Widener to Present Treasure Island

Children’s Theater to Benefit Chester Food Pantry 

Chester, Pa. (April 4, 2011) — Widener University’s FreshBaked Theatre Company will present Treasure Island on Sunday, April 10 at 2 p.m. in Alumni Auditorium on Widener’s Main Campus in Chester, Pa. Matinees for local schools and homeschooling groups that register in advance will take place Wednesday, April 13 at 10 a.m. and Friday, April 15 at 1 p.m. Reservations for all shows can be made by e-mailing ljcocchiarale@mail.widener.edu.

Admission to all shows is by free will cash donation, with all funds benefiting the Bernardine Center Food Pantry. Suggested donation is $1 per person.

The performance is geared toward an audience ages five and up. All children are encouraged to come in pirate or sailor costumes to add to the fun and compete for prizes for best costumes.

Treasure Island is an energetic audience participation play, with the magic of Treasure Island coming from the way the young audience members create a storm at sea, a mosquito-infested jungle and a treasure cave filled with eerie ghosts. Children can even join the actors onstage as Long John Silver's treacherous pirate gang and Captain Smollet's crew. They also help sing rollicking sea shanties and team up with the fearsome Ben Bulba to help defeat Red the Pirate Queen. The audience members then decide whether to hang Long John or let him sail away. It is written by Steve and Kathy Hotchner and presented by special arrangement with Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Ill.

Treasure Island features Widener University students Brett Hudson of Glen Mills, Pa.;  Chara Kramer of Mount Laurel, N.J.; Lizet Negrete of Passaic, N.J.;  Jon Thomson of Bensalem, Pa.; and Alison Whartenby of  Philadelphia. It is directed by Lisa Eckley Cocchiarale with technical direction by Daniel Castagna.

Since 2001, FreshBaked Theatre Company has produced quality drama for children and families in the greater Chester area. The ensemble seeks to enhance Widener University’s commitment to community outreach with “inventive drama for young minds . . . and the people who nurture them.”