ArtsPower presents The Monster Who Ate my Peas” at TPAC

Family fun continues with “The Monster Who Ate My Peas” on Friday, April 11 at 7 p.m. in the next Todd Performing Arts Center presentation at Chesapeake College. The show will be followed by a special book event in the lobby. The show’s characters will sign books and pose for photos.

ArtsPower National Touring Theatre’s newest original musical theater production, The Monster Who Ate My Peas, brings a fresh meaning to the well-known phrase, “It’s not easy being green,” at least, if you’re a kid with a plateful of unwanted green peas.

ArtsPower’s “The Monster Who Ate My Peas,” designed for young people in grades K-2 and their families, is based on the book of the same title by Danny Schnitzlein and illustrated by Matt Faulkner. The story was adopted for the stage by ArtsPower’s artistic director Greg Gunning, who wrote the script and lyrics, and composer Richard DeRosa, who also orchestrated his score.

ArtsPower National Touring Theatre’s newest original musical theater production, The Monster Who Ate My Peas

ArtsPower’s musical follows the daily dinnertime dilemma that our hero, Danny, must face: eating his peas! Not the first, and certainly not the last, this young man, like countless other children, would do just about anything to make those dreaded peas disappear, including making a deal with a monster. After much wishing, the monster Danny was hoping for finally appears, ready to make a deal every time Danny needs to eat his peas.

Each deal-for-peas requires that Danny give the monster one of his prized possessions. First, it’s his brand new soccer ball. Next time the peas need to disappear from Danny’s plate, the monster takes Danny’s brand new sparkling bicycle. The monster’s third deal is for something Danny could never part with . . . or could he?

Now, it’s time for our hero to choose between the monster clearing his plate of peas or saying goodbye to that which is most dear to him. Will the boy make the difficult choice that could separate him from what he loves the most?

Tickets for the show are $9. For tickets or more information, please call the box office at 410-827-5867.

ArtsPower has been producing thought-provoking, literature-based, professional theater for young and family audiences since 1985. Since its first play, Four Score and Seven Years Ago in 1989, ArtsPower has become one of the nation’s preeminent producers of professional touring theater, having added 29 new theatre productions to the repertoire of quality theatre for America’s young and family audiences.