The Metro Theater Company [MTC] is nearing its 50th year of performances and community efforts dedicated to children. Founded in 1973, the theater company explores young people’s imaginations, all while providing captivating storytelling, and promoting progressive conversations.
“If you look at Metro’s production history especially over the last decade or so you will see artists of color telling stories that are specific to the experiences of the Black community to the LatinX community to any piece of our region in the work on our stage.”
MTC’s 2022-23 marks its milestone 50th anniversary season and it features world premieres and award-winning productions including, Bold, Brave, Curious!, Seedfolks, Spells of the Sea, Go, Dog. Go!, Holiday Spirits: A Holiday Fundraiser, and The Second Greatest Show on Earth: After Dark 2023 – A 50th Anniversary Gala.
Bold, Brave, Curious spotlights nine-year-old Delilah and her friendship between Lupe and Stanley. Stanley’s foster mom falling ill causes a wedge in their friendship and deception results between him and Delilah. The audience will be riveted waiting to see if their bond will be saved. The production was written by Mariah Richardson and the production is directed by Kathryn Bentley.
The world premiere continues through Oct. 16, 2022, and it is touring schools across the St. Louis region.
“Pay-What-You-Wish Performances” will be Oct. 15-16 at the Sun Theater. The shows provide accessibility to families for little or no cost. Ages eight and up are the recommended age group.
Seedfolks chronicles nine-year-old Kim, a Vietnamese immigrant who brings her community together in unity through the help of planting six lima beans which sprout into a widespread neighborhood garden.
It runs Oct. 9 through Nov. 6 at The Grandel Theatre. It is adapted from the Newbery Medal-winning book by Paul Fleischman and it is produced in special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc., and directed by Jess Shoemaker. Ages nine and up are the recommended age group.
Spells of the Sea trails Finley Frankfurter, a 15-year-old fisherwoman, inexperienced in her favorite hobby. She meets H.S. Crank, a curmudgeon lighthouse keeper, who has lived in the dark for years.
The unexpected partners join forces to discover the Elixir of Life, an adventure filled with sea creatures and the unknown that could potentially better Finley’s father’s health crisis. Along the journey they unlock a new meaning of family, friendship, belief in yourself.
The play will run Feb. 5- March 5, 2023, at The Grandel Theatre. MTC is showing the production through a special arrangement with Megan Ann Rasmussen Productions. It too is a world premiere.
Guinevere Govea wrote the book, music, and lyrics with additional creative contributions by Anna Amelia Rose Pickett. MTC’s artistic director Julia Flood directed the production. Children eight and up are the recommended age group.
Go, Dog. Go! is adapted to musical format by Allison Gregory and Steven Dietz, it’s adapted from the book of the same name of a Dr. Seuss published book by P.D. Eastman. Go, Dog. Go! will be showcased at The Big Top April 2-16, 2023. It tells the stories of an assortment of canines existing and living in a magical world where they can do whatever they want.
In honor of MTC’s 50th anniversary, the production will premier at The Big Top, and is a reminder that the company was founded as the Metro Theater Circus. Ages three and up are recommended to attend.
Holiday Spirits: A Holiday Fundraiser on Dec. 6 and The Second Greatest Show on Earth: After Dark 2023-A 50th Anniversary Gala on April 22, 2023 are company fundraising performances.
Joe Gfaller, MTC managing director, has been with the company since 2019. He came on board and then months later the pandemic happened.
“Our 50th anniversary is a huge testament to this community, and the support this community has put into Metro,” Gfaller said. “This community has the power of the arts to make a difference in the lives of young people.”
Flood joined MTC in 2014, she said she’s thrilled to think about the generations of kids who grew up with MTC that are now adults with their own kids and grandkids.
“The shows the company puts out feel pretty special to be a part of,” Flood said. “MTC is a creative company that’s innovative with the work we make for young people, and also respects them in the way they relate to the world.”
Both touched on how MTC continues to push for more diversity.
“Metro has been committed from the beginning in making sure the stories on our stage reflect the community we serve,” Gfaller said. “If you look at Metro’s production history, especially over the last decade or so you will see artists of color telling stories that are specific to the experiences of the Black community to the Latinx community to any piece of our region in the work on our stage.”
Flood, who joined MTC before Michael Brown’s killing by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, saw there was a need for And In This Corner: Cassius Clay to be presented with the company since Muhammad Ali’s relationship with an officer differed from the Ferguson unrest and showed the community a different experience of a Black man and a white male police officer interacting with each other. The production commissioned by Idris Goodwin was in partnership with HEC Media.
“The year after we did the play, we offered young people space to have difficult conversations with the help of Idris [Goodwin],” Flood said. “When he came in we built a whole coalition around the production to have community conversations about what [Metro Theater Company] has done and were focused on the fact that young people growing up in our community were in a spotlight in terms of the country talking about issues around race.
“We really wanted to make sure that the young people in our audience, which is largely kids who are growing up in the city and also the surrounding counties, were able to have these conversations, able to see those people who looked like them on the stage, able to hear about stories that they related to that were part of the daily conversations or daily wonderings they were having about their lives.”
According to Gfaller, last season’s productions featured three of the four productions written by women of color. MTC’s company features about 70% of artists of color every season on stage.
Flood said the current season features a variety of diversity including a completely bipoc cast in one of the shows, a plethora of women of color directors, writers, cast, and more.
“We want to make MTC, a home for artists, where they know that they are going to be part of a collaboration that is trying to bring the very best shows to young people allowing them to see themselves, and see a brighter future for themselves because of the magic that we can bring them on the stage,” Flood said.
For tickets and more information about this season, visit metroplays.org.
