CHILDREN OF THE WINTER KINGDOM
The Bonkers Adventures of Holly and Spruce
Written by Adam Dugas and Mary Eileen O’Donnell
Directed by Adam Dugas
World Premiere Production at The Actors’ Gang, December, 2025
Nico Fife as the Emperor Weasel, Jacob Dodson as Spruce, Zoe Molina as Zelda. Photo by Bob Turton Photography.
In May of 2025 I met with The Actors’ Gang artistic director Tim Robbins about the upcoming 2025-26 season. His proposal was that I create a show for the holiday slot in collaboration with Mary Eileen O’Donnell. Mary Eileen and I were both contributing writers for the show Night Miracles, an evening of ten 10-minute plays produced in January, 2025. I directed my own playlet “Game Show” and played the self-loathing drug addict Humpty Dumpty in Mary Eileen’s storybook characters-in-therapy playlet “In Recovery”.
Traditionally, holiday shows at The Actors’ Gang were variety nights with specialty acts, skits and such. We agreed, however, to try something different: an original fairy tale fantasy play with music. Originally, the goal was to try to work specialty acts into the show itself. The character of the Ice Spider, for example, was imagined to be played by an aerialist, and there is a whole sequence set in a circus.
What we created over the next few months was CHILDREN OF THE WINTER KINGDOM, and it is one of my proudest achievements. We created all new characters and a brand new story. I wrote new songs, and returned to directing for the stage in my big, bold style. I did a long interview piece for BroadwayWorld you can read here. It explains a lot about my process, inspirations, references, and the themes I was exploring.
Photos by Bob Turton Photography
Below are my original drawings. The Bonkers, for example, had no defined shape or concept - I wanted to discover it with the actors and design team. Here, they are more amorphous, closer to Barbapapa or ghosts. One of the defining moments in the script to me was when the children fall asleep in the enchanted forest and are surrounded by a group of magical reindeer. It is a sacred moment that stops the train ride of humor and action and a version of this became the poster art, reimagined by Elif Sezgin. Any way to make the story and the characters feel tangible, and bring a shared vision to the creative team, is always helpful to me.
