1 A Message from the Artistic and Executive Directors Welcome to Jungle Book! This fresh and energetic take on the classic Rudyard Kipling story challenges the notion of human domination of the animal world. In that sense, it addresses head-on, the colonial perspective of the original stories. Craig Francis’ and Rick Miller’s version of Jungle Book continues our exploration at YPT this season of the seven ancestral teachings of the Anishinaabe — in this case, the concept of Respect. How can we learn to respect all the components of our natural and man-made world? We hope you enjoy this visually inventive adaptation! We look forward to seeing you at more shows coming up soon. ALLEN MACINNIS NANCY J. WEBSTER Artistic Director Executive Director YPT is situated on lands and waterways that have known human activity for more than 15,000 years. We acknowledge the ancestral lands of the Dish with One Spoon Territory, and more recently Treaty 13. This includes the Mississaugas of the Credit who are part of the Anishinaabe Nation, the Wyandot Nation, also the Haudenosaunee Confederacy of Six Nations, and any other Nation, recorded or unrecorded. Miigwech, Nya-weh, Thank you for letting us gather here today. For more information on Indigenous learning at YPT, please visit YOUNGPEOPLESTHEATRE.ORG/ABOUT-YPT/ 2 INDIGENIZEUS YOUNG PEOPLE’S THEATRE PRESENTS Written & Directed by Craig Francis & Rick Miller Adapted from the works of Rudyard Kipling Produced by Kidoons and WYRD Productions in association with The 20K Collective CAST Raksha/Bagheera/Messua/Others Mina James Mowgli Levin Valayil Akela/Baloo/Buldeo/Others Matt Lacas Shere Khan/Kaa/Maya/Others Tahirih Vejdani CREATIVE TEAM Co-creator/Director/Stage Manager Craig Francis Song Lyrics Kipling/Miller/Francis (select performances) Puppetry Consultant Frank Meschkuleit Co-creator/Director/Production Manager Rick Miller Shadow Puppetry Consultant Eric Woolfe Production Manager/Technical Director James Kendal Fight Consultant Siobhan Richardson Stage Manager Andrew Dollar Line Producer, Asolo Rep Celine Rosenthal Executive Producer Jeff Lord Dramaturgy, Asolo Rep Paul Jens Adolphsen Set/Costume/Props/Puppets Co-Designer Astrid Janson & Kris Karcher Set/Costume/Props/Puppets Co-Designer Melanie McNeill Dramaturgy, YPT Allen MacInnis & Lighting Designer Rebecca Picherack Stephen Colella Multimedia Designer Irina Litvinenko Directing Consultant Richard Clarkin Sound Designer/Composer Debashis Sinha Graphic Design & Marketing Logograph Original Song Composer Suba Sankaran OFFICIAL SITE: junglebook.ca SOCIAL: TW @kidoons / IG @kidoons / FB @junglebookshow Jungle Book was developed with assistance from and originally produced at the Asolo Repertory Theatre, Michael Donald Edwards, Producing Artistic Director, Linda M. DiGabriele, Managing Director. Additional dramaturgy and development support for the Canadian premiere was provided by Young People's Theatre. *Kidoons and WYRD Productions engage, under the terms of the Independent Theatre Agreement, professional artists who are members of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. Jungle Book is presented under the Reciprocal Agreement Between Actors' Equity Association of the United States and Canadian Actors' Equity Association. Photo, video or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited. The performance will run approximately 65 minutes, followed by a Q&A. 3 Creators' Notes If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same… - Rudyard Kipling, IF That poem hung in a frame in the upstairs hallway of my childhood home in Montreal. As I experienced the “Triumphs and Disasters” of youth, those words always reminded me to keep things in perspective. Maybe that’s part of what drew me to study architecture - this desire to build things through perspective, never losing sight of the broader picture. Kipling’s writing has come in and out of favor in the 100+ years since he published his many stories, songs and poems. When Craig and I decided to follow Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea with Jungle Book, we had to wade carefully into the waters of colonialism and cultural appropriation. For example, Kipling tended strongly towards a dominance of humans over nature, and of modern over traditional cultures. But no matter how you interpret his writing, you have to admire his gift for storytelling, his love of animals, and his concern for a right relationship with the natural world. That was our starting point: to go back to Kipling’s Jungle Book (actually TWO Jungle Books) and to view the stories through a modern lens. In so doing, we can hone in on themes and stories that resonate today, and help us all gain perspective on how to live more respectfully with nature, and with each other. When Baloo the sloth bear teaches Mowgli the “Law of the Jungle” there are very clear echoes of my beloved poem IF, which