07 Jun Kate Feiffer book moves from page to stage
Courtesy of Capecodtimes.com
By Molly Driscoll
Contributing Writer
Macaulay Culkin would sympathize. Like the boy in his “Home Alone” movies, the girl at the center of Kate Feiffer’s children’s book “My Mom Is Trying to Ruin My Life” is continually frustrated by her parents’ behavior and dreams of living life on her own — so much so in the book that the girl fantasizes about getting her parents thrown in jail. The parents’ crimes? Kissing her “all over (her) face” and talking loudly, actions the girl views as completely embarrassing.
The story, which ends on a sweet note, is now making the leap from the page to the stage courtesy of MJ Bruder Munafo, producer and artistic director of the Vineyard Playhouse on Martha’s Vineyard.
“I thought this (book) was perfect to dramatize,” she says. “I think I’ve been true to her intent and her characters.”
She says the promise of a good part for a young actress especially appealed to her.
“I love books and plays that feature girls,” Munafo says. “It’s a sweet story and it’s funny.”
Munafo and Feiffer first started talking about adapting one of Feiffer’s books for a stage production at an artisans’ fair last fall; Munafo has adapted other children’s stories for the playhouse, including Marc Brown’s “Arthur’s Christmas,” and has written original children’s plays.
Feiffer, who lives in Oak Bluffs, says “My Mom” immediately sprang to mind.
“It seemed like it was waiting to be a show,” says Feiffer, who recently published children’s books “But I Wanted A Baby Brother” and “The Wild, Wild Inside.” “It has so much spirit.”
Munafo wrote the first scene of the show; Feiffer read it and loved it. The two then worked together to write a script, which, Feiffer says, is still being edited.
“We’re still tweaking. So far it’s been a fabulous collaboration.”
Munafo says she was inspired in her writing by the text of the book itself and the illustrations.
“(Kate)’s been more an active participant in that process than a book writer sometimes is,” Munafo says.
Munafo feels the script is more based on “My Mom” than it is a direct adaptation.
“This is a play based on the book, inspired by the book, faithful to the book, but it’s not an adaptation of the book,” she says.
Some of the changes to the story include the addition of child characters in classroom and playground scenes and extra dialogue between the main character and her mother.
“(MJ)’s been faithful to the story, but we both saw a need to expand,” Feiffer says.
Auditions presented their own challenges. One was casting the main character, who is required to act within the scene as well as breaking the so-called fourth wall — talking to the audience.
“It’s a huge part,” Feiffer says. “She has to carry the play.”
There were specific criteria for whomever played the role of the mother, as well.
“She had to be a mother who the adults in the audience would sympathize with and the children would think, ‘Oh my God, she’s so embarrassing,'” Feiffer says.
Feiffer, daughter of cartoonist-author Jules Feiffer, also has a personal tie to the character.
“I am the mom in the story,” she says. “I hate to admit it.”
Rehearsals for the show began Tuesday, and the show, which is currently an hour long, will be in workshop form at the Vineyard Playhouse June 11-19. Feiffer, whose next book comes out in February, says she plans to attend rehearsals.
“It’s so much fun to watch these characters come to life,” she says. “It’s been nice that it’s here on the Vineyard, right in my own backyard.”
Munafo says that while she and Feiffer have no specific plans to bring the play anywhere else after its workshop run, she believes it could succeed at other theaters.
“We have a sweet little play that I think has a life beyond the Vineyard Playhouse.”