Special Holiday event at Elmwood Playhouse: “The Velveteen Rabbit”

This magically enchanting show, The Velveteen Rabbit,  is sure to delight audiences of all ages. The story involves a boy, Steve, who idolizes his much-older brother, but is largely disregarded by him. So the boy becomes great friends with his stuffed toy rabbit, the Velveteen Rabbit, and they go on many adventures together. The Velveteen Rabbit, who can’t hop because he’s a stuffed toy, is taunted by the more modern battery-driven toys as being “a sack of sawdust” and by real rabbits because he’s not real. He takes solace and advice from the older brother’s old and now-discarded toy rocking-horse. Adversity strikes—but to go into details would give away too much. The play involves both The Velveteen Rabbit’s efforts to become real and the budding relationship between Steve and his brother.

In this production, which is set in modern times, the human being characters and the toys will be played by human actors, with the story assisted by shadow puppetry; but the real rabbits and the magic fairy will be performed by puppets in the Japanese Bunraku style. The play is perfect for young children—ages 4 and up—with enough humor and action to keep older children and adults entertained.