Category | Arts & Living

Professor adapts classic for the stage

Published on September 9, 2008 by The Sentinel

   The KSU Department of Theatre and Performance Studies is proud to
bring you its adaptation of “The Wind in the Willows” on Sept. 13 at 8
p.m. in the Dr. Bobbie Bailey & Family Performance Center.

 
    Members of the theatre and performance studies faculty will present a dramatic reading of scenes from the children’s fantasy novel, adapted and directed by KSU professor John Gentile. The performance, a benefit for Alpha Psi Omega, the theatre honor society, marks the centennial of Kenneth Grahame’s folklore classic.

    The story of “The Wind in the Willows” was conceived as a continuation of the bedtime stories Kenneth Grahame told his six-year-old son, who was reluctant to go away for summer holidays because he didn’t want to miss his father’s nightly tales. With his son’s reluctance in mind, Grahame fasioned his tales in a series of letters written to his son in the summer of 1907; the letters eventually became “The Wind in the Willows,” which was published the following year.
    The novel tells a story that appeals to all ages and transcends time. Each of the five main characters is a perfect marriage of what you want to believe about animals and what you unfortunately know to be true about humans and human nature.

    “The novel is a classic of fantasy literature filled with rollicking comedy and lyrical beauty. The talented theatre and performance studies faculty bring to life Grahame’s unforgettable cast of characters: the naive Mole, the good-natured Water Rat, the no-nonsense Badger and, of course, the irrepressible Toad,” Gentile says of his adaptation.

        The performance will include scenes from the following chapters: “The River Bank,” “Mr. Toad,” “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn,” “Toad’s Adventures,” “The Further Adventures of Toad,” “’Like Summer Tempests Came His Tears” and “The Return of Ulysses.”

       The performance will begin promptly at 8 p.m. on Sept. 13 in the Performance Hall of the Dr. Bobbie Bailey & Family Performance Center. Tickets are $5 and will only be sold at the door. For more information, visit http://www.kennesaw.edu/arts or call 770-423-6650.