RL Presents The Little Prince, This Year’s Junior Play

Each winter, RL’s youngest, budding actors and crew—from Class VI through Class IV—come together for the production of the annual Junior Play. On February 24 and 25, The Little Prince—by Rick Cummings and John Scoullar, adapted from the beloved book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry—filled the Smith Theater, bringing the classic tale to vivid life.

The story follows a young prince who visits various planets, addressing themes of loneliness, friendship, love, and loss. Despite its style as a children’s book, The Little Prince makes observations about life, adults, and human nature. Saint-Exupéry’s most successful work, The Little Prince has sold an estimated 140 million copies worldwide, which makes it one of the bestselling books in history. The work has been translated into more than 500 languages and dialects and has been adapted to many and varied art forms and media.

Director Derek Nelson noted in the show’s program, “My first or second year at RL was the last time that, for the Junior Play, we mounted a stage adaptation of a book that the boys also read in one of their classes. That first time it was The Lord of the Flies—in the Class V curriculum—and some of you may remember that the set looked more like a skateboard park than an island. Plus ça change, as the Aviator might say! Boys who take French read The Little Prince in the Class IV year, and I think it appeals to the philosopher, the poet, and the explorer in all of us. We have taken dramatic liberties with it (‘Really, Mr. Nelson—step ladders?’) because they seem appropriate, given how fanciful and lyrical the story is—and because the stars at night ‘sound like five hundred million bells.’”

From Le Petit Prince:
“All men have stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems… But all these stars are silent. You—you alone will have stars as no one else has them… In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars will be laughing when you look at the sky at night… You, only you, will have stars that can laugh! And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me… You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure… It will be as if, in place of the stars, I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh.”
—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

View a complete gallery of photos from the production, taken by Mr. Miller.

Cast List
Aviator(s): Liam Walsh, Eric Archerman
The Little Prince(s): Nate Kelly, Austin O’Leary, Luke Kern, Teddy LaFond
The Rose: Toby Harrison
The King: Denmark Chirunga
Conceited Man: Paul Tompros
Businessman: Nicholas Glaeser
Lamplighter: Liam Guadagno
Geographer: Caiden Crowley
Snake: Nitin Muniappan
Fox: Fintan Reichard
Ensemble: Casey Chiang, Toby Harrison, Ameer Hasan, Milan Kapasi, Rory Kelly, Thomas Numa

Tech Crew
Tech Director: Ms. Korotkin
Costume Designer: Joy Adams
Costume Assistant: Cass Martyn-Seidl
Tech Assistant: James Allan
Stage Manager: Cass Martyn-Seidl
Lighting Design: Ms. Korotkin
Light Board Operator: Austin Reid
Sound Design: James Allan
Recorded Music: Instrumental music & sound effects by Rick
Cummings and John Scoullar
Props: Mr. Nelson, Ms. Korotkin, Cass Martyn-Seidl
Sound Board Operators: James McCurley, Chris Vlahos
Set Crew: Ben Romano, John Cirasuolo, Austin Reid, Ajay Devendran, Simon Albrechtskirchinger, Joseph Raposo, Jack Kelly, Kolby Sahin, Matthew Young, Oliver Colbert, Max Goldman
Projector Operator/Run Crew: John Cirasuolo, Chris Vlahos
Production Photographer: Mr. Miller