The Brave Little Tailor, our newest Enchantment Everywhere production, is coming to schools and other venues in the Philadelphia area April 27 through June 12. Maybe this isn’t news to you. Maybe you already know all about our local touring program, Enchantment Everywhere. Maybe you are a teacher that helped book a performance for your school this spring. Or maybe you are already looking forward to seeing the show at one of our public performances (May 10 at the Philadelphia Free Library, May 31 at Smith Memorial Playground, June 6 at Morris Arboretum). But do you know who makes all of the magic happen?

Fear not! We are launching Meet Our Team Mondays to introduce you to the talented group of artists that are currently helping create this original production of The Brave Little Tailor just for you.

First up is actor and puppet-maker Aaron Lathrop. All interviews are conducted by our Marketing Intern, Rachel Hulsart.

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Actor: Aaron Lathrop

Rachel: Our audience primarily consists of children with a wide range of dreams of what they want to be. When you were a kid, what did you want to be?

Aaron: When I was quite young I wanted to be a paleontologist and a pilot. Around age ten or so I decided I wanted to be an actor, and I discovered puppetry after college.

Rachel: Where did you attend college and were there any professors that influenced you as an artist?

Aaron: I attended Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU). I had one professor, David Pellegrini, who I got along with famously. He wasn’t delicate about art and theatre, and wasn’t afraid to call out bad art for what it was. Though I’d have to say my biggest artistic growth came outside of school. In high school I started working with Flock Theatre, a community-based theatre group in New London, CT. I continued working with them until 2008 when I moved to the West Coast. The Artistic Director is Derron Wood and he’s always been a mentor and dear friend. He was the one who really helped give perspective to all the things that I learned in school and helped set me up to get there in the first place. He’s also the person who brought me to puppetry, which was what really made my career click.

Rachel: What was your first time performing onstage like?

Aaron: I was so young, but I don’t remember being scared. I’ve never really been prone to stage fright. Though I must have been thrilled.

Rachel: How is working with Enchantment Theatre Company different from other theatre companies that you have worked for?

Aaron: There’s an impressive level of organization for a small theatre company. The folks in charge have really been able to use their various strengths to make a strong company. So often in the arts you either have administrative types with no interest in the artistic side or artists with no knowledge of the nitty-gritty. ETC has managed to marry both.

Rachel: What was the first theatrical production you saw when you were little?

Aaron: When I was six years old my mother took me to see Richard Burton’s farewell tour of Camelot, in Providence, RI. She’d always played the original Broadway recording for me and I loved it. I don’t remember a whole lot of the actual production, bits and pieces mostly, but I sat through the whole thing and was entranced. And just knowing I saw a master performing the role he made famous is a good feeling.

Rachel: If you could bring any of your favorite fairy tales or childhood stories to life onstage, which would you choose and why?

Aaron: I’d love to do a series of Norwegian folk tales, stories of trolls and the various creatures that lived in the fjords. These were the stories that my grandfather brought over from Norway and would tell me before bed. He had them all memorized, sadly I do not. I think they could be a visual treat and give just the right amount of scary that a fairy tale is supposed to have.

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Thanks, Aaron!