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Why can’t a princess be a dragon slayer?
Guest director Maura Malloy saw no reason why boys should have all the swashbuckling fun, so she switched the genders in the script of Patricia Clapps’ “The Invisible Dragon,” which Marywood University’s theater department will present April 15-18.
“I’m like a damsel in distress, but not a damsel,” Nick Grevera, 21, of Old Forge said with a laugh as he described his “gloomy prince” role.
“The (original) story is about a typical prince and a princess who is unhappy. Suddenly a prince comes along, and a man has made her happy,” Malloy said. “I’m sick of that stereotypical stuff, so we have a prince that’s unhappy and gloomy and a princess who is looking for a dragon to slay. It’s refreshing for the roles to be reversed.
While she was amending the script, Malloy also exchanged a theme that had “lollipops all over the place” for one about broccoli and tomatoes and peppers and such.
In educational packets the theater department sent to area schools, the kids learn that “to enter the town” they should color and bring a picture of a vegetable.
“The idea is, if we all love vegetables, then so does the dragon,” Grevera said.
During the interactive play, which is aimed mostly for preschool to second grade, children in the audience will help the story move forward with songs and hand gestures.
“Believe it, they don’t hold back,” associate professor of theater Paulette Merchel said. “They’re at the age where they believe.”
The kids also will share the secret that “we’re only pretending there’s a big, hideous dragon,” Grevera said.
“The stage manager will move a ‘dragon’s tail’ around, and they’ll be in on the gimmick,” Merchel said. “They’re not going to squeal.”
The big lesson of the plot is “you’re happy when you make other people happy,” Merchel said. “That’s what makes the prince happy. He makes the princess happy, and that’s what the song is all about.”
Putting on children’s shows is a 50-year tradition at Marywood, Merchel said, and it’s educational for the cast because, with a young audience, “You have to be honest, you have to make sure you’re heard and seen. You’ll get a bad reaction if you’re not right ‘on.’”
As for the kids who come to the show, Malloy said, “I’m hoping they enjoy the story first of all. And secondly, with the gender switching, I hope they get a new take on the ‘rules’ that are sometimes reinforced by fairy tales.
“I’m also hoping they get a going-to-the-theater sensibility,” Malloy said. “Young people today have so many diversions, it will be great for them to go and see something live.”
“For this show,” Grevera said, “they’ll get to experience art specifically made for them. I hope it encourages a few of them to pursue an acting career.”