About the play

This original fairy tale follows the quest of Princess Tersa for the magical keys of the elements which will enable her to save her realm from an evil usurper. The journey takes her to the woodland world of the fairies, an underwater kingdom, and a battle with a dragon on fire mountain as her character is tested. A Catch of Shadows continues its tradition of offering sumptuous costumes, complex sets, excellent performances, dance and music performed this time by the younger set of the AFE program. It is an adventure the whole family will enjoy.

Act 1

Scene 1 - Lord Sareden's Study
Scene 2 - A corridor in the castle

Act 2

Scene 1 - The Realm of Earth
Scene 2 - The Realm of Water

Intermission

Scene 3 - The Realm of Fire
Scene 4 - The Realm of Air

Act 3

Scene 1 - The Temple at Levenress
Scene 2 - The throne room at Camebrien

Director's notes

When we did Keys to Camebrien in 1996 it was the first production that we had ever performed on a real stage. We were incredibly excited -- there is something magical about a company's first production like this. When I decided that A Catch of Shadows would do two plays this spring -- one for the older actors and one for the younger ones -- I immediately thought of doing Keys again. I already knew the script inside and out and I had often considered the possibility of revisiting it. It has been really neat to work with this play again, as well as working exclusively with this younger group of actors -- I hope you enjoy the results!

I would like to offer special thanks to Andrea and Carl Wilson, Linnaea Wilson, Judy Reveaux-Wright and Bill Wright, the respective staffs of AFE, Loma Prieta High and Louden Nelson, the parent volunteers, especially Kerry Hosley and Lisa J. Arthur -- and you, our audience, for your support!

Laura Wilson

About the author and director

The Keys to Camebrien author and director, Laura Wilson, has been the director for A Catch of Shadows for the last ten years. Her involvement with theater began with her mother's improvisational classes for children and evolved into productions rehearsed and staged in local Santa Cruz parks. Laura's desire to work with other students who, like herself, wanted to create high quality productions resulted in her co-founding A Catch of Shadows Theater company.

Having difficulty finding substantive plays written for children Laura began penning her own scripts which now also include Gate of the Winds, Beyond the Ash Grove and Fortune's Wheel. Having a long standing love of Shakespeare, Laura has directed older students in productions of Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and Much Ado About Nothing.

Laura refined her directing skills with a director's internship at Shakespeare Santa Cruz and attended a Shakespeare and youth program at the Ashland Shakespeare Festival. She has also been a driving force in the AFE annual Shakespeare Feast, preparing period foods for many lucky folks in attendance. A home-schooled student, Laura graduated with honors from Cabrillo College, this spring graduates from UCSC in Literature, and will be attending a University of Arizona Renaissance Literature program in Cambridge England this summer.