Barnwell Students Entertain Audiences With 'Green Eggs and Hamlet'

With a cast consisting of 72 talented and enthusiastic fourth and fifth grade students from Barnwell Elementary, “Green Eggs and Hamlet” proves that William Shakespeare and Dr. Seuss, those most distinguished men of letters, make a powerful combination when it comes to presenting a theatre production adored by people of all ages.

The young dedicated cast members from Barnwell rehearsed the zany, yet inspiring, musical parody for two months under the superb leadership of Director Whitney King and PTA Volunteer Kim Rutledge to deliver four spectacular performances on Feb. 5-6 at the Northview High School auditorium and Barnwell Elementary on Feb 10.

The production paired up Seuss’s “Sam I Am” and Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” to lead a group of literature-loathing kids into the books they think they don’t want to read.

Sam and Hamlet’s role of taking the students on a magical journey through a variety of genres -- Shakespearean, Romance, Reference, Children’s, Science Fiction, and Horror -- drives home the importance of being yourself and always being brave.

Clever and comedic dialogue coupled with polished singing and dancing to well loved songs such as “Hakuna Matata,” “The Time Warp,” “Play that Funky Music,”, “Heard it Though the Grapevine,” “I Want You Back,” “Happy,” “Brave” and “Oh, the Thinks You Can Think” kept both cast members and audience members engaged and entertained throughout the entire performance.

“The message in this play is so important,” Rutledge said. “Believe in yourself and be true to yourself. I loved that the kids understood that message and rallied around it. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to stand in front of nearly two sold out crowds and sing, dance and act and every child did this without hesitation. It was such a pleasure to work with such an enthusiastic and dedicated group of kids.”

This original and comical play was written by Whitney King, Jamie Moore and Eric Nash.

Photo 1: Jared Carlson, Alec Grosswald (as ‘Dewey D’ of the soon to be defunct Dewey Decimal System) and Jaden Reese perform a lively song and dance number based on “Heard it Through the Grapevine” in Barnwell Elementary School’s recent theatre production of “Green Eggs and Hamlet”.

Photo 2: Avery Rutledge portraying ‘Katherine’ from Shakespeare’s ‘Taming of the Shrew’ in Barnwell Elementary School’s recent theatre production of “Green Eggs and Hamlet.”

Photo 3: Kai Lewis and Simone Smith dance to the Dr. Seuss inspired song “Oh the Thinks You Can Think” during Barnwell Elementary School’s recent theatre production of “Green Eggs and Hamlet.”

Photo 4: Characters from “Green Eggs and Hamlet” make students realize that literature is an amazing adventure, and that being a book-lover is not only okay, but also can be downright awesome!

Photo 5: Reading advocate and teacher ‘Miss Novel’ (played by Carys Abbott) stresses to literature loathing ‘Chad’ (played by Carson Rutledge) both the importance and joy of reading during Barnwell Elementary School’s recent theatre production of “Green Eggs and Hamlet.”

Credits: Barnwell Elementary School