Munchkin madness at Sprouts New Play Festival

Loaded with lots of activities and dollops of silliness, the Sprouts New Play Festival celebrates its 14th anniversary with a crop of three new plays for the munchkin crowd.

Hosted by Concrete Theatre this weekend at the Westbury Theatre, it is an opportunity for young families to step away from the digital world and be inspired by the creativity and imagination of live theatre.

In previous years, Sprouts was held in Edmonton’s downtown public library. This year it moved to the more artsy Old Strathcona neighbourhood.

“The move was mostly about accessibility. It can be quite challenging to get downtown and Old Strathcona where the Fringe is hosted is a very family friendly place,” said Caroline Howarth, Concrete Theatre’s artistic associate.

This year’s abundant harvest of 15-minute plays includes playwright-author Marty Chan’s The Magic Brush, Edmonton Journal columnist Paula Simons’ Onions and Garlic and actor-producer Kristi Hansen’s A Whole New Wheel.

Chan’s Magic Brush is an adaptation from an old Chinese fable about a young orphaned boy who lives a hardscrabble existence. One day he shows particular kindness to an old man on the road.

In return, the old man gives him a magic paintbrush that will paint whatever the boy wishes. In return, the boy must use it only to help the needy and vulnerable.

“But a mean old landlord shows up and demands he paint a mountain of gold,” says Chan adding that the boy is hesitant to do the bidding.

However, when the wealthy landlord threatens to throw him off his land, the boy reluctantly agrees. Not wanting to break his promise to the old man, the cunning lad devises a clever painting to trap the landlord on a faraway island.

“The boy is orphaned and misses his mom and dad. He believes if he can remember what they looked like they will come to life. But he can’t remember. He was very young when they died. In the end he realizes memories are just as strong as painting,” Chan says.

Paula Simons’ Onions and Garlic instead is her inaugural musical with Sprouts, a joint effort with her daughter Celia Taylor penning the lyrics and Dave Clarke on music.

This adaptation of a Jewish folk tale tells of two siblings whose father dies and leaves his son the business and wealth. The younger daughter instead struggles to sell onions.

She meets a beggar on the road and treats him with kindness. Hearing of her plight, the beggar suggests she sell onions at the magical kingdom of Sunny Leoni.

“When she reaches the magical kingdom, she discovers the food is very bland. The people are so excited about the onions they pay her in gold, pearls and amethysts,” Howarth says.

When the girl returns home, her brother is envious of her newfound wealth and believes he can do better. He loads up with garlic and takes it to the magic kingdom.

“The people are delighted with the garlic and pay him with the most valuable thing they have. Can you guess what it is? Onions. The moral is you get what you put in and are rewarded for your actions.”

Actor-producer Kristi Hansen’s tale of A Whole New Wheel is based on her own personal experiences as a child. Hansen, one of Edmonton’s most formidable actors, has a prosthetic leg from a childhood accident.

“When Kristi got a prosthetic leg, her friends didn’t know how to act around her. Her friends wanted to talk about it, but didn’t know how.”

Wheel follows this narrative where Train is run over and has a wheel replaced. In the toy box, his best friends, Car and Rabbit don’t know how to react around him.

“Train knows things are a bit different, but doesn’t know quite what to do about it.”

April Banigan, Damon Pitcher and Nadien Chu play all the parts.

In addition to the three plays, face painting, storytelling, crafts and drum stories with Bob Rasko are featured.

Chan describes Sprouts as “a great place to try out new plays for kids. Sometimes when you do theatre, you forget some people don’t know anything about it. Here you start with kids, get them excited and nurture them through the process.”