Wolf Gets Day in Court in BACT’s 'The True Story of the Three Little Pigs'

By Vivian Auslander, Bay Area Children's Theatre

The Bay Area Children’s Theatre (BACT) production of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, a wacky musical take on the classic tail, uh, tale for children, opens Saturday, April 14, at 2 p.m. at the Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison St., Berkeley.

In this comedic send-up of a courtroom trial, the wolf gives his version of what befell the three little pigs — while the audience gets to play reporter and jury rolled into one. Directed by Jessica Richards, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs is based on the book of the same name by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, with music by Paul Gilvary and William Rush and lyrics by Robert Kauzlaric.

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs plays weekends in Berkeley through Sunday, May 6, before moving to the Front Row Theatre in San Ramon weekends from May 12 to May 20. The production is recommended for ages 5 and older.

WHO: Bay Area Children’s Theatre

WHAT: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

TICKETS: $20 adults, $17 seniors, $15 children, $12 groups

BOX OFFICE: http://www.bactheatre.org/ and (510) 296-4433

BERKELEY: Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison St.

Saturday, April 14, at 2 pm
Sunday, April 15, at 2 pm
Sunday, April 22, at 11 am, 2 pm
Saturday, April 28, at 2 pm
Sunday, April 29, at 11 am, 2 pm
Saturday, May 5, at 2 pm
Sunday, May 6, at 11 am, 2pm

SAN RAMON: Front Row Theatre, 17011 Bollinger Canyon Rd.

Saturday, May 12, at 2 pm, 4:30 pm
Sunday, May 13, at 2 pm, 4:30 pm
Friday, May 18, at 7 pm
Saturday, May 19, at 2 pm, 4:30 pm
Sunday, May 20, at 2 pm, 4:30 pm

ARTISTS:

Patricia Austin (Rocky, Billy, Martha, Maxwell, Pig #3) is a recent transplant from Chicago, where she was a theatre educator with Skyline Studios and an Artistic Associate with Hell in a Handbag Productions. Her favorite regional credits include The Women and Enchanted April (Circle Theatre), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Signal Ensemble Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (First Folio
Shakespeare), and Caged Dames, Reefer Madness, Rudolph the Red Hosed Reindeer and The Rip.

Nelson Halloween Spooktacular (Hell in a Handbag Productions). Austin is a wardrobe supervisor at the Aurora Theatre. She makes her BACT debut with this production.

Chrissy Brooks (Julia, Pig #2) makes her Bay Area debut in The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. In October, she moved from St. Louis, MO, where she had performed professionally since graduating from Loyola University, Chicago, in 2003. In 2010 Brooks won an AFL Award for Best Comedic Actress for Minnie Fay in Hello Dolly! Some of her other honors include: AFL nomination for Best Actress in a Comedic Role 2008 - Snail in A Year with Frog and Toad, RFT award for Best Children’s Production 2008 - Go Dog Go!, and a Kevin Kline nomination for Best Performance for Young Audiences 2006 - Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse. She dedicates her performance to her two little California girls who make the Bay Area feel like home.

Paul Jennings (Wolf)has worked extensively in Northern California, appearing primarily in Shakespearean productions (44 productions of 26 of the plays), and has worked with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the California Shakespeare Theater, Shakespeare, ETC (co-founder), Pacific Repertory Theatre,
Shakespeare at Stinson, and many other companies. Recent roles include Falstaff in The Boar's Head with Theatre Pub, and the title roles in Richard III at Shady Shakespeare and Macbeth with Subterranean Shakespeare.

Tamara Leigh Miller (Reporter Magill) returns to BACT, where she played the Red Dress Doll in The Little Engine That Could. She recently appeared as Dr. Zavala in Distracted at Town Hall Theatre Company, Gertred in Bad Hamlet: The Bootleg Quarto of 1603 with Do It Live! Productions and Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew at California Shakespeare Theater. Other credits include several seasons with the Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival. She has a degree in vocal performance from the University of California, Berkeley, and is the marketing director at Stagebridge Senior Theatre Company in Oakland.

Sharon Huff Robinson (Judge Prudence, Pig #1) was last seen at BACT as Miss Nelson/Viola Swamp in Miss Nelson is Missing. She is very pleased to be back, especially in the role of a judgmental pig. She recently appeared as the Queen in the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival’s Cymbeline. For the past four years, she has been an alternate for the festival’s Shakespeare on Tour show, playing Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Alonso/Stephano in The Tempest, Laertes/Polonius in Hamlet and the Nurse/Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet.