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Arts & Entertainment

Youth Theater Brings Charlotte's Web to Beck Center Stage

Forty-four kids ages 7 to 17 will tell the story of Zuckerman's Famous Pig this weekend.

Boy that Wilbur, he’s some pig.

With the help of the Beck Youth Theater, he’ll come to life Nov. 3 – 6, in the production of Charlotte’s Web, at the ’ Mackey Main Stage. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Friday, and 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Jonathan Kronenberger, the show’s director and the center’s associate director of theater education said he chose the classic E.B. White fable because it’s beloved by both children and adults, and it’s more powerful when told by children.

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“When kids tell this story, it has a certain sincerity and sweetness to it you couldn’t get from adults,” he said.

In this production, 44 children ranging from ages 7 to 17 will tell the tale of the unlikeliest of friendships – a curious pig named Wilbur and an articulate spider named Charlotte, in a fight to convince Farmer Zuckerman that his pig is famous, and more worthy of the world’s stage than a frying pan.

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Kronenberger said that story is more important to us now than ever.

“The country seems so divided now,” he said. “We need to get back to the simplicity of helping one another again.”

This production is dedicated in memory to Lynnette Guttmann, former director of youth theater education at the Beck Center. Guttmann died from complications related to pancreatic cancer on Aug. 26, at age 53.

Tickets are $12 for adults and seniors, and $10 for students and children.

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