Books offer avenues to adventure and imagination in so many ways while also encouraging young minds to explore and create. 

One of the greatest and most prolific modern authors of children’s books is Mo Willems, creator of “The Pigeon,” “Knuffle Bunny,” and “Elephant and Piggie” book series, with the latter coming to life at Purdue University Fort Wayne’s Williams Theatre for Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!” opening Friday, April 18.

Inner child

Children’s theater, as in theater intended for young audiences, is an emerging genre, and one that is growing each year. 

The show’s director, Beverly Redman, has found the production to be an excellent educational moment for her cast of PFW students. 

“I think it’s very good for them in their training because it really pushes them to really stretch in terms of the bigness of the characters and the clarity of their speech, so that everything is very clear for little people,” she said. “And, also, they just have fun. It’s an opportunity to help. I think it’s a great opportunity to learn the modern genre, but it’s also an opportunity to just really do a piece with a lot of fun and happiness.”

The performers have found that they are learning a great deal from working on Elephant & Piggie. 

Ayden Murphy, who plays Gerald the Elephant, has found himself getting nostalgic. 

“It’s been a fun opportunity to kind of reminisce on my childhood and also gain some new understanding of how much you really do learn in life when you’re a kid: How many life lessons and things you develop when you’re at such a young age that really stick with you,” he said. “And this show has kind of just let it be shown in such a fun way.”

His co-star Isabelle Shenfeld, who plays Piggie the Pig, agrees. 

“You don’t really realize how fast things actually go when you’re a child,” she said. “So it’s nice to just be able to put a smile on kids’ faces, because we were once in that position, and thinking, ‘Oh, I want to be like them. I want to be grown.’ But in reality, it’s good to stay in that moment and have fun while you can.”

Forging bonds

Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!” draws from eight books in Willems’ popular series about an unlikely friendship between Gerald, a shy elephant, and the ever-exuberant Piggie the Pig.

True to their characters, Shenfeld and Murphy are friends on and off stage, and their bond has made this production so very rewarding for them.

“We’ve been able to develop such a close bond and friendship through this that, I think we feed off of one another,” Murphy said. “And we connected on such a deeper level that this show doesn’t feel like it’s as much work as it really is, because I’m getting to do it with my friend and I’m getting to do it in a setting where it’s encouraged to just have fun.”

Shenfeld is excited to welcome their audience. 

“There’s a couple interactive moments for the show,” she said. “I get to wave at the audience and say hi and stuff like that. I’m excited for all the kids to say hi back. And there’s times in songs where we have them do stuff, and it’ll be nice to see them do it as well and be interactive.”

Children get questions answered

And speaking of interacting with their audience, Murphy and Shenfeld took a few moments out of their busy days to answer a questions about the play from the children of St. Peter’s Lutheran School kindergarten class.

Q: Are you going to wear clothes to help you look like Elephant and Piggie? — Philip

Shenfeld: My costume is a big pink skirt. So it helps with how pigs are typically pink. I’m gonna be wearing a lot of pink. I have really sparkly pink shoes that I’m gonna wear. We also have some fun things that we add on during the show, because we go to a fancy costume party.

Murphy: I put on some blues and some grays. I don’t have anything specifically, like a trunk or anything. But I try to act like an elephant with the moves that I have.”

Q: Does the play have a setting? The books are all white. — Abigail

Shenfeld: We’re actually set on a massive playground, so we have a lot of different playground equipment. We have a treehouse and a slide. We also have a fireman’s pole that a couple of us get to slide down. We have a giant tire swing and we have a ball pit that is a pool, so it’s like a little pond in the playground.”

Q: Who are Elephant and Piggie’s other friends? — Lake

Murphy: They have Doggo. He is a deliveryman, and he delivers them some special invitations, as you will see in the show. And then we also have Pengu, who is a penguin, who delivers me some delicious ice cream.

Shenfeld: We also have three squirrels. It’s a girls group that sings together. They’re called the Squir-els. They kind of follow us around a little bit, and they sing really, really nice songs, and they’re on stage a lot with us as well.

Q: How did you get out of the book?— Christian

Murphy: We have fun with one another, and our big personalities bring the stories to life!

Redman encourages parents to bring even their youngest children to see the production.

“I think that parents should know that kids will probably be able to stay focused on the show even if they’re pretty young,” she said. “The play is only an hour long, so it’s very fast moving. I think even some 2-year-olds could probably stay focused on it.”

Redman also mentions some further interaction with the cast. 

“Kids might really be happy to know that the actors are going to be able to remain in costume and come on out after the show is over and greet the patrons as their characters and talk to them,” she said.

It’s a favorite children’s story that everyone in Fort Wayne can experience in real life at Williams Theatre.