Children’s Theatre Company Announces 2023-2024 Season

2023-2024 Season Includes Two World Premieres, an International Sensation, a Holiday Smash Hit and a 3-Time Tony Award®-Nominated Musical

Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) is excited to announce the 2023-2024 Season of seven productions featuring two world premieres, Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress and Babble Lab,  the international sensation Cookin’ from South Korea, the only Minnesota stop of the national tour of The Carp Who Would Not Quit and Other Animal Stories from Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the return of last year’s sold out production of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, the 3-time Tony Award®-nominated musical A Year With Frog and Toad, and the wildly inventive Alice in Wonderland.

 

CTC Artistic Director Peter C. Brosius is directing three productions in the 2023-2024 Season. It was recently announced that Mr. Brosius has decided to depart CTC on June 30, 2024, at the end of the 2023-2024 Season. His artistic vision has transformed the theatre into the nation’s leading theatre that serves a multi-generational audience.

 

“We are thrilled to announce this season of imaginative and inventive world premieres, as well as touring productions, that have dazzled audiences across this country and around the world,” said Peter C. Brosius. “In addition we will be bringing you our very own Tony Award®-nominated musical and our wholly original reimagining of a hilarious classic tale, and of course the most beloved holiday show we know. We can’t wait for you to see all of these shows. It is a joy to share brand new works and productions that have never been to Minnesota and productions we just had to bring back to delight, surprise, and carry you away.”

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The season kicks off with knife-juggling, food-flying fun with a production from South Korea! With a crazy deadline looming, the four frenzied chefs of Cookin’ turn their kitchen into a dynamic, veggies-flying-everywhere performance as Korean samulnori drumming and martial arts take center stage. During this outlandish cooking competition, the chefs put on a masterful display of food chopping, knife throwing, pot banging and fire-blowing wizardry that will make you laugh, scream in delight, and even beg for a chance to sample their food. Get ready to stomp your feet and clap your hands for a show that’s truly Cookin’! Directed by Seung-Whan Song, Cookin’ comes to CTC from PMC Production Co. and Broadway Asia. Best for all ages, this production runs September 12-October 22, 2023 on the UnitedHealth Group Stage.

 

"I can’t wait to meet the audience in Minnesota at a prestigious theatre like Children’s Theatre Company,” said Director Seung-Whan Song. “I hope you will feel the freedom from the unique rhythm of Korea and, through the comedy on stage, also feel the great pleasure of getting away from your daily life."

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Next comes Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress, by juliany taveras, based on the book by Christine Baldacchino and Isabelle Malenfant, with direction by Heidi Stillman. Morris likes lots of things: doing puzzles, painting pictures, pretending to be an astronaut, and wearing a tangerine dress from his school’s dress-up box because it “reminds him of tigers, the sun, and his mother’s hair.” But some of his classmates think boys can’t wear dresses because … well, because they’re boys. With his vivid imagination and space-animal friends, Morris travels the galaxy in search of an answer to the all-important question: “Do astronauts wear dresses?” Running October 10-November 19, 2023 on the Cargill Stage, Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress is recommended for everyone aged 4 and up.

 

“It’s been an absolute delight to get to write this play,” said playwright juliany taveras. “Diving into the expansive, resilient imagination of Morris Micklewhite has nourished me in a way I hope our audiences will experience too, because this story is a salve. Amidst the (often fear-fueled) rules and binaries of the world around us, Morris reminds us of the power of authentic, loving self-expression—even (or at times, especially) when it ruffles the feathers of the status quo. CTC has been such a wonderful dream-maker and co-conspirator, and I’m thrilled that this tale we love so much will soon premiere on their stage!”

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He’s back by popular demand! CTC’s smash-hit crowd-pleaser Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! returns for the holiday season. Featuring a book and lyrics by Timothy Mason and music by Mel Marvin, the production will once again be directed by CTC’s Artistic Director Peter C. Brosius with choreography by Linda Talcott Lee. A miserly and miserable, ever-so-cantankerous Grinch has observed the despicable Christmas joy of the Whos with disdain, from a distance, for decades. Enough! In this beloved holiday favorite, filled with music and Seussian rhymes, he plots the greatest heist imaginable—stealing the very thing they love the most!. Until, that is, the smallest of the Whos, tiny Cindy Lou, extends a hand. Through the combination of kindness and community, we witness not only a change in the course of Who-History, but the size and capacity of the old green guy’s heart. Best for all ages, this musical extravaganza runs November 7, 2023-January 7, 2024 on the UnitedHealth Group Stage.

 

“When composer Mel Marvin and I were writing this musical adaptation of the How the Grinch Stole Christmas nearly 30 years ago, we were aware that we’d been entrusted with the genius of Dr. Seuss and his irrepressible spirit,” said bookwriter and lyricist Timothy Mason. “We wanted the Seuss to shine through. It’s one of the great joys of our lives to know that children who saw the Grinch at Children’s Theater Company all those years ago are now bringing their own kids to see this show, and that for them and many others his spirit does indeed live on right here on this stage.”

