Baba Yaga and the Black Sunflower

This play is about a spirited young girl, Maryushka, determined to find where she belongs. It is a coming-of-age story set in old Russia, drawn from ancient tales about Baba Yaga, the mysterious crone who lives deep in the forest in a five-sided house on chicken legs and flies through the air in a mortar and pestle! Maryushka bravely and defiantly does her tasks—initially by playing tricks and fooling around—until she gets into trouble—real trouble. She's expelled from her village to find her baby brother who was snatched up by Baba Yaga's geese. Deep in the forest, she finds her true self in the course of completing three difficult tasks for Baba Yaga and brings her baby brother safely home. How does she discover how to live with the wildness of nature and the people in her village? What does she come to believe about Baba Yaga? What do we come to believe about the crone? Some characters are realistic village folk and some more fantastic: Baba Yaga, a talking cat, the five-sided house on chicken legs and a puppet baby brother, who is transformed into a hedgehog and back again a few times! A lively score, adapted for electronic keyboard, accompanies much of the action, and charming songs throughout can be sung or spoken to accompaniment.