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The Oswego Children's Theater's teen ensemble will present the one act drama “A Thousand Crane” this April at the Michael J. Harms theater festival, in Auburn.
“A Thousand Cranes” tells the story of Hiroshima bombing survivor Sadako Saski, who many years after the attack at age 12 discovered she had leukemia due to the lingering effects of radiation sickness. She is remembered in Japan as one of the most widely know Hibakusha or bomb effected person.
Sasaki's father told her the legend of the 1000 paper cranes which was believed to grant the folder a wish of good health. The story is that Sasaki fell short of her goal of folding 1,000 cranes, having folded only 644 before her death, and that her friends completed the 1,000 and buried them all with her,
After her death, Sasaki's friends and schoolmates published a collection of letters in order to raise funds to build a memorial to her and all of the children who had died from the effects of the atomic bomb. In 1958, a statue of Sasaki holding a golden crane was unveiled in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. .
Oswego Children's Theater's production of Katherine Schultz Miller's “A Thousand Cranes” adapts Sadako's story for the stage, and features a cast of five area teens, including Sydney Osbourne, as Sadako; Lannie Osbourne, as Kenji; Alexa Bell, as Mother; Scott Swindells-Lepage, as Father; and Carolynne Benedetto, as Grandmother.
The show will utilize a variety of Japanese theatrical styles in the production including traditional Kabuki and Noh drama techniques.
The show is directed by Lyndsie Lee Jones assisted by Kelly and Wayne Mosher. And is presented by special arrangement with Dramatic Publishing,
"A Thousand Cranes" will be presented at the Michael J. Harms Theater Festival in Auburn, on April 6, and locally on wednesday April 3, at 7p.m. at the Mccrobie Civic Center in Oswego.
The Oswego Children's Theater will also be holding a chicken BBQ as a fund raiser on Saturday March 16, at Lighthouse Lanes, with chicken dinners going for $12.
