Children Theater scare-comedy may make you laugh your head off

Ichabod Crane, right (portrayed by Drew Pierce) is bullied by Brom Bones (Evan Wollam) and his posse during the dress rehearsal of "Sleepy Hollow" Nov. 5.

The MHCC theater program is stretching that creepy Halloween feeling into November with the Children’s Theater production of kid-friendly “Sleepy Hollow.”

The stage presented the mood of the play well. As soon as the house lights went out and the stage lights came on, there were immediate “oohs” and “ahhs” and cheers from the elementary school audience Wednesday morning.

The lighting helped make each scene pop with the addition of the ghoulish purple and blue lighting that accompanied the eerie woods-like scenery with accompanying draping foliage.

“Sleepy Hollow” is directed toward children, but is suitable for all. The child-like quality is apparent by the clear over-acting of the actors. It wasn’t obnoxious, but was reminiscent of Disney movies where the characters’ personalities are clearly presented multiple times throughout the storyline and with the character themselves.

The story is a bit different from the “Sleepy Hollow” movie starring Johnny Depp. It’s not at all gory and the Headless Horseman is more of a ghost story than an illusive murderer. This is a children’s play, after all.

Ichabod Crane comes to town as the new schoolmaster and makes friends with the desirable Katrina, who town-bully Brom Bones has had a fancy for. Bones bullies Crane while Katrina plays up to both of them.

The plot is handed to you by amusing storytellers who use physical comedy along with the actors. The storytellers do a bit of multitasking as well to portray scene extras, which requires some minor costume adjustments.

I like the costumes a lot. They were fitting to the era of the story, conveying a colonial feel with the pilgrim attire of Ichabod and the corseted dresses and skirts of the women. I laughed when the storytellers made reference to the fact that seeing Katrina’s ankles was provocative relative to the conservative dress of the time.

The audience participation in the play was exciting. It was amusing to see how excited the kids got to have an interactive experience with the story, between naming the dessert to get Gunpowder (Ichabod’s ride to the dance) to getting up off the floor and sending the Headless Horseman after Ichabod.

The Headless Horseman makes an exciting entrance that breaks the fourth wall. The cloaked figure carrying a lighted pumpkin head was enough to make one of the children scream in horror and burst into tears, shouting at him to stay away among the screams and gasps of the full crowd.

The play is family friendly. The childish humor, including the always-funny fart joke, gave everyone a good laugh. Children were given the warning at the beginning of the play that it may be considered scary as well as letting everyone know what appropriate play behavior was.

Performances of the play are continuing today, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:30 a.m. by reservation and a general public performance will be held Saturday, Nov. 19, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $2 each and can be purchased at the Theater Box Office.

For more information on the play and reservations, contact the box office at (503) 491-7154.

Advocate Staff