This year Mark and I were not alone in our quest for quintessential uncensored theater.  Gary, Karen and Sarah joined us opening night and Gary and Karen are planning to be with us for the entire 2 weekend event.

BOXCAR CHILDREN

First up this year-the Orlando Youth Theatre group. Known best for their education of aspiring Central Fla actors, OYT performs several traditional shows through out the year.  What a pleasure it was watching these young stars perform at Fringe.

The play itself is a rendition of a book of the same name by author Gertrude Chadler Warner.  Sarah commented that she enjoyed this show more than the book itself, high accolades indeed. 

The play is about 4 depression era sibling orphans who must grow up quickly and make a life for themselves. After the tragic drowning of their parents they mange to escape their social worker and make a very satisfactory home inside an old traincar.  Sisters Jessie and Violet tend to the home needs while eldest brother Henry does odd jobs for the town doctor in order to buy food for his family.  Youngest child, Benny is just all too cute for words and blames himself for their situation as he is seen as the "slow one" and the cause of their flight in the first place. Dr. Samuel soon suspects something is amiss and begins to investigate eventually uncovering the children.

All of the actors, younger than 15 or so, were truly remarkable and a joy to watch. They hit all their lines, had a good sense of timing and managed to evoke real emotions.   Tears were welling up in my eyes, when the kids put up their defenses during their encounter with their long lost grandfather.

If you are new to Fringe, I must warn you that all sets are sparse and the production level of the shows, very minimal, as many of these troupes have little capital.  However, in the face of clunky transitions, too many dark outs and needless scene pauses, these kids kept it together like pros.    All of us agreed that the kids playing Violet and Dr. Samuel were the strongest.  My favorites were the little girl playing Jessie and the little boy playing Benny.

Overall, this show was unexpectedly charming and pulled at the heartstrings.  Choose this show if you are looking for some serious theater as these kids were deadly serious as they explored death, survival, and the elements of true happiness.