Ever wonder how the camel got his hump? Or how the rhinoceros got his skin? How about how the leopard got his spots? Tales of this type, sometimes known as origin stories or "pourquoi stories," answer the questions of why things are the way they are, or, more precisely, how they came to be.
British author Rudyard Kipling was someone who wondered how. Perhaps borrowing from native oral traditions in India and Africa, one of his later works, Just So Stories, compiles a dozen such narratives in a children's book, originally published in 1902. Well known by then, the author had already perfected the medium of the vignette, having penned such classics as "Mowgli's Brothers" and "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" (both from The Jungle Book), and "The Man Who Would Be King."
Now, the stories are brought to life by the New England Youth Theatre in a production called Just So, Mr. Kipling. Created by award-winning writer and long-time NEYT director Peter Gould, the cast features nine- to 13-year-old actor/scholars in a myriad of animistic roles.
March 20-22 and 26-29, Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 3 p.m., $7.50/students, $9.50/seniors, $11.50/general, New England Youth Theatre, 100 Flat St., Brattleboro, (802) 246-6398, www.neyt.org.
