When many people think of Pinocchio, childhood joy comes alive. The first image that rises to mind might be Jiminy Cricket, the morally enlightened insect – or perhaps an expanding nose.

Carlo Collodi originally devised Mr. Cricket in his 1883 children’s novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio, alongside the roots of other famous Disney-isms such as Geppetto, Pinocchio, and the Blue Fairy. Several Baton Rouge theatre students and professionals are re-adapting this famous tale through the Young Professionals Program, a service of the Playmakers of Baton Rouge. Director Christopher J. Krejci has developed a collaborative staging of Pinocchio in the style of Commedia dell’Arte – a form of theatre characterized by masked performers.

“I would say our version is even more of a postmodern take than the original,” said Krejci. “We adapted it from the original text.” Krejci said the Playmakers are eager to emphasize the fact that it’s not Walt Disney’s Pinocchio.

“Every scene opens, derived from Commedia, with a very physical comedy,” Krejci said. “Some of the scenes are very traditional stock characters from Commedia.”

Stock characters include “Capitano,” who is typically presented as a braggart hiding his cowardly nature. Clearly, this production of Pinocchio is not limited to the characters present in the animated film.

“There are some characters from other children’s literature that may make appearances,” Krejci said.

One such non-traditional character is the replacement for the aforementioned talking cricket, but attendees will have to see that for themselves. The process for creating this new adaptation of Pinocchio was collaborative in nature, with students first participating in a workshop held last fall, then working on the script in segments starting in January.

“We were dealing with the question of what it means to be human,” Krejci said. “The Disney version focused on what it means to be a good boy, but I wanted it to be a little more universal than that. It’s 2012 – a boy means so many different things. What does it mean to be human?” Rather than answer that question for audiences, Krejci stages things so that audiences will ask the question for themselves. “This group of students is especially talented,” Krejci said. “I was maybe going to produce one of the [existing] scripts, but [the students] were so creative. I thought, ‘Let’s empower them to be artists.’”

Krejci and his band of performers, mirroring the children’s troupe found in Krejci’s script, have put a contemporary spin on the traditional tale, pulling characters back to Collodi’s original representation. “We’ve developed our own social commentary,” Krejci said.

Similar to Collodi’s story, these young artists touch on difficult issues like poverty. Krejci handed students improvisation exercises to create scenes and to develop different stage elements by having them read old menus, the original text, and other pieces assigned by Krejci. That way, each scene is presented in a different style. But what about the nose?

By using both a male and female Pinocchio, actors can incrementally expand their noses backstage with each “lie” they tell. This effect is manifested with two Pinocchios trading places on stage, adding a larger nose behind the scenes with every exchange. Students also benefited from related workshops like mask making and costuming with Karla King (resident Playmakers designer). King brought “steampunk” imagery to the table, working with everyday objects to develop art installation pieces for costumes and stage design.

“It looks like a huge clock exploded on the stage,” said Krejci. “There are several round platforms that revolve. There’s a 10-foot staircase. But, we’re not hiding the fact we’re in a theater.”

A self-aware theatre sounds postmodern, indeed.

Pinocchio opens Friday, March 2 at the Reilly Theatre on LSU’s campus after a student matinee performance at 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 1. The play runs through March 4.

Playmakers of Baton Rouge is Louisiana’s only professional non-profit theatre for young audiences. Playmakers’ Young Professionals Program offers student artists a unique opportunity to train and to work alongside professional theatre practitioners. To learn more about Young Professionals or Playmakers, visit www.Playmakers.net.