Children’s Theater Seasons Launch at Adventure Theatre, Imagination Stage

Adventure Theatre’s 60th anniversary is off to a delightful start with its production of Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, directed by Nick Olcott and based on the book by Kevin Henkes.

Mouse Lilly is the queen of everything. So she says and so Helen-Hayes nominee Felicia Curry plays her -- larger than life.

The kids in the audience eat up Lilly’s over-the-top theatrics, but Chester (S. Lewis Feemster) and Wilson (Elliott Kashner) are also crowd pleasers as her best friends.

Chairs are used cleverly in the production, such as in the marvelously constructed costume and bassinet combo occupied by Lilly’s new baby brother, Julius (Troy Jennings), the bane of her existence.

Sure, Lilly hits some bumps in the road, when her exuberance and even more so her appetite for being the center of attention become a problem at home, at school and on the playground.  But with the help of some caring and patient grownups, she learns that sharing the spotlight can be fun, too. 

“No one who's ever talked backwards for a day, worn Band-aids as a fashion statement, or endured a time-out for bad behavior will be able to resist this story," said director Nick Olcott.

Producing artistic director Michael J. Bobbitt added, “We are so excited to have Felicia Curry, star of Mirandy and Brother Wind, back for this exciting whirlwind of a show!”

“Whirlwind” is the common denominator between Adventure Theatre’s and first shows of the season. Imagination Stage’s is the sand whirling in the desert and the flying carpet in the multimedia Aladdin’s Luck, based on the book The Arabian Nights, adapted by Janet Stanford. Music and lyrics are by renowned Turkish composer and performer Fahir Atakoglu, using traditional Middle Eastern instruments; associate artistic director Kathryn Chase Bryer directs.

A mischievous young street urchin, Aladdin (Christopher Wilson), falls for a beautiful princess (Katie deBuys) and tries to impress her taking on the guise of a rich man.  Aided by a genie he finds in an oil lamp, he masquerades as a grand emir, but Princess Leilah wants the boy she met at the bazaar. The lamp, and the genie, end up in the unscrupulous hands of the evil magician (Michael Glenn) who takes her prisoner.  Aladdin to the rescue!

Playwright Stanford told Patch the play, which premiered at Imagination Stage in 2002, “was inspired by the fact that we were concerned about U.S. going to war in that part of the world, and it seemed a timely thing to tell a story that children would relate to person to person.”  

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Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse runs through Oct. 31 at Adventure Theatre, 7300 MacArthur Blvd, Glen Echo, in Glen Echo Park. Suitable for all ages. Tickets are $17 each. Group and field trip rates are also available. Children under the age of 1 are free.  301-634-2270, www.adventuretheatre.org

Adventure Theatre’s community engagement program, Share the Adventure, continues with an arts supplies drive to benefit Northwest Settlement House in Washington, D.C. in creating a Light Bulb Lab, a creative corner for kids. Supplies may be dropped off in Adventure Theatre’s lobby during the run of Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse. (See theater website for list of supplies.)

Aladdin’s Luck runs at Imagination Stage, 4908 Auburn Avenue, Bethesda through Oct. 30. Suitable for age 4 and up. Tickets are $10 to $22. Group rates are available. See website for special opportunities including a Halloween Costume Parade on Stage after the Oct. 30 4p.m. performance. 301-280-1660, www.imaginationstage.org