 "Photo: Photo courtesy of There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom")
Have you read “Sideways Stories from Wayside School?” Or maybe you’ve seen the movie “Holes?” If you have, you’ve come in contact with some of the work of author Louis Sachar. The UT Department of Theatre and Dance is staging an interpretation of another of his books, “There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom.”
The play, an imaginative story for all ages, tells the tale of 10-year-old bully Bradley Chalkers. His fifth grade experiences are sure to strike home with audiences and remind everyone of their elementary school years.
“We’ve all felt like the odd man out,” said Brian Fahey, the show’s director and Master of Fine Arts candidate in Drama and Theatre for Youth. “We’ve all had embarrassing school experiences that we laugh about later. We’ve all had school crushes and enemies and ‘frenemies’ and teachers who shaped our lives. We’ve all been 10 years old or we will be someday.”
Bradley (played by Jon Cook) is the oldest kid in the fifth grade and the biggest bully. He lies all the time and likes to pick fights. But despite his rough attitude, Bradley is very insecure.
At school, he has one friend, Jeff (played by Tiger Sheu), but his closest friends are his stuffed and ceramic animals: “Bartholomew the bear,” “Ronnie the rabbit,” “Goose” and “Turtle.” Puppeteers trained during a workshop by members of the award-winning PBS show “The Biscuit Brothers” will play his animal friends.
While Bradley feels like everyone in the school hates him, his school behavior specialist, Carla Davis (played by Stevi Baston) helps the “most horrible, rotten, monster in the school” become the person he really wants to be, and most of all, helps him believe in himself.
“The moral of this story is that there are different forms of bullying and everyone is affected by bullying including the perpetrator,” said actress Dawnica Mathis, who plays Lori Westin, the loud mouth of the school.
Sachar, an Austin author, wrote “There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom” in 1987. In the book’s liner notes, he says that the inspiration for the book came from his wife, Carla, and her job as an elementary school counselor.
He has written more than 21 books, including the “Wayside School” series, the “Marvin Redpost” series, “Holes,” and his most recent publication, 2006’s “Small Steps.” He now spends much of his time at bridge clubs around Austin.
“My wife Carla was the inspiration for the counselor in ‘There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom,’” Sachar says in his author bio.
Whether by challenging us to remember our 10-year-old days or by showing us the fifth-grade experiences of Bradley, the Department of Theatre and Dance hopes to engage our inner-kids and teach audiences about bullying and about the changes we go through as we mature.
“I think that the audience will learn that it is OK to forgive people and that people can change their ways for good with a little encouragement and support,” Mathis said.
WHAT: There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom
WHEN: Friday, 8 p.m. (runs through October 11)
WHERE: Oscar G. Brockett Theatre 300 E. 23rd St.
TICKETS: $20 adults, $17 UT faculty and staff, $15 UT students
MORE INFO: www.texasperformingarts.org
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