Baba Yaga and the Black Sunflower

This original tale uses motifs from traditional Russian stories and songs to explore a young girl's struggle to find her place in the world. Humans, animals, nightmares enrich the telling. A place for puppets, masks, and movement. Flexible staging. CD recording available which includes all the incidental music and song accompaniment. Musical Score (vocal, piano, instruments) also available. Flexible cast of 10 to 20, which may be played as few as 5 - 6 women, 3 - 2 men, and extra puppets. Maryushka spends three days of challenges that carry her from her village to the forest and Baba Yaga, the ancient sorceress and a great test of wits and will. Selected for the Kennedy Center's New Visions/New Voices, and hailed by The Boston Globe as theatre that "has everything a child could want . . . scary (but not too scary), funny (but not too cute). Here are awesome songs and real ideas for kids to wrap their minds around. We hope it will be produced often and everywhere." Approximate run time: 65 min