With the character now in the public domain, Willis wrote his own original story, “Winnie the Pooh and the Dark Cloud Too,” that will include the honey-loving bear and all his friends from the Hundred Acre Wood that will premiere at 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Fairborn Middle School auditorium, 900 E. Dayton-Yellow Springs Road, Fairborn.
With Pooh as a starting point, Willis added in another of his interests, video games, to come up with the story. The Dark Cloud is the antagonist, the character who has no friends or ever gets picked for things and takes it out on others, causing Pooh and friends to be split up. They must find a way to get back together and become stronger and maybe a little wiser.
Though in the public domain, there are still certain Pooh tropes that can’t be used that many will be familiar with, such as his familiar red shirt, which is under copyright for Disney’s version of the character, originally created by author A.A. Milne.
The show opens with a grown Christopher Robin as he gives a museum tour to random kids who hear the story unfold. A unique twist is the kids stay on stage during the scene and Christopher Robin becomes young again.
Along the way, Pooh and friends experience a little of everything including a little scariness with a troll king, alligators and scarecrows. Beloved characters like Eeyore get a voice and even the Dark Cloud gets a chance to grow.
“It’s a roller coaster of emotions, but overall it’s a ton of fun and the audience can have a chance to feel like kids again,” he said.
Around 40 kids will be in the show, some theater veterans and others brand new and starting from scratch as far as acting skills. Willis said he and his Showtime colleagues love when newer kids can experience something like this for the first time.
If the response is good, he hopes to stage another original story in the future and maybe even return to the Hundred Acre Wood.
“It has everything: Happiness, sadness, light at the end of the tunnel, or should I say honey at the end of the rainbow,” Willis said.
MORE DETAILS
General admission tickets cost $13 each and $10 for students and children ages 10-under. For more information, go to showtimeperformingartsohio.org.
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