Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 13, 1993 TAG: 9404130006
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KAREN L. DAVIS SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Fulghum's work, adapted for the stage by Mill Mountain's associate artistic director, Ernest Zulia, originally premiered to sold-out audiences in Mill Mountain's Theatre B this spring during Roanoke's Festival in the Park.
Appearing in the remounted main-stage production are original ensemble cast members Jill Jane Clements, Ed Sala, Branislav Tomich and Frederick Walters.
The play is a series of stories adapted from Fulghum's best-selling books, ``All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,'' ``It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It'' and ``Uh-Oh.''
Zulia sought permission to adapt a play from the books after reading passages to friends and recognizing that the stories worked well when spoken aloud.
Fulghum liked his proposal and agreed.
``I told him that I think his writing is magical and that I wanted to use the simplest kind of presentation that would be true to his voice,'' Zulia said.
The play's concept is simple. Sets and props are minimal, and there is no plot in the traditional sense. Instead, stories are linked by theme and music. Some stories are performed as monologues; some are character vignettes; others are put to song as David Caldwell, who wrote the play's music and lyrics, accompanies the cast on piano.
The main-stage production has been updated with a few stories from Fulghum's new book, ``Maybe, Maybe Not.'' Fulghum is currently promoting the book on a 22-city tour benefiting community-based charities nationwide. Fulghum calls his tour the ``Twenty-Two Cities, Twenty-Two Causes, One Good Reason Tour.''
The Mill Mountain Theatre cast and production will join that tour in Boston on Oct. 25 at Symphony Hall; in Philadelphia on Oct. 26 at Temple University; in New York on Oct. 27 at Carnegie Hall; in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 29 at Warner Theatre; and in Baltimore on Oct. 30 at Towson State College.
Being invited on the tour ``is a huge feather in Roanoke's cap,'' said Jere Hodgin, Mill Mountain's executive and artistic director. ``Fulghum was elated at how well his work translated from the page to the stage.''
Hodgin said the production has put Mill Mountain Theatre ``on the map'' as other regional theaters have expressed an interest in the show, too.
In December, Zulia will direct a new cast in ``All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten'' at the Apple Tree Theatre in Chicago.
Zulia said Fulghum's stories appeal to audiences because, ``He speaks in a universal voice, even though he takes out a microscope and closely examines the moment.''
Zulia said one of his favorite stories in the play is about some children playing a game in which they are told they can pretend to be only a giant wizard or a dwarf.
``But one little girl wants to be a mermaid,'' he said. ``In that moment, we recognize that we can't pigeonhole everybody. It thrills people to be able to identify these universal moments and know that they, too, experience these tiny, profound insights everyday.
``Fulghum's work is incredibly life-affirming,'' Zulia said. ``His magic is in turning ordinary words into profound statements. His biggest, most important word is `look.' He says take off the veil, and look - see that the world is not so bad a place after all. We don't have to feel hopeless; we can change our responses. It's all point of view.''
Fulghum, an ordained Unitarian minister, ``sees life from a spiritual point of view,'' Zulia said. Yet his anecdotes do not come across as deliberately didactic. Rather, his observations celebrate commonplace events and remind us that moment-to-moment life is really all we have.
Fulghum will be in Roanoke toward the end of Mill Mountain's limited run. On Oct. 23, he will autograph books from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Ram's Head Book Shop in Towers Shopping Center.
``There is even the possibility that he may be involved in the show one night,'' Hodgin said. However, he could give no details because, he said, Fulghum's possible participation would ``depend on the spontaneity of the moment.''
``All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten'' continues through Oct. 24 on Mill Mountain Theatre's main stage at Center in the Square. A preview performance will be presented tonight at 7:30 for $10. Call the box office at 342-5740.
by CNB