Blue Box Theatre Company's
New Musical, A Girl Called Tiny,
Turns Hans Christian Andersen's
Thumbelina into an Outdoor
Adventure at The Plant in Pittsboro

There may be few settings better suited to a musical about a very small girl discovering a very large world than The Plant in Pittsboro. With trees overhead, evening sky beyond the stage, and the sounds and movement of an active community gathering place surrounding the audience, Blue Box Theatre Company's Aug. 27-Sept 5 production of A Girl Called Tiny: A New Musical feels less like a conventional night at the theater and more like being invited into a storybook.

The new musical, with a book by Grace Siplon St. Lawrence and music by Britt Wilson, is loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina. Rather than simply retelling the familiar fairy tale, St. Lawrence and Wilson have used it as the starting point for a story about belonging, curiosity, courage, and the sometimes frightening necessity of leaving home.

At the center of the story is Tiny, a miniature young woman who has spent much of her life safely tucked away in her mother's cottage, learning about the larger world largely through books. Her circumstances begin to change when she encounters Robin, a fairy who is actually her size. Suddenly, the enormous world beyond home is not merely something to read about. It may contain a place for Tiny herself.

It is a simple idea, but a fertile one. Children can follow Tiny's physical adventure, while adults will recognize something more universal underneath it: the moment when the safe world we know becomes too small for the person we are becoming.

Akili Gathers, who plays Tiny, comes to Blue Box for the first time. Gathers is an actor, vocalist, writer, educator, and director and serves as artistic director of the Global Griots Theater Troupe. Her previous stage work includes Keely and Du, Thomas Putnam in The Crucible, and Chicken and Biscuits.

Gathers gives Tiny an appealing combination of innocence and determination. The role could easily become merely cute, but she allows us to see the intelligence and restlessness beneath Tiny's sheltered existence. She may be Tiny, but she brings an enormous presence through her acting and her amazing singing voice. She herself is magical.

The supporting company has the enjoyable task of creating the outsized inhabitants of Tiny's world. Harris Middlesworth brings a sweet sincerity to Robin, the fairy. Sky Symonds portrays Tiny's friend, Luna, and the witch who set the story in motion.

Jackson Ringley is a ball of energy playing Bunny, Swallow, and an ominous vulture. Pamela Alberda is delightfully comedic as Mama Toad and in all the other characters that she inhabits. Eli Teague makes his stage debut as Brother Toad and a Bug Goon, and Stephanie Spohrer is a standout bringing a golden voice to the roles of Mother and Butterfly.

Natasha Tyson is sassy as a matchmaking squirrel named Sissy and dancing circus Spider; Dylan Silver appears as the comically evil Mr. Roach and Cricket; and Andrew Hershey plays Mouse, Mollier, and Toad Junior with great comic timing.

That doubling is part of the fun. Instead of attempting cinematic realism, the production relies on theatrical imagination -- the audience agrees that human actors can become frogs, insects, birds, and other creatures; and the pleasure comes from seeing how they accomplish it.

Now let's talk about the Rogers & Hammerstein of the piece -- Grace Siplon St. Lawrence, the playwright/director, and Britt Wilson, the composer/music director. This team is going places! The music and lyrics were fresh, fun, and appealing to many kinds of audiences. It works for children, teens, and adults. Wilson's score gives the production its own musical identity rather than trying to imitate the familiar sound of a Disney fairy tale. St. Lawrence's adaptation also makes a useful choice in giving Tiny an interior life built around books. The device immediately establishes her as a dreamer without making her passive. Books have shown Tiny worlds that she cannot yet reach, but eventually imagining a life is not enough. She has to enter it.

Tiny's visual world is supported by Lucian Silver's set design, with Eli Gschwendtner designing costumes, Penny Williams leading props, and Abigail Wilson assisting with props and costumes. Laura Pennachi serves as stage manager, with Rachel Horowitz Andrews producing. The simplicity and elasticity of the sets and props is fun and effective, and complements the simple costumes and props. The use of puppetry is ingenious in providing both the scale and fairytale quality to the storytelling.

The location contributes considerably to the experience. The Plant, located on 17 acres on the east side of Pittsboro, describes itself as an "eco-industrial village," bringing together food, drink, art, music, nature, and community. Its history is almost as unusual as its present incarnation. In the 1940s, the property was part of Sunshine Gardens, once described as the country's largest flower farm; chrysanthemums grown there were even used for John F. Kennedy's 1961 inauguration. The property later became an industrial metal-alloys facility before beginning its transformation into today's sustainability-minded collection of businesses, studios, restaurants, beverage makers, gardens, art spaces, and gathering places.

Blue Box has embraced the informality of the location. The performance is presented outdoors in what the company calls "picnic style" theater: audience members bring their own lawn chairs or blankets and settle in around the stage. The seating area is covered, and the company has an indoor option at Starlight Mead in the event of severe weather.

It was difficult to believe that I was seeing an opening night of the work in their emergency rain location. I'm sure the outdoor setting would add an extra sparkle, but the show lost nothing indoors.

This is not theater that asks you to forget where you are. Instead, the surroundings become part of the evening. Before the performance, patrons can wander The Plant, find something to eat or drink, look at art, and explore a place that feels part arts campus, part neighborhood gathering spot, part reclaimed industrial site.

A New Musical Still Discovering Itself

Perhaps, the most interesting thing about seeing A Girl Called Tiny is that this is not another production of a musical that audiences already know by heart. It is a new work, and there is a particular excitement in watching artists create something that does not yet arrive burdened by famous performances or audience expectations.

The world outside Tiny's cottage is not always safe. It contains characters whose ideas about Tiny's future may be very different from her own. But growing up involves discovering the difference between being protected and being confined -- and learning that belonging does not necessarily mean fitting the expectations other people have prepared for you.

That gives this small-scale fairy tale a surprisingly large theme.

NOTE: This production is family-friendly, and audience members should bring their own chairs or blankets.

Grace Siplon St. Lawrence and Britt Wilson's A GIRL CALLED TINY: A NEW MUSICAL (In Person at 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 29 and Sept. 3-5), based on Thumbelina by Hans Christian Andersen and directed by Grace Siplon St. Lawrence (Blue Box Theatre Company at the The Plant in Pittsboro). PRESENTER: https://www.blueboxtheatrecompany.org/, https://linktr.ee/bbxtheatre, https://www.facebook.com/bbxtheatre, https://www.instagram.com/theblueboxtheatre/, https://www.tiktok.com/@theblueboxtheatreco, and https://x.com/BBXTheatre. 2026 SEASON: https://www.blueboxtheatrecompany.org/currentseason. VENUE: https://www.theplantnc.com/, https://linktr.ee/theplantncpittsboro, https://www.facebook.com/ThePlantInPittsboro/, and https://www.instagram.com/theplantnc/. DIRECTIONS: https://www.google.com/maps. TICKETS: $30, plus taxes and fees. Click here to buy tickets. INFORMATION: theblueboxtheatre@gmail.com. PLEASE DONATE TO: Blue Box Theatre Company.

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