In early 2020, there were plans in place for Tricia Clouse to direct all for One’s upcoming Young Playwright’s Festival. All of that changed when the pandemic forced a shift in programming. Now, more than two years later, Clouse is the education director for all for One and is now guest director for the opening production of the 2022-23 season, The Little Prince. Although an iconic book, there are few productions of it, but all for One artistic director Lauren Nichols found a script which fit the bill.
“The script really jazzed me,” Clouse said. “It was going to take a lot of technical coordinating, but I was looking forward to that. I went to college to study music, which turned out to be to my advantage. The very best version of The Little Prince Lauren could find had a music track with 40 cues, but we found out that wasn’t available any more. I knew I had that experience and took to writing music so all the music is original. The first time Lauren heard it she said ‘I can hear the characters in the music’ which was exactly what I wanted to hear. I had never written anything thematically before so this has been a great experience.”
Clouse also touts the team assembled to pull of this classic story. A cast of five will take the stage, with Laura Maxwell, at the tender age of 18, as stage manager.
“We have three ‘booth people’ who are the tech people, but Laura Maxwell is doing a great job as our stage manager,” Clouse said. “She has an interest in doing this professionally, and as young as she is, she’s handling it like a pro.”
Also on board is all for One costume designer Mary Swerens who has fulfilled Clouse’s vision for the show’s overall look.
“I told her I wanted something whimsical, which is what I told all of our tech people, and she said ‘Oh goody!’ The concepts come through in these beautiful designs, and when I saw them, my jaw dropped. They were even more beautiful than I imagined.”
The Little Prince will be performed at all for One’s home stage, the ArtsLab at the Auer Center for Arts & Culture, for two weekends. In addition to the September 9-18 run, there will be a sensory-friendly performance at 2:30 p.m. on September 17, with a touch tour an hour before the curtain raises on the special performance. Tickets for The Little Prince are available by calling (260) 422-4226 or by visiting artstix.org.
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