LCT brings Stuart Little to Fitton

Hamilton, OH – Lexington Children’s Theatre returns to Hamilton November 14 to present Stuart Little at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts as part of the Fitton Family Fridays series.

Cast member Chase Fowler fell in love with theater after playing one of the Wickersham Brothers in a middle school production of Seussical: The Musical in his home state of West Virginia.

“I got to be a monkey,” he said. “What kid wouldn’t like that? I did more shows and I realized in high school this was something I could study in college and maybe do for a living. So I went to college for theater and went to grad school and studied Shakespeare.”

Fellow actor Cameron Taylor is a Lexington native who grew up with LCT.

“It’s kind of a typical story,” he said. “My parents attempted to get my brother and I into sports, but I was the kid in the outfield picking flowers, so they got me into theater instead pretty quickly.

“I was taking classes and workshops at Lexington Children’s Theatre at age five or six. When I was in grade school, the LCT tours came to my school and I got to see those every year, which is when I decided ‘This is what I have to do.’”

Taylor went on to the School of Creative and Performing Arts in Lexington before studying theater at Coastal Carolina, which included a year studying comedia dell’arte in Italy. He later met Fowler while both earned graduate degrees in Shakespearean theater from Mary Baldwin University in Virginia

Reunited at LCT, both now perform in the touring production of Stuart Little, as well as in the resident company of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. They’re learning the Bard shares more in common with children’s theater than might initially meet the eye.

“There’s a weird amount of crossover between both, actually,” Fowler said. “There’s a lot of breaking the fourth wall. There’s big physical comedy and big physicality in general.”

Big is the order of the day for Stuart Little, whose beloved title character is a boy the size and shape of a mouse.

“There’s always something about exploring these completely fantastical worlds that children find fascinating,” Taylor said. “We get to play with these set pieces that make humans look giant-sized to Stuart.

“As a character, he’s been so long-lasting (Editor’s note: E.B. White’s novel was first published 80 years ago in 1945) and he has that legacy and familiarity from the book and the movies in the early 2000s, it makes him incredibly accessible for the kids.

“There’s a lot of whimsy with Stuart Little that kids can enjoy,” Fowler added. “Even the mundane things. There’s a scene where I’m in the dentist’s office and nobody can understand what I’m saying. Cameron is trying to translate for Stuart and it’s just funny because it’s so relatable.

“It has so much going for the entire family. It really transcends any kind of age restrictions. The adults can enjoy as much as the children.”

Tickets to Stuart Little are $9 for Fitton Center members and $11 for non-members and are available online right here, by phone at 513-863-8873, ext. 110 or in person at the Fitton Center box office.

Guests enjoy kid-friendly snacks and drinks provided by catering partner Two Women in a Kitchen before the show.

Also before the show, representatives from the Lane Library will be on hand with source material and related stories by E.B. White, as well as opportunities to register readers for a library card. As usual, the Creation Station on the first floor will be open for young artists to create their own masterpieces.

The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.

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