Christy Montour-Larson doesn’t want to talk down to her audience. It’s an approach that holds for the local director no matter the production. Whether it’s directing Shakespeare, Samuel Beckett or the stage adaptation of Lois Lowry’s classic novel “The Giver” that’s set to hit the Ricketson Stage at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts this month, Montour-Larson insists that she wants to stay true to the author’s intent. For “The Giver,” that intent includes a dystopian vision of the future, a world where memories are shunned and the weight of humanity’s grief falls on a young protagonist. We caught up with Montour-Larson to get her take on the Newbery Medal-winning novel, as well as the challenges of adapting its unique world for the stage and directing the young actors in the cast.
Aurora Sentinel: What was your experience with Lowry’s book before you came on as the director of this stage adaptation?
Christy Montour-Larson: The book is surprisingly not that old. It was written in 1993. I read it in those beginning Harry Potter phases … I had read just the first one. I had no idea that there were two other sequels after that. I was one of those kids whose best friend was the library when I was growing up. “The Giver” gets intense. It doesn’t talk down to kids. Sometimes in our rehearsal process, we say, ‘Is that too heavy?’ We always say we have to go there. The book wants us to go there.
The story revolves around a world where society has taken control over the flow of collective memory. How would you sum up the message of the novel and the play for those unfamiliar?
It’s about the importance of memories. Memories, good and bad, are a huge part of what it means to be a human being. It would be great if we could forget bad memories. It would be great if we could make the world as safe as possible. But what do we give up? We can’t enjoy the joys of life unless we remember the horrors. A big part of this story is the lessons we learn growing up.
How does the production tackle the challenge of bringing Lowry’s literary world to the stage?
The adaptor of the play, Eric Coble, is actually a friend of mine. I did not know he had written an adaptation until Kent gave it to me. There are 70 scenes in this play; Eric is incredibly faithful to the novel (and) he left enough up to our design team to make decisions on our own.
This is a world where a young boy is given the job of receiving all the memories of civilization. The challenge we have is how do we communicate the memories of humanity in a 3-D world. All of the memories are conveyed in the projection design by Charlie Miller. We crafted images. The first one you get is the memory of snow. There are memories of animals, sledding, warfare, sailing, hunger. They’re really quite impressive.
This is a story that’s very much rooted in the world and perspective of young characters. How did that impact your casting?
This is a story about a 12-year-old boy. There are four young characters in it. We’ve double casted. There is team orange and team blue. It was important to me that we cast young people. The theme of the play is the power that a 12-year-old can have in this world to shed light on hypocrisy and shed light on the world.
How has their output and perspective influenced the production?
I think a great example is when we went into our first tech rehearsal. The kids were watching the theater and they were blown away by it. What’s important to me is that all the young people have a very positive experience. You never forget the very first show that you have.
What’s the advantage of directing a literary adaptation for the stage?
Novelists will describe in such detail what the room is like, what people are seeing and thinking. We can do it in a lot less time than it would take to read the book. So much of the world is visual and so much of theater is visual. There’s so much detail that we can take advantage of.
Have any fans of the novel come to see the show?
We found that out today. You can see who has read the book and who hasn’t. You can see the people (who have read the book). Knowing that half the audience is going to know the story intimately, we want to honor everybody who knows “The Giver.” We also want to honor the people who have no experience with it so they don’t get lost.
What’s the importance of creating programming that appeals to younger theater goers?
I do think that’s important. What I so appreciate about (Denver Center Theatre Company Artistic Director) Kent Thompson is that if you go to a theater conference, you’ll hear people say how do we get young people into the theater? You hear the same things … Kent Thompson, he’s choosing stories that are of interest to young people. I think it’s really smart.