Singing Sheep Hit Stage in Children’s Play
Local parent pens musical

By Weston Berg
11/15/2007

While it may be a while before pigs can fly, this weekend audiences will have the chance to see the next best thing when a cast of singing sheep take the stage in Kids Up Front’s production of “Shetland Valley Farm,” a musical written by Pawling’s own Aaron Emke.

The local software developer and father of 9-year-old son Noah — who’s among the cast of 19 youngsters who will take the stage this Friday and Saturday at Lakeside Park's Lathrop Building — penned both the comedy as well as all 12 of its songs in the tale of a sheep farm struggling.

“This is a play about sheep, which is a subject that’s been unjustly neglected in American musical theatre,” explained Emke. “Shetland Valley Farm” is his second musical. He wrote “The Hatmaker’s Daughters,” performed by the group in 2005, in an effort both to save money as well as to ensure everyone had a part to play.

“My wife (Amy) had been working with this group of kids as stage manager and director ... and she had been talking about how expensive the rights (to plays) were,” he said. Many times the number of boys and girls roles didn’t coincide with their needs.

“I thought if we just wrote something ourselves that would solve all our problems,” said Emke, who added that the story also gave his wife, who directs the musical, and producer Rachel Borsavage, an excuse to dress the children up in adorable sheep costumes.

The result is a 45-minute story about some very fashionable sheep and how they avoid almost certain doom at the hands of coyotes and an out-of-control fashion maven who wants to turn their farm into a wool-theme vacation resort.

Emke, who studied film at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where he met his wife, said he needed a little help from her before the play could be considered entirely family friendly. For example, they edited out a scene in which a socially conscious sheep, eager to end world hunger, donates to her cause in an unexpected way not all preschoolers might appreciate.

“My wife said that if any one of the beloved characters actually got killed it would be a bad idea,” said Emke. “In this version there's no longer any death.”

After composing a piano score for “Hatmaker’s Daughters” that he described as very simple, Emke said he took a more ambitious approach this time around, with more driving country and rock tunes with titles like “Shearing Day,” “Counting Sheep” and “Wool World.”

Although he says he’s not a musician, having composed all songs on the computer, the end result nonetheless makes for a hilarious experience.  Preproduction was quite involved.  In order to produce a rehearsal CD from which the children could learn the words and songs, the Emkes traveled back and forth to record in New York City, where Aaron’s brother, Devin Emke, a sound engineer for Saturday Night Live, helped them put everything together, playing guitar on tracks together with friends from “City Fritter,” a Los Angeles-based group on an East Coast tour, who agreed to contribute.

“I’m extremely excited,” said Emke. “It’s really coming together nicely. My parents are coming in from Kentucky to see it.”

In writing the play Emke said his goal was to create something that audiences of all ages would enjoy, and that would also challenge the young performers who range in age from 5 to 11.

“I find that in children’s literature, I think there’s a fear of making anything the slightest bit complicated,” he said. “I think children are sometimes smarter than they’re sometimes given credit for. I don't really dumb down the vocabulary.”

In the meantime he says he’s also in development of a play for older children called “The Wishing Scarf,” in which two friends discover a magical scarf, the power of which puts their friendship to the test. He’s also working on a non-musical work, called the “Quaker Lake Murders,” a comedy murder mystery set in Pawling. He says his work in Kids Up Front has provided him with an unexpected creative outlet.

“Obviously since I always went to film school, I thought I’d work in film,” he said. “Now this is something I’ve fallen into by fate. It's a lot of fun working with the whole family.”

After a couple of months of one day a week practices, Kids Up Front is now well into “Heck Week,” as Emke’s wife Amy, a teacher at Sunshine School and regular in the Pawling Theater Company, describes it.

“I’m thrilled about the play,” she said. “It’s very nice to do all these Disney shows but it’s so much more fun to do an original show.”

She said the uniqueness of the production also brings out the creativity in the children who become more bonded with their character, many offering advice and suggestions to help add to their character's personality.

“I can’t begin to tell how enthusiastic they are about their character,” she said. “You never know how kids are going to react but they loved it.”

“What comes out of their heads is completely new and original,” she said. “It’s really great to work with the kids in the creative process.”

The performance will take place this Friday, Nov. 16, at 7 p.m. and on Saturday, Nov. 17, at 2 p.m. at Lakeside Park. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for youngsters. For more information, please call (845) 222-9204 or visit www.kidsupfront.org.

©Pawling News Chronicle 2007
Reproduced by permission