Over the years, Theater Works has proven to be one of the most intriguing groups in youth theater. By adapting modern classic fiction for the stage, they are able to reach an audience that is in desperate need of a good time. With “Ada Twist, Scientist & Friends,” they have found one of their best works yet. It’s a study of how science can be solved with a little problem solving. The protagonist Ada spends most of the hour-long show thinking out solutions to whatever just happened in the story and results in an accessible moral for the young audience. It’s a heady hour of learning, but it’s also very entertaining.
The show focuses around three students who are attending their first day of second grade. On the surface, they appear to be as different as they come. Ada is a scientist while her peers are into engineering and architecture. With such comical inventions as a “cheese helmet,” the show unravels into something chaotic as they discover that their teacher has some small apprehensions to their personal interests. She’s not a bad teacher, but one who isn’t exactly the most able to foster their interest in the greater world. The teacher is a woman of order, a bit nervous and skeptical of taking risks. Thankfully, there’s the grandma who comically leads the protagonists through the latter half of the journey and creates something even more thrilling.
With limited props and cast members, the show manages to turnstile through ideas with a brisk precision. The show has so much personality that even as the characters reach a level of enthusiasm that might be grating, they manage to tap into something human and real. Their insecurities are from not having adults that think like they do. Ada Twist’s greatest achievement is proving that while adults can disagree with children, it isn’t inherently bad. In fact, there’s ways to be adventurous without worrying them.
This is especially true in the climax where the cast relays one of the most complicated set-ups in the show. As they build a suspension bridge, they find their forces joining to overcome such a unique problem. It may be complicated and possibly illogical, but the commitment by the cast allows everything to build a healthy momentum to the triumphant conclusion. Without breaking the realism of the piece, the stage becomes a perilous journey back to safety and captures a childlike wonder of the world. It’s one that will make the audience want to cheer and see where the next day of class takes everyone.
More than anything, Ada Twist is a show that manages to entertain as well as educate. While the latter element may seem like it grinds everything to a halt, everything is baked together nicely and produces something that allows the audience to think of their own problem solving skills. The cast is endearing and the music numbers have a nice mix of humor and emotion that allow for some interesting choreography to be sprinkled in. The show ends up being one of their better works and gives a lot of hope that whatever problem they solve next will produce something of equally successful magnitude.
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