On Saturday, Oct. 3, University Theatre opened this year's production of their theatre for youth program, ""Revolt of the Beavers."" The show began as a Communism-for-kids production in 1937 by Oscar Saul and Lou Lantz as part of Franklin Roosevelt's Federal Theatre Project. Directors John-Stuart Fauquet and Pete Rydberg updated the script to include references to items such as the iPod, Wii and an interesting addition of the song ""Let's Get it Started"" by the Black Eyed Peas.
The show begins with siblings Michael and Hannah (Joshua David Atkins and Kelsey Davison) in the woods discussing family difficulties with regard to their father's unemployment. Then, as they wish on a four-leaf clover to be free, Windy (Chris Morrison) takes them to Beaverland where the evil beaver chief (Liz Foster-Shaner) is ruling over the beavers with an iron fist.
One of the show's higlights is the camraderie exhibited by the four worker beavers in the production (Lauren Hoeft, Marsha Maly, Blake Henderson, and Ashley McHose). Their relationship to one another seems genuine, and they do an excellent job remaining as the ""beavers"" throughout the run, reacting and remaining in character while onstage even when the focus is not on them. The one difficulty with the characters is the accents that they take on, which add little to the show, if anything.
While the sibling relationship between Atkins and Davison seems, for the most part, to be real, they seem to have difficulty keeping time with each other. This may have been partly due to opening-day nerves, but their reactions were off or completely different from one another. Davison also seems to have a difficult time remaining in character when she is not speaking, which is especially clear when she anticipates and reacts too early. They both bring the young quality to their respective characters, making Hannah bossy and a little arrogant, while Michael has a touch of naiveté that made his tall figure seem much more childish on stage.
Morrison brought a unique quality to the character of Windy, making him not only a witty character but also adding this wisdom almost as if he were a mentor to young Michael and Hannah.
Foster-Shaner allows herself to fully embrace the character of the beaver chief and does so quite well. The chief may be a woman, but she is just as burly and strong as any man would be.
Joe Varga's set is just Dr. Seuss enough to be the perfect place for Beaverland. The whimsical colors and hint of irony with the Beaverland/Hollywood sign were just enough to give the parents in the audience a quick chuckle while not distracting from the overall plotline.
Ari Lebowitz made the beavers just human enough for the actors to be able to move freely, while still giving the audience a vision of what working beavers might actually wear. The beaver chief's robot suit was a funny mix of ""Robot Chicken"" and ""The Jetsons"" robot Rosie. The shoes added were a nice touch.
Overall, this show may have been intended for children, but it entertains the whole way through. Even the children in the audience won't move for the entire hour, other than maybe to make brief comments to their parents like ""Wow!"" Whether the students in the audience see this show for a class or just because they love the theatre, everyone will get a laugh.
