Maryville College Theatre opens spring musical ‘Revolt of the Beavers’ on April 20
April 6, 2023
Despite a title that might be misconstrued as both provocative and mysterious, “Revolt of the Beavers” is, at its core, a unique and fun way for the Maryville College Theatre Department to close out the 2022-23 academic year, according to Visiting Lecturer in Theatre Andy Vaught.
“It’s a children’s musical that teaches a very simple lesson about sharing and not being mean to other people, and it has some really awesome songs,” Vaught said. “Like a lot of people, the students were initially like, ‘This is not a show we’re familiar with!’ There was a touch of consternation, but then they read it, and I think the idea of getting to play a beaver really kind of clicked with a lot of students.”
Written by Oscar Saul and Louis Lantz in the 1930s and originally staged by the Federal Theater Project, the MC version will debut in the Clayton Center for the Arts at 8 p.m. April 20. Set in “Beaverland,” the play involves a literal rebellion by a group of overworked beavers against “The Chief,” who exploits their labor without contribution until his overthrow and replacement by a more utopian beaver society.
“It’s mission-appropriate to Maryville College, in that it’s concerned with issues of social justice, but it’s also silly. The year is almost over, and we want to laugh and be goofy and laugh and be goofy together,” Vaught said. “It’s also accessible, because anyone can play a beaver! It’s not predicated upon life experience or race or gender or size. It’s just people being beavers and having a good time.”
Vaught, who will conclude his first year as head of the MC Theatre program at the close of the semester, came to East Tennessee from Hendrix College in Little Rock, Arkansas, but he spent more than a decade in New Orleans, where the theater company he managed once staged “Revolt of the Beavers” at a kosher deli, he said.
“For a long time, I’ve been pretty fascinated by the Federal Theater Project, which was the theatrical wing of the Works Progress Administration, and how in 1938, Congress decided to pull the funding from it because they felt the message was too Marxist,” he said. “It was a really interesting time period, and probably the only moment where American theater had any kind of national experimental identity.”
History lessons aside, however, the story’s simplicity was an easy sell to MC students who make up the cast, he added: a clearly defined protagonist and antagonist, as well as a clearly designed moral to the plot. For a faculty member interested in maintaining the ensemble culture of MC Theatre as established by long-time professor Dr. Heather McMahon — now the College’s assistant dean for academic success — it’s a home run.
In addition, the opportunities it creates for those involved off the stage are just as engaging, he added.
“Every day, I have to remind myself that I have to do a really great job in rehearsals, because our costume designs are that good,” he said. “Connor Goins ’24 is our costume design department for the theater program here, and that just goes to show that at a place like Maryville College, a kid with enough chutzpah and initiative can become a collaborator with his professors. We listen to him, trust him and facilitate his success in the best way we can.”
In the interests of movement and comfort, the production isn’t going with full-on beaver costumes, but cast members will wear beaver tails and beaver ears — and there may be just enough material left over for Vaught to get his own, even though he’s in the director’s chair instead of on the stage.
After all, the bottom line with “Revolt of the Beavers,” he added, is fun — for those in the audience and the students who will be entertaining them.
“There’s a little bit of dancing, a little bit of singing, some beaver jokes and it’s a good message,” he said. “It’s not a long show — I don’t think it will exceed 90 minutes — and we want people to bring their kids, bring their seniors, bring their parents and bring anyone who wants to have a good time. There’s room in Beaverland for everybody.”
“Revolt of the Beavers” will take place at 8 p.m. April 20-22 and 2 p.m. April 23 in the Haslam Family Flexible Theatre, located in the Clayton Center for the Arts on the MC campus. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for seniors and students. Admission is free for Maryville College faculty, staff and students.