EUGENE–The University of Oregon’s Mad Duckling Summer Theatre will return to the south lawn of Robinson Theatre with the world premiere of "Kipling Tails," an original adaptation of three of Rudyard Kipling’s "Just So Stories."

"Kipling Tails," the second production in Mad Duckling’s Summer 1999 Season, will play at
11 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday, July 27—31, and will continue Aug. 3—7. General-admission seating on the lawn will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The script, written and directed by Biliana Stoytcheva-Horissian, a doctoral degree student in the UO Department of Theater Arts, brings alive three of Rudyard Kipling’s classic children’s tales. "The Elephant’s Child," "The Sing Song of Old Man Kangaroo" and "The Beginning of the Armadillos" reveal how the elephant got her long trunk, how the kangaroo got her long legs, and how the hedgehog and the tortoise worked together to escape from the hungry young jaguar.

"The tales all deal with how certain animals changed from a previous version of themselves into what they are now so this production demands a very physical style of acting from the cast. I wanted this to be a very fun, very energetic play with lots of interaction with the kids in the audience," Stoytcheva-Horissian says.

The Mad Duckling acting company of six UO women will play a wide variety of animal and human characters in the production, which director Stoytcheva-Horissian believes will add to the creative, imagination-driven aspect of the production.

"Part of the fun for the audience and for the actors," Stoytcheva-Horissian says, "is that the same six people play all the different parts and have to change from one to another very quickly."

The acting company, which worked together previously this summer in Mad Duckling’s production of "Androcles and the Lion," includes Kirsten Schmieding, a junior Spanish and psychology major from Canby; freshman Kathryn Reese and sophomore Kate Hardin, both theater arts majors from Eugene; Darlene Dadras, a sophomore theater arts and Romance languages major from Woodbridge, Va.; Tasha Cyr, a junior theater arts major from Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and Electra Photiadou, a senior music major from Cyprus, Greece.

Jackie Jacobus, a junior theater arts major from Davis, Calif., serves as production stage manager for the company. Chris Wooten, a master of fine arts student in theatrical design from Columbia, Mo., will design the costumes, props and scenery.

Tickets for all seats at all performances are $3 and may be purchased at the theater on performance days. To purchase tickets in advance, contact the Mad Duckling Box Office at (541)
346-4192.

Short-term parking permits will be available at the theater on performance days, allowing patrons to park for free on the UO campus during the show.

Mad Duckling Summer Theatre is made possible through the support of the UO Summer Session Office.

For more information about Mad Duckling Summer Theatre, browse http://play.at/duckling or call GuardLine 24 hours-a-day from a Touch-Tone phone, 485-2000, and select Ext. 2287.

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