A solitary girl whose heart is stolen by monsters with plans to sell it to the highest bidder in a fantastical city is the plot of the latest production by Geppetto’s Junkyard.
Playwright Hannah Bochart wrote the script for “Melenka and the City of Monsters” during a two-day burst of inspiration last September.
“I’ve always been really inspired by the classic fairy tale structure,” Bochart said. “It actually started with the title. That’s how a lot of my stories start. I wanted to tell a story more based around a fairy tale that can be related to the modern day.”
Melenka, a young woman who isolates herself in her home on the top of a mountain, has lost the ability to speak because she does not like to interact with people. The inability to communicate complicates her journey across the seas to the City of Monsters where she must find her heart before it’s consumed by the monsters.
Bochart said she’s always wanted to write a story about a character who can’t speak and who doesn’t want to interact with people and place them in a wild world with larger than life characters.
“She’s been alone for so long that she loses the ability to speak because, ‘If you don’t use it you lose it,'” Bochart said. “If you’ve never used your voice then you don’t get to have one anymore. It’s sort of a story about opening yourself up to adventure in the wider world and not sequestering yourself away in your own beautiful little corner.”
Bochart, who wrote last spring’s musical “Rusty Compass, Dusty Rose,” wanted to write another full-length show for Geppetto’s Junkyard, which in the past has typically performed smaller scale vignettes.
“We’ve done a lot of vignettes over the years but we have fun when we’re doing more long form shows,” Bochart said.
Bochart’s sister Merrick Bochart is directing City of Monsters and also helped write a portion of the script. She said the group has never spent as much time on a set.
“This time, more than ever, I realize we have such a great variety of talents including carpenters and painters, and costume designers and making puppets out of fabric,” Merrick Bochart said. “It’s great from a director’s standpoint to find out ways to challenge all these talents.”
Many one- and two-dimensional cityscapes will take up the entire Chilkat Center stage. The play will feature 12 puppets ranging in size from 1 foot to 5 foot 2 inches, two actors in costume and live music. Past Junkyard performer Sylvia Heinz is back to sing and play the bassoon with the rest of the band. Several new puppets were constructed for the show.
Merrick Bochart said that the show played to a packed house in Skagway last month. “Melenka and the City of Monsters” will be at the Chilkat Center on Saturday, Nov. 18 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 for kids and $10 for adults. The show runs about one hour and 10 minutes.
Debi Knight Kennedy will also be offering free leftover inventory. Items such as prints, t-shirts, hats and jewelry from Forget Me Not Gallery before and after each show.
Donations are welcome and all proceeds will go toward Becky’s Place.