Asolo Rep to present World Premiere of JUNGLE BOOK

BroadwayWorld.com: "Asolo Repertory Theatre announces its final production of its 2017-18 season: the world premiere of JUNGLE BOOK, a boldly re-imagined family friendly stage adaptation of Nobel Prize-winner Rudyard Kipling's classic novel.

From the creators of Asolo Rep's June 2017 hit production of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, JUNGLE BOOK will have its world premiere at Asolo Rep in June 2018. It will be presented by Kidoons and WYRD Productions in association with The 20K Collective, produced by Jeff Lord, co-created and co-directed by Craig Francis and Rick Miller.

JUNGLE BOOK takes the same multimedia theatrical approach as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea: to re-imagine a classic story through modern eyes. The play will incorporate poetry from the original novel and, through the use of immersive video and interactive technology, will transport audiences to the world's jungles. From Mowgli the Man-cub, Baloo the bear, Kaa the Snake, and more, JUNGLE BOOK will bring the characters audiences know and love to life while also introducing some of the other colorful inhabitants of Kipling's books, and of today's urban jungle.

"Although the Mowgli stories in Kipling's The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book have been often adapted for film and TV, there are also other stories in the books about different animals from around the world that we can't wait to introduce to Sarasota, including The White Seal, which chronicles an Alaskan fur seal and his journey to meet the wisest creature in the seas: a manatee," said co-creator and co-director Rick Miller. "The whimsical and soulful stories, poems and songs that Kipling assembled in The Jungle Book cover a great deal of territory, both thematically and geographically."

The design team includes some of Canada's most talented artists. Astrid Janson (Set, Props and Costume Design), winner of the prestigious Siminovitch Award for Theatre Design; multiple Dora Award winners Debashis Sinha (Sound and Music Design) and André du Toit (Lighting Design); as well as Irina Litvinkeno (Video Design) whose work was seen at Asolo Rep in Twenty Thousand Leagues.

CREATIVE TEAM:

Co-Creator/Co-Director............................................ Craig Francis*

Co-Creator/Co-Director.................................................Rick Miller*

Scenic, Prop & Costume Designer..............................Astrid Janson

Lighting Designer.....................................................André du Toit

Sound and Music Designer......................................Debashis Sinha

Video Designer.............................................. Irina Litvinkeno