Metro Pulse/Backstage/Arkansaw Bear

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What:
Arkansaw Bear

When:
Saturdays, Jan 19 and 26 at 1 and 3 p.m.

Where:
Black Box Theatre, produced by the Actors Co-op

Cost:
$5. Call 523-0900 for further info.

The Co-op's Arkansaw Bear teaches kids (and adults) about the nature of life

by Paige M. Travis

Death is never as easy to talk about as the other integral parts of life (sex, food and movies come to mind). But since death will touch us all at some point, talking about it is necessary, if painful and awkward. Talking to kids about death must be particularly tricky because they don't have the life experience to help them process complex information about health problems, hospital procedures and expected recovery rates. If we tend to over-simplify too much of what we explain to young people, death and dying probably warrants a real whittled-down approach. Books are always a good way to present information to young people, and likewise, plays can help communicate certain concepts through a story. Arkansaw Bear, the latest Whippersnapper series production from the Actor's Co-op, is a tender and honest presentation of the hardest lesson in life.

Tish (Ashley-Paige Rollinson) is learning that lesson suddenly: her beloved grandfather is dying. Perhaps because they want to spare her from the reality, her mother and aunt turn her away from his death bed, and she runs away into the woods in protest. Her family doesn't say why her grandfather is dying, and Tish doesn't want to accept the truth. After she wishes on a star, Star Bright (Kathryn Towler) answers her wish to understand why her grandfather must die. Her teachers of this important lesson come in the form of an unlikely pair: a dancing bear and his mime companion and props manager (Josh Davenport).

Dressed in a glittering pink vest and a dandy top hat, Brian Bonner is the World's Greatest Dancing Bear. His rounded physique, fuzzy face and slight waddle of a walk make that fact easy to believe without resorting to a plush costume and snouty mask. It becomes clear that the dancing bear is old and approaching his final days. But he too is in denial and is running from death, personified by the Ringmaster (Amandalynn Thomas) who will lead him into the final center ring for his last bow. While Tish and the mime help the bear escape death, they meet Little Bear (Aaron Killian) whom they prepare to carry on the dancing bear's traditions.

Before you start thinking Arkansaw Bear is a bummer, know that director Kara Kemp's delightful sense of fun is firmly in place even within this serious and sad subject matter. Paired with Bonner's jolly cavorting around the stage and his multitude of funny faces, the story is like a clown whose painted expression is half smile, half frown.

Rollinson plays a smart but slightly pouty Tish, a girl of eight or nine years old. She's headstrong and unwilling to give up easily the fight for her grandpa or the dancing bear. The high schooler does a believable job of portraying a youngster; even when she's whiny it's mildly irritating and, hence, appropriately kid-like. As Star Bright the wish-granter, Towler gracefully speaks her poetic lines without bringing too much attention to the rhyming couplets. Davenport is an animated but not overly exaggerated mime dressed in a hobo's coat instead of the tired black and white costume. Instead of being scary or demanding, the Ringmaster is firm, not mean, when she insists that the Dancing Bear's time to die can't be avoided any longer. Thomas handles her role with tenderness, which is important considering her character is the personification of death.

Bonner is cast perfectly as the lively but aging bear. He's spirited and cuddly and earns real sympathy. His heartfelt wishes for his final minutes are touching. Bonner's greatest strength as an actor—seen here and in the recent Let's Get Medieval—is his way of crossing effortlessly from campy physical humor into subtler, detailed emotion. His expressions and motions are so nuanced that no matter what he's doing, it's all part of telling the story.

Killian is similarly bear-like in stature and fuzzily bearded. He's a young bear, a bit na�ve and country (he's from "Arkansaw," after all), but still a worthy dancer to whom the torch (and trunk full of costumes and medals) can be passed.

In the final scene, as Tish said goodbye to her grandfather and a chorus of sweet female voices sang, "Oh Susannah, now don't you cry for me," my heart just broke. I cried for all the family members, pets and dancing bears who have passed on and will be greatly missed, but whose memories will live on in our hearts and traditions. Viewers who are sentimental, hormonal or known criers should bring tissue. I don't know if any of the youngsters in the crowd were sad or upset at the ending, but, non-parent that I am, I would guess children won't have as strong a reaction to the play as adults who understand more deeply what it means to lose loved ones. And if they do understand, they could probably use a good cry too.