The Secret in the Wings
A bunch of kids in a basement playing dress up. The Disney sucked out of the fairy tale. Dozen of worlds and one child’s imagination.
A playful and imaginative celebration of the power of stories. Scenes, songs, striking visuals, and dance collide to tell a series of lesser known fairy tales from a range of countries. All but one of the stories are split in half as the play fans in and then out again in a whirlwind of theatrical creativity. Nine performers, 75 costumes, and over 100 props bring to life the deep darkness and the powerful love that only fairy tales can contain.
Content Notes
Content Notes (sometimes called content warnings) are our opportunity to give you a heads-up about some of the things you will encounter in the production. We recognize that certain content could be triggering and that there are some days you might not want to deal with those things or might want to have a heads-up before you do.
If you prefer to be surprised by the content, feel free to skip this section. Engage with the play in whatever way you wish!
A digital version of this production will be available to view from April 28-30, 2021.
Ticket Price: $10.00.
For online viewing options for this production, please contact the U of A Studio Theatre Box Office via email: uastudio@ualberta.ca or via phone: 780-492-2495.
Related Events
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Learn more in our
"Dig Deeper" section!
Click "Learn More" to see an interview with the director and our Fairy Tale Challenge!
What surprised you about the play?
What was a moment in the production that stood out to you, and why?
Do you have a favourite fairy tale? Why does it resonate with you?
Dig Deeper
"A dramaturg is a member of the artistic team of a theatre production who is a specialist in the transformation of a dramatic script into a meaningful living performance."
(5) Michael Mark Chemers, Ghost Light: An Introductory Handbook for Dramaturgy, Southern Illinois University Press, 2010.
Mary Zimmerman:
About the Playwright
Mary Zimmerman is an American playwright/ adapter, theatre and opera director, and professor. She is the Jaharis Family Foundation Chair in Performance Studies at Northwestern University...
Mary Zimmerman:
How She Creates
Mary Zimmerman isn’t your typical playwright. At least not in the sense of a solitary figure, labouring alone at her desk by candlelight in the hopes of producing a masterpiece manuscript...
Fairytale Sources
The Secret in the Wings weaves together a variety of Fairy Tales, some well known and most not. Faithfulness to the original stories is not a priority for Zimmerman, who freely adapts, alters, and blends...
Fairy Tales and (Child?) Psychology
We often think of fairy tales as being for children. The original collection of The Brothers Grimm (from which several tales in The Secret in the Wings are drawn) was, however, not specifically intended for kids...
The Power of Telling Stories
The Secret in the Wings is performed by adults and is not a play intended for young audiences. It therefore invites us to consider what fairy tales might offer us as adults in the audience...
Meme Gallery