The Little Company presents touring production of ‘Rapunzel’

Morehead State University's School of Creative Arts and touring children's theatre, The Little Company, present their latest production of a fairy tale classic, “Rapunzel.”  

Mike Kenny's "Rapunzel" will be presented in various K-12 schools throughout MSU's 22-county service region every Tuesday and Thursday, starting Tuesday, March 1. The final performance will take place on Thursday, May 5.   

Directed by The Little Company Director Octavia Biggs and produced with special arrangements from Plays for New Audiences, the production tells the story of Rapunzel, who lives with her loving and overprotective Nan after her mother left across the big sea. Year after year, Nan builds their tower higher and higher to protect them from the scary world. Every year, Rapunzel's hair grows longer and so does her curiosity about the world outside. It isn't until Rafi, a local boy, comes by and befriends Rapunzel that she finally gets the courage to be free.  

It is such a great story that is filled with inclusion and diversity. I love the fact that there is no villain in the story and that it is about the relationship with a grandmother and her granddaughter," Biggs said. "I also needed to find a tour that would work with the concept of name recognition when working to book the tour. Since COVID, we have not had the tour in many schools, and I wanted to do something that would be of interest to a large majority of schools. It appeals to the elementary schools for the title, and it appeals to middle and high school as a recruiting tool, which is what Little Company is all about to me."  

Biggs said everything from the growing hair of Rapunzel that eventually ends up being 20-feet long to creating a traveling tower with a design inspired by artistic styles like cubism, surrealism and dadaism presented challenges for The Little Company cast and crew. She said taking on this ambitious traveling production is more than worth it for the experience it gives MSU students and the spreading of theatre to young people across the region.  

"What I offer here at MSU is unique to any other school in Kentucky but also unique to the US. There are few theatre programs that offer theatre education, an educational tour company experience and a partnership with a professional theatre company, where students have the chance to apply for internships with Lexington Children's Theatre," Biggs said. "I want (the audience) to be exposed to arts education and to know that we are fighting for arts education to remain in their lives. I want them to see a show that uses an imagination to build a tower with ladders being used in unconventional ways, and truly I want them to see a show that focuses on growing up and spreading their wings to fly 'beyond the horizon.'" 

A free study guide will be included with each booking for teachers to use before and after the performance.   

Generously supported by an endowment from the W. Paul and Lucille Caudill Little Foundation, the Caudill College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance, The Little Company visits up to 100 schools each year, performing for 15,000 to 30,000 students.  

While this program serves teachers and K-12 schools in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, it also offers MSU students valuable career experience performing plays intended for young audiences, teaching workshops to K-12 students and working with a touring production.  

To learn more about The Little Company, contact 606-783-2545, email thelittlecompany@moreheadstate.edu or visit www.moreheadstate.edu/thelittlecompany.