About the Production

Following the success of Pinocchio in the spring of 2025, we continued to explore how to develop our “Children’s After School Arts” (CASA) program. It was decided to continue with our customized scripts and we settled in on a show we had produced previously several times - The Reluctant Dragon. Having familiarity with the show was helpful as we adapted it to the needs of the program. Students and parents were very excited to see how we would bring this classic story to life while still giving it the fresh twist like we had done for Pinocchio and Elves in the Shoemaker (the summer camp production.) With a cast of 23 students ages 8 -14 we created the production in 6 weeks - three rehearsals per week. While the story was unknown to many in the cast, they soon fell in love with the story and this silly new adaptation. This production was also the first time we added in sliding curtain panels as part of the set to help change the scenery. A simple, yet very effective way of switching between the Pub and the Hillside locations featured in the script. The production was very well received by students and audiences alike and will definitely be a benchmark production for the program moving forward.