PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Arden Children's Theatre in Old City is back with its first show in nearly three years.
They are kicking off their return with “Charlotte’s Web,” which is showing at Arden until Jan. 29, 2023.
“After all of the separation we've all experienced during COVID, coming back and doing a play that's about community and love and growth as an individual and growth as a community, is just really, really special,” said Casie Girvin, who plays Charlotte in the production.
The play is adapted from E.B. White’s book about an unexpected friendship between a pig named Wilbur and a spider named Charlotte.
In this production, the costumes are not what you would typically expect for farm animals. Wilbur doesn’t have a pig snout and Charlotte doesn’t have eight legs, so the actors have to create their characters through physicality.
“So for Charlotte, the director and I have talked a lot about, what is a movement vocabulary for a spider?” Girvin said. “They go really, really fast, and then they stop, and they stare at you. And maybe they don't always go straight ahead. Maybe they're moving off to the side, side to side, forward and back.”
Girvin said she basically had to get rid of all of those human-like qualities and habits she has to better channel the character and move across the stage in a different way.
Those movements, however, were enhanced by Girvin’s aerial silks and acrobatic talents, as she went to the Actors Gymnasium in Chicago for circus training and has also worked at the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts.
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While many audience members know the book or movie adaptations, Girvin says the story is still new to a lot of people, making for a more lively audience.
“Charlotte's Web is often the first time a lot of the people in the audience are being part of a theatrical community and viewing live theater,” Girvin said. “And that's such a special thing to experience as an actor on stage and as an audience member.”
“They're with you the whole time, experiencing the whole story for the first time, and you hear gasps and you hear laughing and crying.”