The Just So Stories

We are getting excited about our annual “for the whole family” show.  The Just So Stories is the title of a collection by Rudyard Kipling, a British writer from the Victorian era, perhaps best known as the author of The Jungle Book. The Just So Stories are all fanciful “origin” tales, such as “How the Camel Got His Hump”.  all for One’s production is an adaptation by Joseph Robinette which begins with Elsie Kipling, the author’s daughter, awaiting her parents’ return from India. She decides to act out some of the stories her father has written, with the help of her new friends. Five of Kipling’s tales will be featured in the course of the play–which also tells us a bit more about Elsie and her family.

The stories (Kipling’s original titles) being acted out are:

• “How the Camel Got His Hump”
• “How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin”
• “The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo”
• “The Beginning of the Armadillo”
• “The Elephant’s Child”

This year our audiences will experience theater in a whole new way:  up close and personal in our new venue at the PPG ArtsLab, and IN THE ROUND.  What does that mean? It means that the audience will sit on all four sides of the stage, and no one will be more than four rows away!

This adaptation uses eight young actors (four male, four female) to play many different parts:  narrators, animals, magical people and even trees and water. Our cast for The Just So Stories is:

Jonas Anderson
Aiden Kroeker*
Annika Kroeker
Maddie Gerig
Shannon Livengood
Jadon Moore
Lydia Scott*
Jonathan Young*

*indicates first  time on the afO Home Stage.