John Grisham’s Theodore Boone to hold court at Glendora, Geffen
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John Grisham’s 12-year-old kid lawyer, Theodore Boone, will take the stage in two local appearances in early November with the original theater production ‘Theodore Boone & the Thrill of Rights.’
Unlike Grisham’s ‘Theodore Boone’ bestsellers, which have the title character working behind the scenes to bring justice, the children’s theater show brings Boone himself to trial for stealing the U.S. Bill of Rights, which has been discovered in his backpack.
‘What happens is we stage a theft of the Bill of Rights, and the entire audience witnesses it,’ said Lee Overtree, director of the play and artistic director of the Story Pirates theater group performing it. Boone is caught with the Bill of Rights, arrested and put on trial.
The cast includes only four actors, including the lead, who isn’t 12 but twentysomething. Kids from the audience are brought on stage as witnesses and interrogated by a prosector Overtree describes as ‘arrogant, crazy, Foghorn Leghorn-sounding.’ A second group of kids is pulled from the crowd to serve as jurors and to render a verdict on Boone, who serves as his own lawyer.
In 55 performances of the show earlier this fall, Boone has been found innocent 54 times. ‘There was a hung jury at a Montessori School in Birmingham, Ala.,’ Overtree said.
Grisham’s only involvement in the play was approving the script.
‘Theodore Boone & the Thrill of Rights’ will be performed at the Glendora Public Library in Glendora on Nov. 4 at 4 p.m., and at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles on Nov. 5 at 11 a.m.
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— Susan Carpenter