Trouble, Turmoil and Tesseracts
About the Authors
Madeleine L’Engle
A
Wrinkle in Time faced seemingly insurmountable odds to get
published. Its main characters were children, yet the themes were seen
as too adult for children and the situations too scary. L’Engle (pronounced LENG-el) was
rejected by 26 publishers before editors at Farrar, Straus &
Giroux read it and enthusiastically accepted it. The book went on to
win the John Newberry Medal as the best children’s book of 1963 and has
since had countless printings and sold millions of copies. L’Engle died
in 2007 at the age of 88.
Although
L’Engle was an Episcopalian and often wrote about spiritual or
religious themes, she balked at being categorized, whether as a
Christian writer or a children’s writer. She crossed genre boundaries,
liberally mixing quantum physics into theology and breaking down the
once rigid line between adult and children’s literature. She wrote “if
I have something that is too difficult for adults to swallow, then I
will write it in a book for children.” She kept a sense of humor about
her work—L’Engle once said she had a clause in her contract that her
publisher had the rights to A Wrinkle in Time in perpetuity throughout
the universe, but not on Andromeda.
L’Engle
was inspired by Einstein’s work and never saw science and faith as
mutually exclusive. To her, “particle physics and quantum mechanics are
extremely theological because they are dealing with the nature of
being, so they are just as theological as a tome on morals.” She read a
book on Einstein where he was quoted as saying “Anyone who is not lost
in rapturous awe at the power and glory of the mind behind the universe
is as good as a burnt-out candle.” L’Engle said she had found her
theologian.
L’Engle
received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association for lifetime achievement in 1998.
She published 63 works, including novels, plays, and memoirs.
More information about L’Engle and her
books can be found on her official website.
John Glore
Playwright
John Glore previously wrote Wind of a Thousand Tales,
Folktales Too, Rhubarb Jam and
The Day After Evermore for SCR’s young audiences.
He also adapted The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid
Tales. All of his childrens plays have gone on to success at other
theatres across the country.
As SCR’s Associate
Artistic Director, Glore is responsible for programming the TYA series,
and he often scouts children’s literature for ideas. He read
A Wrinkle in Time when he was young, and says he
“rediscovered its magic with my daughter a few years ago.” A theatrical
adaptation that fit SCR’s needs didn’t exist, so he bravely decided to
take a crack at it. “So many people have heard that I’m adapting
A Wrinkle in Time and told me that it was their
favorite book as a child. It’s a fun project, but I have felt an
increasing amount of pressure to do justice to the book.” The result
incorporates all of the heart and fantasy of the original, while making
the story work for the stage.
Glore’s other work
includes On the Jump and The Company of
Heaven. He has co-authored two adaptations of plays by
Aristophanes with the performance trio Culture Clash, The
Birds and Peace.
by Kimberly Colburn
It is a dark and stormy night. Meg huddles against the cold in her attic bedroom, mulling over her missing father, problems at school and wondering where her little brother, Charles Wallace, is. He often has an uncanny way of knowing what she’s feeling. She heads downstairs to find him already making her some hot cocoa. Mrs. Whatsit, a mysterious friend of Charles Wallace’s, appears and explains she got caught in a wicked downdraft and blown off course. Just before Mrs. Whatsit zips out again, she tells their mother Mrs. Murray that there is such a thing as a tesseract.
Mother gets very upset at the mention of tesseracts, so Charles Wallace and Meg head out to find Mrs. Whatsit for an explanation. They run into Calvin, an older boy from Meg’s school who is going to the same place on a compulsion he had—and he turns out not to be the dumb jock Meg thought he was. When the three arrive at the old haunted house, the odd Mrs. Whatsit and her equally unearthly friends Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which sweep the children up and off on an adventure across space to rescue their father and defend all that is good in the universe.
Beloved children’s classic A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle, is adapted for the stage by SCR’s own Associate Artistic Director John Glore (see sidebar, right). Glore streamlines the novel into a highly theatrical story while still retaining the feeling of the adored original. Seasoned Theatre for Young Audiences director Shelley Butler returns for her fourth production at SCR, after previously directing Brand New Kid, James and the Giant Peach and Charlotte’s Web. The cast of six hasn’t been chosen yet, but they certainly have their work cut out for them inhabiting the colorful characters in L’Engle’s popular tale.
Previews of A Wrinkle in Time begin February 5 on the Julianne Argyros Stage, and performances continue through February 21. The Target Family Performance is February 13th and features an earlier curtain time of 11am and lower-priced tickets. With the generous support of our Corporate Honorary Producer, Emulex, SCR is proud to continue the tradition of offering free weekday matinée performances to Orange County schoolchildren. For more information on weekday school matinées, contact Janis Morrissette at 714-708-5549. To purchase tickets to A Wrinkle in Time, contact the box office at 714-708-5555.
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