“Resurrecting Fairy Tales” Explores Folk Narratives during Plagues

Jack Zipes will deliver an online recorded lecture and live Q&A on an array of fairy tales, myths, and other folk narratives on February 17 at 5:00 PM PST.

The event, Resurrecting Dead Fairy Tales, is composed of an online recorded lecture followed by a live Q&A with Zipes. It is the beginning exploration of MISCELLANEOUS Production’s next full-scale production involving youth-centered theatrical work exploring plague in fairy tales, myths, and animal wonder tales from Indigenous and international cultures. Juxtaposed with the contemporary dystopian society emphasized by COVID-19, they will work with culturally and socially representative youth to look deeper into difficult questions and find a voice to process and heal.

Zipes’s lecture will focus on some of the stories they hope to explore in their larger production, including:

• Fearless Ivan and his Faithful Horse Double-Hump – A Russian Folk Tale. By Pyotr Yershov. Retold by Jack Zipes.
• The Giant Ohl and Tiny Tim by Christian Bärmann. Translated and edited by Jack Zipes.
• Johnny Breadless – A Pacifist Fairy Tale. By Paul Vaillant-Couturier. Translated and Adapted by Jack Zipes.
• Keedle, the Great and All You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Fascism. Text by Deirdre and William Conselman, Jr. Adapted by Jack Zipes.
• Yussuf the Ostrich. Written and Illustrated by Emery Kelen. Adapted by Jack Zipes.

The lecture will unpack and decolonize the messages woven into folktales and investigate the impact of plagues across history and culture. The lecture will be presented through MP’s Facebook page: http://bit.ly/ZIPESLecture.