http://urbanmilwaukee.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ATTG-Cast-Photo.jpg The Starlight Traveling Theater proudly presents ...

One Thousand and One Nights

Now playing exclusively at the Shanachie Ampitheater from July 1st to September 18th.

Prepare for a dazzling day of wonder as you discover several of the tales spun by Shahrazad, alongside that of her damaged and cruel husband, King Shahriyar.

We all know the tale of the brilliant Shahrazad, who forestalled her execution at the hands of Shahriyar by telling him a story each night. He could not kill her until he knew how the story ended, but each night she would begin a new one, for one thousand and one nights.

Many people have observed that the primary lesson is that we tell stories to save our lives, but the life being saved was not Shahrazad's. It was Shahriyar, who was saved from his own alienation from humanity and from dying, when his time came, without ever having truly lived.

Showtime is 4 PM daily, rain or shine. (No show on Wednesdays.) Tickets may be purchased at the Shanachie Theater Box Office in advance or at the door.

Cast photo is courtesy of Seren Lowell of Lowell Photography.

((Please feel free to use this playable in your RP or to post for your characters in this thread. The thread will remain open until the play ends in September. Many thanks for Mataya's player for offering the use of the Shanachie's Ampitheater for the run of the play. If anyone has any questions, drop me a PM. And remember to have fun! :)))

"Put your phone away," Cameron told his teenaged brother with a faint frown as they found their seats. "One afternoon, that's all I'm asking."

Andy scowled at his older brother. "I'm carrying the basket, isn't that enough?"

"I switched shifts for this, to spend time as a family, so turn the phone off or I'll throw it in the nearest trash can," Cameron threatened sternly.

There was a moment when it looked like he might have a rebellion on his hands, but Andy knew his brother was more than capable of following through with the threat. Sighing with exaggerated reluctance, he turned his phone off, putting it safely in his pocket. "Happy now?"

"I'm happy," a little voice piped up from between them, and both brothers looked down at their baby sister, Alyssa, who was probably the only one of them who was really looking forward to this treat.

Cameron smiled, bending to scoop his six-year-old sister up onto his hip. "Good, because making you happy is the best thing ever," he assured her, glancing ahead to the Shanachie Amphitheater, where the last of their number - Jesse - had already staked out a place for them to sit and eat their picnic from Nicole's Bistro while watching the show.

The Dinner and a Show offer at WHAM could not have come at a better time for them - a family left without parents a little under a year before, who were still struggling to come to terms with their new positions in the household. Cameron had found himself at the head of a family that consisted of one fourteen-year-old, one eleven-year-old, and one six-year-old. Despite the long hours at multiple jobs he had to work just to make sure everyone got fed and clothed appropriately, he'd settled into it eventually, and had even come to enjoy days like these, when he could take all three of them out for some unexpected treat or other. He'd never be able to replace their parents, but at least they hadn't been split up.

As Jesse and Andy opened up the bright blue basket to share out the food from Nicole's, Alyssa's attention was immediately caught by the sumptuously decorated stage, the rich music playing as people got comfortable for the afternoon's entertainment. She was the little darling of their family; the boys would do anything for her, as evidenced by the fact that they had agreed to come at all.

And despite the complaints of the middle brothers, it was a good afternoon. Defying anyone to come away unsatisfied, the Starlight Company wove the intriguing tale of a woman who had saved her own life with stories so well that there was not a peep from any of them throughout, except when the audience was called upon to be vocal witnesses to the narrative being played out before them. Even Andy, the typical grumpy teenager, was enthusiastic in his applause at the end of the show, packing up the blue hamper with Jesse without complaint. All the way home, they listened to Alyssa regale them with her impressions of their afternoon. It had been a good outing, in a life when there were few of those to go around. Thank gods for DJ Yas and WHAM.

"I still can't believe that I haven't see this yet, it's been here for over two months." Ebon was finally taking advantage of his prize package from WHAM 101, for a summer song request. "I hope you like it, m'love!"

I am sure that we all will, was Phen's silent reply as she guided the girls to their seats, with Doran bringing up the rear. The sun was high in a mostly-cloudless sky, but it wasn't too hot so everyone was comfortable. The children chatted while Phen and Ebon sat, his arm across her shoulders, holding her close.

"Shhh, they're starting." Doran directed his sisters' attention to the stage as the performance began.

The spectacle, the costumes, the enticing timbre of the cast's voices as they enacted tale after tale, with Shahrazad and Shahriyar in their little dance of revenge and survival shifting into redemption and rebirth. By the time it was over, the whole family was entranced, and they all rose to applaud at the curtain call.

On the way to dinner at Nicole's, the girls took turns regaling their parents with their favorite stories from the show, with Doran adding a few choice bits from time to time. It was the perfect family outing.