KU Theatre for Young People to stage 'Tomato Plant Girl' Feb. 4 to 9

LAWRENCE -- The University of Kansas Theatre for Young People will perform "Tomato Plant Girl" by Wesley Middleton Feb. 4 to 9 in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre. Elementary school students and teachers in grades 1, 2 and 3 are welcome at matinee performances at 1 p.m. Feb. 4 through 8; a public performance is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9.

Jeanne Klein, associate professor of theatre and film and director of KU's Theatre for Young People, is directing the innovative production. Scenic designer is David Wanner, University Theatre Scene Shop manager; costumes are by Mark Reaney, professor of theatre and film. Lighting design is by Avraham Mendall Mor, Wilmette, Ill., senior in theatre design. Justin Hosek, a Lawrence musician and former KU music student, is composing and recording original "Earth Hum" music for the production. Paul Meier, associate professor of theatre and film, is diction coach.

Klein said "Tomato Plant Girl" is a highly imaginative and expressionistic play that looks at the ageless issue of bullying and how it strikes at the heart of early friendships among children.

"It is especially timely as parents and teachers agonize over its subsequent effects in the form of school harassment and even violence," she said. "We often think of bullies as a phenomenon among boys, but girls likewise have their own insidious means of manipulating and controlling emotional relationships with their peers."

In the allegorical play, Bossy Best Friend makes up tyrannical game rules to control her friendship with Little Girl, who is new to town and wants to fit in. When her own tomato plant dies from neglect, Bossy Best Friend convinces the naive Little Girl to give up her healthy plant. While Bossy Best Friend is gone to visit her grandmother, Little Girl nurtures the plant until it grows into a fantastically alive Tomato Plant Girl. But when Little Girl tries to manipulate this naturally wild and playful child the way Bossy Best Friend treats her, Tomato Plant Girl rebels and shows her how real friends should respect one another's needs. Like a plant that needs good soil, warm sun and refreshing rain, Little Girl grows to understand the true value of compassionate friendships.

When it is time for Tomato Plant Girl to return to the earth, the two characters realize how they have given each other the gift of true friendship, and Little Girl realizes how much she has grown as a girl.

"This deceptively simple fable captures the complex intricacies of girls' intimate friendships in a garden, which symbolizes the nature-nurture debates of child development," Klein said.

The KU-TYP performances of "Tomato Plant Girl" are being dedicated to the memory of Sally Six Hersh, who founded KU's Theatre for Young People in 1954, Klein said. Hersh, a strong advocate for theatre for young audiences, died last fall after a battle with cancer. Klein said the one-hour play will be most appreciated by families and by children age 5 and older.

General admission tickets are on sale through the KU ticket offices: University Theatre, 864-3982; Lied Center, 864-ARTS; SUA, 864 7469; and online at kutheatre.com. Tickets cost $6 for the public, $3 for all students and $5 for senior citizens. Members of the ensemble for "Tomato Plant Girl" include (listed by name, class, parents' names, home address and role):

DOUGLAS COUNTY
From Lawrence
Summer Eglinski, freshman, daughter of Ed and Pam Eglinski, 805 Mississippi; Voice of Bossy Best Friend's Mother.

SHAWNEE COUNTY
From Topeka
Hannah Ballou, junior, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Scott Ballou, 210 S.W. Broadmoor; Tomato Plant Girl.

MISSOURI
From Ballwin
Adrienne Lamping, junior, daughter of Dan Lamping and Libby Beck, 640 Woodfern Drive; Bossy Best Friend.

From Kansas City
Amber Renee McIntosh, senior, daughter of Mick Page, 7859 N.W. Roanridge Road; Little Girl.