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SALT LAKE CITY — A children’s book partially written by a 9-year-old with brittle bone disease has come to life on Salt Lake Acting Company’s stage.
The young boy, Nathan Glad, wrote “Climbing With Tigers” with Dallas Graham as part of the “Red Fred Project,” a story collaboration between Graham and children with critical illnesses.
“‘Climbing With Tigers’ is about a little Blackbird named Blue, and he’s afraid to fly because his bones are breakable … he never leaves his tree until a jolly troop of birds … ask him what he wants to do, he wants to go on adventure, and they help him to go on an adventure,” Graham said.
When Graham was doing a residency at The Leonardo, he wanted to invite kids with critical illnesses to work with professional actors, so he invited the theater company Flying Bobcat Theatrical Laboratory to come work with them, he said.
Halfway through Graham’s residency, one of the actors with Flying Bobcat Theatrical Laboratory took “Climbing With Tigers” a step further.
“To surprise me, he took the book, ‘Climbing With Tigers,’ and he sent it to New York City … to the desk of Troy Deutsch, who is the current playwright of the play,” Graham said.
Graham was very happy with the book-to-play adaptation, calling it “mind blowing.”
Produced by Salt Lake Acting Company, Graham said the reaction to the play has “been like confetti bursting out of the sky.”
“It’s like people leaving tear-stained and laughing,” Graham said. “People (are) coming out and having epiphanies. ... I think some people come in thinking, ‘Oh this is a cute little kids' play,’ which sometimes they are cute little kids' plays, but the writing is … sophisticated so it hits ... the adults, who are like children at heart, and it hits children and like everybody just walks out beaming.”
The show marries animation, live action and puppetry, and Graham said the show is unlike anything anyone has seen in Salt Lake City, technically. The show is symbolically relevant to many people, Graham said, adding that the play is about loneliness, overcoming one’s fear and facing one’s dragons.
“It’s like a hero's journey kind of play,” he said.
Nathan Glad loves the show and has been to many of the performances. Part of the proceeds from every ticket will go toward Nathan Glad and the Red Fred Project, Graham said.
“I think the best day was when his entire third-grade class from his school packed the auditorium,” Graham said.
“Climbing With Tigers” runs through March 27 at Salt Lake Acting Company. To get tickets, visit the website.
