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Photo provided by Sally Immel
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Photo provided by Sally Immel
For the first time ever, Brookwood Village and the Birmingham Children’s Theatre are partnering on a unique pop-up theatre this July.
From July 12 until July 29, the Magic City Theatre Festival will perform Ken Ludwig’s “The Three Musketeers” inside of Brookwood Village. There will be performances each week — Wednesday through Saturday at 7 p.m. with additional performances on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Each show runs for two hours.
This production came about after making the decision to do more performances in the summer, and a long period of trying to find the right space to put them on.
“We were visiting Brookwood Village and thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we turned one of these stores into a theater?’” said Brandon Bruce, the executive artistic director at Birmingham Children’s Theatre.
After previously working as a fight choreographer, Bruce also said that he chose “The Three Musketeers” because he wanted to do something heavy with sword fights. He went back-and-forth between “The Three Musketeers” and “Treasure Island,” but decided to go with the first because it was more action-packed.
“We wanted to do something that would be very different from what is currently being offered in town, but still has a great deal of spectacle to offer,” Bruce said.
Each show is highly immersive with audience members sitting “in the round” on all sides around the stage.
“There is no place you can be inside the theater where you are not in the action,” Bruce said.
Bruce encourages audience members to arrive an hour before each performance in order to see the Birmingham Children’s Theatre Youth Ensemble perform around Brookwood Village. These young actors aged 12 to 17 will be stilt walking, singing and performing with puppets for spectators to enjoy before each performance.
Brookwood Village hopes that this theatre festival will help bring new audiences to Birmingham Children’s Theatre and to the Birmingham theatre scene.
“Brookwood Village continues to connect communities and celebrate traditions by supporting initiatives that bring families, neighbors and children together to enjoy entertainment experiences,” said Brookwood Village General Manager David Schloss in a press release. “We are proud to partner with Birmingham Children’s Theatre and provide a new way to experience theater for Birmingham families.”
Bruce believes that this experience is one that everybody should witness.
“I have done shows in all kinds of spaces, but I have never done a show quite like this one,” Bruce said. “This is a really wild and thrilling idea. It is going to be unlike anything else.”
