Show’s message of tolerance is especially relevant in today’s world

Actors in “Honk! Jr.” are back row from left: Brenden Oliphant, Miriam Shem-Tov, Chloe Grotz. Front row from left: Jace Puente, Alexis Hsu, Izzy Oliphant, Genie Oliphant, and Cady Oliphant. Photo courtesy Chris Foster/SVCT

By Marty Cheek

An odd-looking duckling cruelly nicknamed “Ugly” goes on an adventure away from his barnyard home and learns some important life lessons in the South Valley Civic Theatre show “Honk! Jr.” It opens Oct. 1 for a four-weekend run at the Morgan Hill Community Playhouse.

Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Ugly Duckling,” the junior version of the musical play is a fun way to introduce young people to theater, said director Tressa Bender. It is relatively short at about 90 minutes long (including intermission) and has about 20 young girls and boys in the cast.

“We encourage every age group to come and watch because it’s got something for everyone,” she said. “And it’s a great way to come and  support the children of the South Valley. This is SVCT’s first children’s show in three years (because of COVID-19) and we’re starting over with a wonderful story.”

The show is especially relevant for today because it teaches a message of tolerance and showing kindness toward others, even if they might look or act differently, Bender said.

“It’s got a very strong anti-bullying message,” she said. “It’s about accepting yourself the way that you are. It’s OK to be a little odd.”

Photo courtesy Chris Foster/SVCT

In the classic fairytale story, soon after “Ugly” (played by Miriam Shem-Tov) is born, he is teased by his brothers and sisters and friends about his appearance. He is seduced away from the duckpond by the cunning “Cat” (Ashlen Hsu) who schemes to eat the young duckling for dinner. “Ugly” escapes the feline’s clutches but becomes lost as he sets out to find his way back to his duck pond. In his adventures, he encounters a beautiful swan named  Penny (Grace Butler) tangled in a fishing line. He saves her and the two birds form a close friendship.

As “Ugly,” Miriam Shem-Tov believes the story provides an important life lesson about how to treat people with kindness and compassion so that their inner beauty will shine.

“The lesson is that you can’t look just at the outside, you have to look in the inside and not just love someone because they’re (physically) beautiful,” said the 12-year-old who attends sixth grade at Oakwood School. “Ugly starts out as this really humiliated character. As he grows up, he discovers his friends who come from all over look different and he learns about all of their ways.”

By the end of the tale, he discovers he’s not really an aesthetically challenged farmyard fowl but in fact a really beautiful swan, she said. He learns to be confident and understand that everyone’s different.

“There’s beauty inside him that’s just waiting to appear,” Shem-Tov said. “It’s a lesson for people. It’s great that we’re growing up with such a diverse community and learning that everyone is beautiful and everyone has their own story and we’re all different in our own ways.”

Chloe Grotz plays “Ida,” the mother of “Ugly.”

Photo courtesy Chris Foster/SVCT

“She wants to make sure Ugly knows he’s beautiful even though everybody else doesn’t think he is,” said the 12-year-old who attends Stratford Middle School in San Jose.

To approach her acting for the role, she pretends to be an adult by tuning into the tender feelings of a mother.

“You have to act older than I am,” she said. “I think about my own mom and how she takes care of me — and that is basically how I create the character.”

Grotz recommends local families come to see “Honk!” because the show has a positive message for everyone.

“It’s OK to be different and if you are different then it’s like something you can be proud of and not be embarrassed about it.”

Matthew Horta plays two roles, “Jay Bird” and “Turkey.” The 10-year-old attends El Roble Elementary and can’t wait to perform the starring role of “Ralphie” in SVCT’s version of “A Christmas Story” during the upcoming holidays.

Jay Bird is an in-your-face TV news reporter who informs Ida that Ugly is missing as he interviews her for the story, he said. Turkey is one of the farm animals who acts “goofy” and provides comedy in the show. Getting into the costumes helps Horta in getting into the characters he portrays, he said. Also helping is memorizing his lines, which comes easy to him.

“When I first get the script I read the lines and I close my eyes and try to remember it,” he said. “My dad asks me: “How do you learn lines so quickly?’”

With five of her six children (ages 4 to 12) in the show, Jenn Oliphant as the assistant producer says “Honk!” is a family affair, especially with her mother-in-law as the vocal director recommending they audition.

“The kids are really excited,” she said. “They love to sing and dance and act and this was a great way to reach out into the community — and so we said, ‘Let’s go for it!’”

Oliphant encourages South Valley residents to see the show because of its high “cuteness” factor of children performing on the stage.

“This is a great chance to support the kids getting involved in the arts and their love and their pursuit of music and theater and acting,” she said. “I really feel like kids being involved in theater teaches them empathy, teaches them to interact with their world and their community and it’s a great way to participate.”

The rest of the cast is made up of Alexis Hsu as Fluff (Duckling), Goose, Froglet, Alice Ball as Bullfrog, Poultry, Goose, Ava Meehan as Greylag, Poultry, Frog, Brenden Oliphant as “Drake,” Cady Oliphant as Billy (Duckling), Snowy (Gooselet), Froglet, Claire Oliphant as Grace, Dot (Goose), Frog, Gabby Oliphant as “Maureen,” Camera Crew, Goose, Genie Oliphant as Beaky (Duckling), Barnacles (Goose), Froglet, Grace Butler Penny, Poultry, Blizzard Female Solo, Izzy Oliphant as Duckling, Goose, Froglet, Jace Puente as Downy (Duckling), Pinkfoot (Goose), Froglet, Julia Tracy as Henrietta, Swans, Camera Crew, and Liam Grotz as Poultry, Camera Crew, Goose, Frog.

The rest of the crew are producer Marianne Snook, choreographer Christine Carrillo, costumer Lorraine Bell, sound & lighting designer Spencer Oliphant and prop manager Lorraine Bell.