Classic tale of "100 Dresses" to be staged for young audiences

PROVO — If 12-year-old Wanda has 100 dresses at home — all silk, all colors and velvet, too — why does she wear the same faded blue dress to school every day?

At the BYU Young Company theater for youngsters production of the award-winning book, “The 100 Dresses,” audiences will learn about judging others by their appearance, bullying and being an “upstander” versus a bystander.

“The story has the potential to motivate us to do kind things to others, to have true compassion,” said director Julia Ashworth. “It explores issues like what does it mean to be a friend to others and what friendship looks like.”

Based on the Newbery Honor-winning classic children’s book by Connecticut children’s author Eleanor Estes, the new 50-minute stage adaptation was scripted by internationally regarded playwright Mary Hall Surface, a Helen Hayes Award winner for excellence in theater.

The "100 Dresses" main character, Wanda Petronski, a poor immigrant from Poland, just wants to be liked by the other girls in her class, so she tells them about her collection of 100 dresses. The other kids don’t believe it, and they tease her relentlessly. But there is Madeline, the one girl trying to do the right thing and stick by Wanda.

“Everyone has been in Maddie’s situation,” wrote one teenager following a previous “100 Dresses” staging in Seattle. “Everyone has faced peer pressure. These characters tell us that we, like them, can make the right choice next time.”

“Redemption is one of the main themes,” Ashworth said “Madeline discovers that there is no do-over, but she can do better in the future.”

While this story is set in 1944, “the issues are identical to what we still face today,” she added. “Bullying is very prevalent and takes place all around us. There is also a lesson for adults on how we can exclude others just because of their differences.”

The “100 Dresses” company collected more than 100 dresses to donate to local charities, and many are on display adjacent to the theater.

Following the Pardoe Theatre staging, the eight-member cast of BYU theater students will take the show on tour to up to 40 schools throughout Utah and Salt Lake counties. At each staging, the cast will also hold workshops with students to review the themes of the production and will encourage students to also collect up to 100 dresses to donate to local charities.

“We are hoping that these dresses will not just be everyday dresses but special-occasion dresses that are more needed in these communities,” Ashworth said.