Kipling wrote 16 years later. I hope these stories resonate as deeply with you as they continue to do with me. Let Mowgli and our talented cast and creative team carry you deep into the jungle, and bring you back into your city, filled with dreams of a better world. To the wild. RICK MILLER CO-CREATOR/DIRECTOR This is the hour of pride and power, Talon and tusk and claw. Oh, hear the call! Good hunting all that keep the Jungle Law! I first discovered Rudyard Kipling at around age eight through hisJust So Stories: how the elephant got his trunk, and so on. His writing brilliantly combined archetypal myths with authentic human emotions and real animal traits. It was exciting to read, and it fired my imagination. Of course, Rick and I are not the only ones to have been entranced by his beloved writing: but I hope to bring a new vision of The Jungle Book to a new generation who may have both a more advanced view of nature than Kipling's generation, but less direct contact with it. We included Kipling's version of how the tiger got its stripes in this adaptation: the play is a labour of love combining poems and stories from The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book, along with our own characters, poetry, and take on humanity's troubled relationship with "the wild". Mowgli begins the play disconnected from humanity and nature; torn between the animal and human worlds. This tug-of-war within Mowgli between his two families, and his search for belonging, are feelings to which every child can relate. This production continues the vision we began with Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea of bringing traditional art and new technologies together, as well as bringing us together with our own audiences in a darkened theatre. It's about connection. We want to connect with you, to experience a unique story in a fresh way, to emerge from our "hour of pride and power" with your own imagination fired, and a little bit of jungle in your spirit. CRAIG FRANCIS CO-CREATOR/DIRECTOR 4 Thank you! Jungle Book was developed in association with The 20K Collective; Kidoons commissioned and produced it, with development assistance from Asolo Repertory Theatre and a gift from Edie Winston. Workshops took place in 2017 and 2018 at Dancemakers Studios and Glendon Theatre in Toronto, and Asolo Rep in Sarasota. The world premiere was at Asolo Repertory Theatre in June 2018. Additional dramaturgy and development support for the Canadian premiere was provided by Young People's Theatre. We thank the following for helping us to let in the jungle! Jeff Lord Michael Donald Edwards and Linda M. DiGabriele at Asolo Rep Allen MacInnis, Craig Morash and Stephen Colella at Young People’s Theatre (YPT) Edie Winston Architectural renderings generously provided courtesy of KPMB Architects The Joy McCann Culverhouse Charitable Remainder Trust Script developed with support from Factory Theatre via an OAC Creators' Reserve Grant. Concept developed with our brilliant workshop and development artists: Guifré Bantjes-Ràfols, Beryl Bain, Michael Dufays, André Du Toit, Séan Baker, Miriam Fernandes, Anita Majumdar, and Natalia Gracious. The Francis, Miller, Lord and Baptist families Andrew Mestern at the Stratford Festival for the brass cutouts. Greg Wilkie at Solotech. The Toronto connections: Deb Doncaster and Earth Day Canada, Ravi Jain, Sandra Laronde, Jason Knight, Deborah Knight (DKPR), Duncan Appleton, and the crews and teams at Glendon College Theatre, Dancemakers Studios, and Young People’s Theatre. Produced with the support of the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council. Thanks to our Kidoons videos partner organizations across Canada and the US. We would like to acknowledge funding support from the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. 5 Cast MINA JAMES LEVIN VALAYIL RAKSHA/BAGHEERA/ MOWGLI MESSUA/OTHERS Levin is thrilled to be Mina is an actor, reprising his role as improviser and writer. Mowgli after playing Select credits include: runs at Asolo Rep. and ‘Mila’ in Sultans of the Pasadena Playhouse. Streets (YPT; Dora His theatre credits Award for Outstanding include Bhangin’ It Performance, (La Jolla Playhouse); Ensemble); ‘Puppeteer’ Poster Boy (Public Theater and Williamstown in 1991 (Theatre Center/RISER Festival), Theater Festival); Monsoon Wedding (Berkeley ‘Ensemble’ in the 2018 Diversity Fellowship Repertory Theater); A Gentleman’s Guide to Showcase (Second City), ‘Helena’ in All’s Love and Murder (Florida Studio Theater); Well That Ends Well (Canadian Stage/ The Fabulous Lipitones (New Theatre, Virginia Shakespeare in High Park), ‘Kristyna’ in Repertory Theater, Florida Studio Theater). Paul Dunn’s Outside (Roseneath Theatre), Levin’s film credits include the short films ‘Ensemble’ in Antigonick (SummerWorks Thoughtless, The Lip Readers and Metros. He Festival). Film: Auroras (Dir. Atom Egoyan).