Junie B. Jones, Spunky Five-Year-Old, Coming Soon!

By Mithra Ballesteros, Audience Development Specialist, First Stage Children's Theater

A sparkling white, extremely clean potty chair sits in the center of the rehearsal hall. Nearby is a bright pink bed that any little girl would eye enviously. These props represent the center of Junie's world. As director John Maclay says, "Junie B. is brash, egocentric, has very little impulse control, and is unintentionally hilarious. In short, she's five." The set design reflects Junie's view of life as a five-year-old. Maclay says that he is attempting to create a world that is at once fantastical and grounded in reality. Colors are vibrant, even a little gaudy. Action moves from Junie's bedroom to school to her grandparent's home to an ingeniously motoring school bus. Junie's name, in lights, illuminates the stage. This is her universe. This is Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business. And we are excited to journey back to the days of being five, when life was bright, thrilling, and sometimes very hard.

Photograph: Robert Spencer and Kamilah Lay in rehearsal.