-reading discussion will take place on Saturday, September 1 at 6 pm at the Millennium Stage South. The event will last approximately 1 hour.
Based on the familiar Irish folktale, the play follows the comical adventures of the minstrel Riley O’Really, who really wants to catch a leprechaun. He’s got everything he needs for his trap: a pair of sharp eyes, a good Irish folk song in his heart and, most importantly, an irresistible pitcher of green lemonade. The wee one Riley catches seems more than willing to give up his pot of gold – but is his offer a leprechaun trick or a leprechaun treat? It’s fun-for-the-whole-family entertainment.
“How to Catch a Leprechaun” features Chris Aldrich as Riley O’Really, Joshua Dick as Oillin the Leprechaun, and Liz Dutton and Mario Baldessari as the proprietors of Mulligan’s Pub, where the only thing they sell is green lemonade, and Ethan Slater on guitar. Doug Wilder, co-artistic director of Virginia Children’s Theater, directs.
The reading is the second undertaking of Virginia Children’s Theater Company (www.facebook.com/virginiachildrenstheater), a new venture being piloted by Rex Daugherty, Wilder and Baldessari. The company’s first undertaking was its production of “The Prince and the Troubadour” by Daugherty and Wilder, in partnership with 1st Stage at Tyson’s Corner. Wilder and Daugherty ran Charter Theater’s “New Plays for Young Audiences” program from 2006 to 2010.
Baldessari and Slater wrote the book and music for “Three Bears,” which premiered in January 2012 at 1st Stage in Tyson’s Corner. Baldessari and Daugherty wrote the book and music for “Jack and the Bean-Stalk,” which debuted at the 2010 Page to Stage Festival and premiered in May 2011 at 1st Stage.
The reading is free. (Parking in the Kennedy Center garage, however, is not.) Seating is general admission. Arrive early for the widest selection of seats.