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Winter magic continues at CTC with The Carp Who Would Not Quit and Other Animal Stories, by Reiko Ho and the Honolulu Theatre for Youth (HTY) Ensemble. Reiko Ho also directs the production. See a heroic carp climb up a waterfall (and so much more) in this energetic retelling of traditional fables from Japan and Okinawa. Through artful puppetry, masks, and three imaginative actors, you’ll also meet a grateful crane, a mouse who shares, and an industrious rabbit who teaches everyone to do the mochi dance! During this invigorating show from Hawaii, live music played on the koto and taiko drum will accompany young audiences as they dance, clap, and sing along. Running January 16-February 18, 2024 on the Cargill Stage, this production is best for everyone aged 4 and up.

 

“Sharing our cultural stories is one of the most important things I do as Asian American theatre maker,” said creator/director Reiko Ho. “I’m delighted to adapt a few of my own favorite childhood stories for the stage and introduce some of the beautiful performance traditions and aesthetics of Japanese and Okinawan culture to a new generation of young people and families.”

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Up next, prepare to take a tumble down the rabbit hole with Alice in Alice in Wonderland … and you’ll land in a wonderfully wacky world of rhymes and ridiculousness, checkerboards and cheeky cats, Mad Hatters and mayhem. In this head-spinning version of Lewis Carroll’s timeless classic, adapted for the stage by Sharon Holland with music by Victor Zupanc, Alice chases the White Rabbit through the audience, attends the most absurd tea party in history, and faces off with the ragingly red Queen of Hearts, all amidst a melee of teeny tiny songs. Humpty Dumpty on a ladder — what could possibly go wrong? Curiouser and curiouser. Directed by CTC’s Artistic Director Peter C. Brosius, Alice in Wonderland is recommended for everyone aged 6 and up and runs February 13-March 31, 2024 on the UnitedHealth Group Stage.

 

“Our Alice in Wonderland features an extraordinary scenic and costume design by the remarkable Skip Mercier,” said director Peter C. Brosius. “Skip created a world of illusion, surprise, mystery, and hilarity. We are thrilled to bring this wonderfully quirky and joyfully theatrical production to our stage. It is a magical tale of discovery, of standing your ground and following your curiosity. Alice is a musical and visual feast, a wild journey down the rabbit hole and into incredible new worlds.”

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 Strap on your safety goggles and clean out your ears! When an experiment unexpectedly goes awry, a concoction of sneaky, sprightly L E T T E R S takes over a weird and wondrous science lab in Babble Lab. Watch them jump into jars, spring from drawers, bounce around the room, and even play hide-and-seek as our scientist makes her surprising findings: Bluku terullala blaulala loooo! Rakete bee bee? Rekate bee zee! Enjoy the exploration of spoken blurbbles as they spring forth in this one-of-a-kind, gee-gaw-filled laboratory. Written by CTC Company Member Autumn Ness and directed by Sarah Agnew, Babble Lab runs March 9-April 14, 2024 on the Cargill Stage. Babble Lab was created with early learners in mind and is best enjoyed by audiences aged 0 to 105!

 

“I am so excited that with the world premiere of Babble Lab, I get to return to performing for my favorite audience, the pre-schoolers,” said playwright Autumn Ness. “This play is about discovering the power of your own voice, and learning to be fearless in using it. I want every preschooler that sees our show to find their own magical, musical, courageous, EPIC voice!”

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Returning for the first time since 2017, the cherished CTC original musical A Year With Frog and Toad will conclude the 2023-2024 Season. In the only show from Minnesota ever to be nominated for three Tony Awards® (including Best Musical), you’ll meet Frog and Toad: best friends who embark upon a year’s worth of adventures with great merriment, comedic agility, and joyful song-singing. A Year with Frog and Toad is based on Arnold Lobel’s Newbery and Caldecott Honor books, and features music by Robert Reale with lyrics and book by Willie Reale. The 2024 production will be directed by CTC’s Artistic Director Peter C. Brosius. Best enjoyed by audiences of all ages, this production runs April 23-June 16, 2024 on the UnitedHealth Group Stage.

 

“We are super stoked that A Year With Frog and Toad is returning to its birthplace at Children's Theatre Company to celebrate its 21st year," said Bookwriter & Lyricist Willie Reale and Composer Robert Reale. "Despite the fact that it is old enough to be welcomed in a saloon, we trust that the innocence and fun of the show will be on full display once again at CTC.”

 

Full season subscriptions and renewals for the 2023-2024 Season are now on sale and can be purchased online or by calling the ticket office at 612.874.0400. CTC’s 2023-2024 Season of artistic and educational programming is supported by The Shubert Foundation, Inc. and the Minnesota State Arts Board.