Jillian Jiggs, a play based on the classic children’s stories by Phoebe Gilman for ages 4 and up ,opens at Solar Stage at Artscape Wychwood Barns, on July 6, 2019!

The Jillian Jiggs stories by Phoebe Gilman are rhyming, action-filled adventure stories of Jillian, her sister Rebecca, and their friends Rachel and Peter as they create, explore, learn, and play. This original series of Canadian stories have now moved into the realm of beloved classics as they are passed to a new generation of little ones. In this staged version, the four friends recount their various adventures in an attempt to create a perfect play as a surprise gift for Jillian and Rebecca’s mother’s birthday.

The journey begins with the common struggle to get Jillian to clean up her bedroom when all she wants to do is imagine, then recounts the time Jillian made many pigs, followed by a monster hunt and the creation of a monster machine! The penultimate adventure is a snowy day and lost clothes, and finally the play-within-play action culminates in a farcical fantasy called “TheChicken Princess” featuring a stolen princess, an evil wizard, a dragon, a feckless knight and a resourceful mouse.

Featuring Megan Starkman as Jillian, Shai Tannyan as Rachel, Gabriel Vaillant as Peter and Nicole McCafferty as Rebecca, Solar Stage’s production is directed by two-time 2019 DoraMavor Moore Award Nominee and Solar Stage Artistic Director Dahlia Katz (Alex in Wonderland, Krampus, Princess Knight, Munsch). This joyful adaptation by playwright Derek Genova (Alex in Wonderland, Princess and the Pea, Snow White) captures the essence of childhood creativity and resourcefulness, supported by the costumes, sets and props designed by Cat Haywood (The Really Real Adventures of Scott Free & Will Do, Princess Knight).

The first Jillian Jiggs story was written in 1985, and they are all just as relevant and fun for children and adults today as they were for the previous generation. The rhyming and rhythm are engrossing, as is the never-ending action as Jillian and her friends invent game after game, building excitement and wonder through their creativity and lively [rhyming] banter. 

Solar Stage includes radical optimism and the vitality of play in its mandate and vision, and strives to be a part of the village that raises the child. Audiences of all ages are welcomed to imagine together as community relationships are glued together through storytelling and other worlds of imagination.

For tickets visit solarstage.on.ca.