Feature: TREASURE ISLAND from Fort Wayne Youtheatre finds publishing home at Theatrefolk

The Fort Wayne Youtheatre's adaptation of Treasure Island will be published by Theatrefolk in May of this year. Originally performed at the Parkview Physicians Group ArtsLab in October of 2018, Treasure Island was adapted from its source material by executive artistic director Todd Espeland. The story, based on the well-known Robert Louis Stevenson novel, follows the adventures of Jim Hawkins and a group of pirates - including the famous Long John Silver - seeking treasure.

Espeland has previously written work to perform with his company, Commedia Zuppa, and toured internationally with a mask show that he wrote himself, but this was the first full-length play he's written for others to perform. Treasure Island kicked off the Fort Wayne Youththeatre's 2018-2019 season to great success last fall, but taking a step into the world of publishing was a new venture for Youtheatre productions. When asked what inspired him to try publishing this adaptation for a wider audience, Espeland referenced Plays for Young Audiences, a partnership venture between Seattle Children's Theatre and The Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis, which publishes original theatre for youth to perform. "They have raised the bar for the quality of the kind of work out there for youth," said Espeland. "They are creating work that is age appropriate but not juvenile. I thought, if our work was good enough, I wanted Youtheatre to follow suit with that mission."

And indeed, Treasure Island has found a home with Theatrefolk, which has been around since 1994. It began as a production company and later transformed into a publishing house, and today they have nearly fifty playwrights with works available on their website. It's the perfect place for Espeland's Youtheatre adaptation because all of the publishing house's plays and resources are aimed at schools and student performers. Lindsay Price, one of the owners and resident playwrights of Theatrefolk, explained that the publishing house has fairly narrow criteria when selecting plays for publication. When looking to publish modern plays, they tend to choose those with teenage protagonists and a majority of teen characters. When looking at classical adaptations, a category into which Treasure Island falls, Theatrefolk's main aim is to acquire plays that emphasize theatricality. "It takes a lot to transform from one genre to another. You can't just take words from a book and call it a play- it has to be theatrical and stageable," she said.

Part of this stageability means that the plays they choose to publish need to be able to be performed with any level of technical design, especially because their range of customers includes lower-budget organizations and drama classrooms that may not have the tech support or equipment of larger theaters. "We like to say you can do most of your plays with two cubes, and if you had to, you could take one away... Todd gives amazing notes in Treasure Island for how you can easily stage the play, including a fabulous solution to Long John Silver's peg leg," said Price.

Lindsay Price and Craig Mason from Theatrefolk will be participating in a release event for Treasure Island in Fort Wayne in conjunction with the opening night party of Youtheatre's final show of the season, Rapunzel, in May. They will be giving out copies of the script and interviewing the actors from Treasure Island for their website. The official publication of Treasure Island grants a special opportunity for the local students who originated roles in the production in October, since the names of the cast and crew will be published in the final text as the original company of the show. "I like that this is a chance for us to put the talents of our youth front and center," said Espeland. "It celebrates their hard work."

 

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