Batavia High School presents The Legend of Robin Hood?

Batavia High School presents The Legend of Robin Hood? January 26th, 27th and 28th at 7:30 pm, performed in the Black Box Theatre at the Batavia Fine Arts Centre. Tickets are available online at www.BataviaFineArtsCentre.org and at the box office by calling 630-937-8930. Ticket prices are $12 online and $14 by phone and at the box office.

The Legend of Robin Hood? is an original play written by Joshua Casburn and members of the talented high school cast. Their message: Everything you ever knew about Robin Hood is wrong! Well, in this play, at
least. That's what playwright Harper Callow discovers when a magical gypsy woman shows up to the premiere of her new play about Robin Hood and puts a spell on it, "giving it a mind of its own." It should have been a play that is inspired by the popular heroic outlaw we all know from folklore. But in this version, Robin Hood isn’t so heroic. He’s not even much of an outlaw, either. Harper is outraged at the goofiness onstage. She wrote a drama, not a comedy! Inspired to change the world in what she is sure are profound political ways, she wrote a searing manifesto using, or rather altering, the classic story. But this new, “cursed” version brings up many important questions. Why, for instance, isn’t Robin Hood interested in Maid Marian?
Why is Little John actually little? And how is it that the Sheriff of Nottingham is actually a pretty good
dude (he’s just a little misunderstood)? When Harper discovers that she can use the script on her phone to change each scene as it happens, she regrets that she left auto-correct on! Everybody takes a crack at the script, including Hollywood screenwriters and even Robin Hood himself (he’s disgusted by this whole experience!). It’s Monty Python meets Luigi Pirandello (look him up) in this zany, accidental comedy
that will make you wonder: what is the legend of Robin Hood? And why are there so many goats?

Casburn, who also directs the play, says that writing an unorthodox comedy from scratch is a monumental task, but he and his cast have risen to meet the challenge. “Though the play has many funny moments,” he
states, “amid the silliness it also asks some important questions about the artistic process. That’s what the cast talked about on the first day of rehearsal: why they want to tell stories or participate in theater arts. One of the most profound answers was that the more we express ourselves, the more we learn about ourselves.”

The talented cast of 30 actors that bring this production to life are all students from BHS: Freshmen: George Aigner, Sophie Chahmirzadi, Hannah Curran, Conall Haldeman, Dakota Hill, Maisie Sweeney. Sophomores: Cate Rocha, JD Rodriguez, Isaac Schifferer, Kevin Sliczniak, Colin Steele, Cara Voirin. Juniors: Brandon Belair, Samanta Echevarria, Erica Knutson, Max Micheli, Mary Clare Perreault, Emily Tae Smith, Meghan Tucker, Abigail Weiss. Seniors: Adam Arroyo, Maggie Cerveny, Robbie DiCosola, Anthony Fares, Mallory
Haldeman, Casey Kirk, Tori McKeehan, Benjamin Paoletti, Anatastazja Petersen, and Cameron Tucker.