The Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance will present its second annual Summer Children's Theatre, featuring a hip-hop reimagining of the folktale classic Stone Soup.  

Told in variations across many cultures, Stone Soup is a folk tale in which an outsider persuades an ungenerous and suspicious town's people to provide them with food. A tramp using nothing but his wits, some wiliness and a stone gets a group of battling siblings to cooperate, together accomplishing what they could not achieve individually. 

"This is a simple story about cooperation," said Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance Chair John Wolf, who also directs the production. "We hope that Stone Soup provides students with information about the benefits of learning to work together."

Here, Stone Soup: A Wrap Opera is retold through hip-hop and rap, reaching out to students of the 21st century. According to Wolf, "Wayne State University is uniquely situated to reach the children of Detroit. Creating the hip-hop version of Stone Soup provides a fun, contemporary and accessible path to students."   

The production will play at the Hilberry Theatre June 19-20 and June 26-27 at 10:30 a.m. and June 28-29 at 2 p.m. 
Individual tickets are $5 for children and $8 for adults. There is a $5 per ticket price for groups of 10 or more. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Hilberry Theatre Box Office at 313-577-2972, online at www.wsushows.com, or by visiting the box office at 4743 Cass Ave. Summer box office hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. The box office will be open one hour prior to all performances. 

Stone Soup: A Wrap Opera began touring free-of-charge to Detroit Public Schools on May 14, 2014. The 40-minute show is expected to reach over 6,500 students at 25 schools.   

The tour to Detroit Public Schools is part of an ongoing commitment to educational outreach by the Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance. "It is vital to keep the arts alive in the minds and imaginations of young people," Wolf said. "The cuts in education budgets have resulted in the removal of imagination-enhancing classes. Bringing Stone Soup: A Wrap Opera to school children does not replace these important classes, but it is a step forward to enhancing the creative thinking of these children."

Stone Soup: A Wrap Opera Public Performance Schedule:
 
Thursday, June 19, 2014 - 10:30 a.m.
Friday, June 20, 2014 - 10:30 a.m.
Thursday, June 26, 2014 - 10:30 a.m.  
Friday, June 27, 2014 - 10:30 a.m.
Saturday, June 28, 2014 - 2 p.m.
Sunday, June 29, 2014 - 2 p.m.