Story Wizards

Piti Theatre Company—Kids Venue: MTYP – Mainstage

Piti Theatre invites young audiences into the world of storytelling via an interactive tutorial. Following a gentle imagination warm-up, a closed-eye visualization exercise that invites kids to recall sights, smells, and other sensory details not currently in the theatre, they explain key story telling concepts like specificity, setting, characters, and structural components such as the climax.

Once the foundations are laid, the melodramatic Story Wizards get the kids laughing with big physicality, outlandish sounds, and physical gags as they psyche everyone up to tell a bespoke story together as a group

Improv with kids is an ambitious undertaking, and while the show’s structured introduction provided a roadmap, the freeform storytelling that followed frequently drifted off course. Managing time and an enthusiastic crowd of young contributors proved to be a challenge, and as a result, the story didn’t always hit every narrative milestone. Still, the enthusiasm in the room and the performers’ commitment to playful collaboration made for a fun and interactive experience that encouraged creativity and imagination.

Ashley Frantik