What sings, dances and is brown all over? Yep! That’s right: beavers. Specifically, the beavers in the University Theatre’s production of “The Revolt of the Beavers.” This play is a child-focused play, but it gives everyone a little something to chew on as they enter the land of the beavers.
UW graduate students John-Stuart Fauquet and Pete Rydberg wrote the University Theatre’s version of “The Revolt of the Beavers” from the production of the same name written by Oscar Saul and Louis Lantz. The original play was first produced in New York City by the Children’s Unit of Roosevelt’s Federal Theatre Project in 1937, but was shut down shortly thereafter due to a “socialist” feel.
“Revolt of the Beavers” begins with Hannah and Michael, two humans who “just want to have a good time,” wandering through the woods. They are soon discovered by the wind, who requests the children call him Windy and transports them to Beaverland on his way to the North Pole. The children are deposited in Beaverland and meet the friendly beavers who are prisoners in their own land. The chief beaver controls and bosses around the other beavers, forcing them to work all day collecting bark while she sits back and enjoys the fruits of their labor. The children see how unhappy the worker beavers are and decide something must be done, so they go to the chief beaver to discuss the situation. The chief beaver does not like this interrogation and throws the children in jail. The children are then rescued by one of the worker beavers and together they come up with a plan to dethrone the chief beaver to restore singing and dancing, as well as equality, back to Beaverland.
The original play had 40 characters and seven full musical numbers, however, the UT’s version only had eight cast members and three musical numbers. Fauquet and Rydberg viewed contemporary social issues such as conservation and environmentalism as necessary to include in their version of the production. By including Mad Libs and environmental scavenger hunts into the program allowed a creative way to get children to start thinking about the environment and was a huge pre-show bonus.
While this play’s audience was mainly a grade school crowd, those of us that are older can enjoy it just the same. “The Revolt of the Beavers” is quite short — only about an hour — but it is jampacked with funny lines and interesting songs; one of the beavers even bursts out singing Black Eyed Peas. The characters all have humorous personalities that cascade out into the audience leaving everyone chuckling.
The UT has been offering a production specifically for children every year since the 1970s thanks to professor John Tolch. Because of him, the productions by, for and with children have increased. These plays have targeted children anywhere from preschoolers to elementary levels. He is now retired but his ideas still live on with shows like “Revolt of the Beavers.” So take your kids or your little siblings to see the University Theatre’s first production of the year and join in the clapping, the bark collecting and singing “the Beavers’ happy song!”
