rts
TheM Saturday, July 11, 1981 Page 7
fSmart theater
for -smart kids

By ELIZABETH SCOTT
Daily Arts Writer
Act I, Scene i: Mom and Dad take
Junior to a play designed to teach
Junior to appreciate the fine art of
drama. During the performance, Mom
and Dad marvel at how cleverly the play-
has been extremely simplified for the
children's assumed equally simple.
minds. Junior writhes in his seat in the
agony of boredom and disgust, and asks
how much longer until the end.
Tired of children's plays that seem to
condescend to their intended audience?
The Ann Arbor Circus Productions
could offer a refreshingly new ap-
proach to children's drama with their
production of Hansel and Gretel being
performed this Sunday at the Michigan
Theater.
Producer Mark Loeb explains,
"We're not going down to the see-Dick-
run level." Instead, he hopes to orient
kids to all the facets of theater.
LOEB HAS BEEN involved with
theater for the young since he was

young(er) himself, and can relate to the
frustration of the kids who are subject
to plays which might appeal to an adult
in search of yet another second
childhood.
Working with director Deb Bardwick
(who, due to a last-minute change will
also be playing Gretel), Loeb has adap-
ted Goldberg's script to include some
mime and juggling-semingly ap-
propriate, considering the company's
name.
"I like circus," Loeb explains, and he
hopes to do more circus-oriented
productions in the future. Last year, the
company put on Vaudeville. But for-
now, they're working with Hansel and
Gretel.
The cast includes people from
Eastern Michigan University, the
University of Michigan, Huron High
School, and even a graduate of In-
terlochen. There are no children, but
the play is devised to make them as
aware of the production as perhaps the
actors are themselves.

THE MOVIES AT BRIARWOOD
1-94 & S. STATE. @ 769-8780 (Adjacent to J C Penney)
*DAILY EARLY BIRD MATINEES-Adults $1.50


KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE (R) 12 Mid.
FLASH GORDON (PG) 12 Mid.
ROCKY HORROR (R) 12 Mid.