Nechako Valley Senior Secondary School
Small Auditorium
Vanderhoof, B.C. Canada

"Rainbow Jones" is a small-scale musical comedy/drama with a cast of eight published by Pioneer Drama Services.

Rainbow Jones is an unsuccessful young woman. She can't seem to hold down a job and lives under the thumb of her maiden aunt. Her only escape seems to be when she opens her over-sized book of Aesop's Fables, from which emerge animal characters -- her only real friends.

Through the play we slowly learn that Jones is escaping more than just a domineering aunt. Her retreat into a fantasy world is also driven by the need to run from painful memories.

A chance encounter with a jogger slowly leads Jones out of her self-imposed exile... but leads her face to face with the pain of her past. She must decide which is best: hiding from her wounds in a fantasy world... or facing the hurt and taking a risk on the future.

The seriousness of the story-line is offset by the ever-present humour and humanity of the characters. Animals with strong personalities, energetic songs, and a few Aesop's maxims thrown in make "Rainbow Jones" a fast-paced, humorous and moving musical for the whole family. Produced in New York and elsewhere across North America, it has been favorably compared with "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown."

In our production, we created a very minimal set, using coloured, wooden boxes for furniture, benches, office, and even a tree. To provide more visuals for younger audiences, we decided to have the actors playing the animals in extensive costumes. Other productions have used costumes which simply suggest animals. We also used lighting extensively to create different spaces and moods.

Although the playwright, Jill Williams, was living in Los Angeles when she wrote "Rainbow Jones," she is now living in Vancouver, B.C. When she heard that we were producing her play, she decided to fly to Vanderhoof (900 km/500 miles) and take in two of our performances!

Cast
(for a cast picture, click here)

Rainbow Jones:	Lisa Striegler Iannone
Joey Miller:	Scott Klassen
Aunt Felicity:	Bluette Haegi
Uncle Ithaca:	Mel Stewart
Bones:	Tim Fryatt
Cardigan:	Jennifer Schmidt
C. A. Fox:	Dan East
Leona:	Pat Allan
Musical Director:	Gilda Erasmus
Producers:	Mike Fryatt Marion Switzer
Director:	Mel Stewart

 

Cast with playwright Jill Williams