Steve Anderson This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. Tucson Weekly : Arts : Wild at Heart

   www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Art - [Cached]

   Published on: 7/21/2004   Last Visited: 7/21/2004

   Now, Tucson's Arts for All is about to stage an ambitious new adaptation by Steve Anderson. The show will involve live actors, "sign dancers" using American Sign Language, and puppets and creature costumes--some of them 12 feet tall--bringing the Wild Things to life.
   
   "This is a book I've read to my 2-year-old every week since he was born," Anderson said last week.
   ...
   Anderson was sitting in a costume shop that looked something like a Wild Things slaughterhouse, littered with huge papier-mâché heads and foam-rubber entrails. But it's a slaughterhouse that works in reverse; by now, all those parts should have come together for the play's January 19-21 run.
   
   "We've made the Wild Things soft and squishy so they don't look too terrifying," Anderson said.
   
   Sendak's story revolves around a boy named Max, who has been sent to bed without dinner for wreaking mild havoc at home. In his mind, at least, Max sails off to an island inhabited by monstrous but not so dangerous creatures. These Wild Things recognize Max as one of their own, at least in spirit, and crown him their king. As fine as this is, in the end Max returns home to "a place where someone loves him best of all."
   
   "Part of what gets Max crowned king of the Wild Things is what got him into trouble in the first place--his creativity and imagination," said Anderson. "So when he arrives on the island, they all do a 'sign dance' of appreciation that he's revitalized their spirit and their joy. It's easy for a parent to nip that stuff in the bud with kids, because you turn your back for a minute and they've destroyed the living room turning it into a fort."
   
   Revitalizing spirit and joy is Anderson's business as arts manager of Arts for All, a 15-year-old organization he joined last year. Arts for All does exactly what its name implies, offering cultural experiences to people--both performers and spectators--with and without disabilities.
   
   "If you have a disability, that doesn't automatically get you into a show," Anderson warned.
   ...
   Anderson himself has an MFA with an emphasis in acting from Brandeis University, and has performed in Off Broadway productions and in regional theater. So although he has adapted Where the Wild Things Are especially with a kid audience in mind, he resists making things too simple. For one thing, he has framed Sendak's fantasy with a more realistic story involving other characters.
   
   "But even though we've layered in two story lines and (American Sign Language), we hope kids will stick with it, and adults should find it to be rich theater," Anderson said.