| Sarah L. Hunt-Frank  |  | Jack and the Beanstalk Director: | Chuck Conwell Designer: Sarah L. | Hunt-Frank Lighting: | Eric Alberg Costumes: | Hank Williams HOME
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When I began working on this project, I tried to remember who my
audience was. The children’s show at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare
Festival is geared toward very young children ranging three years and up. I
felt that the three elements that a child would want to see coming to
see Jack and the Beanstalk would be a climbable beanstalk, the giant,
and some kind of transition between the Earth and the Heavens. | The planter holding the folded beanstalk was positioned downstage next to the children sitting on the carpet squares. In order to keep their curious fingers away from the aircraft cable that would eventually hoist the beanstalk, I designed a sign post that would be used in the Earth scenes as Jack takes the cow to be sold. 
The transition from Earth to the sky was amazing to say the least.
Downlight shown on the narrator and on the planter, and as the narrator
began to tell of the magic occurring in the night, the beanstalk very
slowly grew and grew and GREW. In the dark, the shack split in the
middle and wagoned off with a landscape drop traveler to reveal the
giant’s castle. The astonished audience gasped at Jack climbing the
stalk after having seen it rise from virtually nothing. They watched
the beanstalk for him to return but he didn’t. He suddenly appeared
upstage at the giant’s castle that had magically appeared out of
nowhere. | The beanstalk was a simple devise of an erosion cloth-covered rope ladder with stuffed bean pods and stiff fabric leaves. After it was raised it attached to a cat walk in the grid and the nimble actor crawled safely to the booth where he found the backstage stairs and returned to the stage. “Jack and the Beanstalk a magical mixture of fright and fun”
“Jack seems to have stepped directly from the storybook to the medieval
Europe setting on the Arena Theatre stage. | ||||||||||||||||||||||