STUFF! A Curious Collection playfully explores the power of stuff to inspire story creation, and the power of story to heal broken spirits and build community. Born from a collaboration between at-risk teens and theatre professionals, this theatrical fantasia for young actors and audiences features deeply flexible casting, and fantastic opportunity for robust and playful physical theatre.
Five young people who have lost their zest for life, for a variety of genuine and recognizable reasons, are called into an imagined world where a blank book awaits their individual and group stories. As they share the stories that have frozen each of them in an unhappy state, they begin to appreciate one another and understand themselves. Soon, they are combining their real-life odds and ends into a gloriously silly -- and restorative -- group story. Having arrived alone, the five young people depart together, no longer imprisoned by their stories but owning them.
*It has been found that a really gifted, trained, adult physical theatre actor in the role of Stuff inspires both the cast and audiences to new heights of creativity and enjoyment. However, young people can also thrive in the role.*
