‘The Bear That Wasn’t’ Has a Real Message

The loss of individuality, a disregard for nature, the corporate affability that lonely people mistake for real intimacy--these are the ingredients in the Mark Taper Forum Improvisational Theatre Project’s “The Bear That Wasn’t,” currently touring Southland public and private elementary schools.

A heavy message for young children? Not with the treatment it gets here. It has delicacy and bold movement, upbeat humor, evocative visuals and music that is both elemental and ethereal, all presented in a cleanly professional package.

It is a mix that has become an Improvisational Theatre Project trademark, one that has made this youth theater company, under the direction of Peter Brosius, rank among the best in the country.

Based on a story by Frank Tashlin, adapted for the stage by Erin Cressida Wilson, the play centers around a bear (Jerry Tondo), who wakes from his winter sleep in the woods to find that a factory has been built around him.

Since no one ever heard of a bear in a factory, workers there decide that he is “just a silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat.” He’s given a uniform and an identification tag and put to work.

The factory president (William Martin Burns) welcomes him with corporate warmth to the company team. “If you have problems, don’t hesitate to share. I want you to feel good about yourself. . . . We’re counting on you--we’re a family.”

In a haunting scene, the bewildered animal is shown that bears live only in zoos and circuses. Eventually, the hairy new employee uneasily begins to adapt, copying those he sees around him.

The workers, played by Karen Maruyama, George Samaniego, Lance Roberts and Burns (in a double role), taunt him for being different; finally accept him, but don’t see him for what he really is. The president’s secretary (Kathryn Aronson) thinks he’s cute.

It is not until the bear is fired, losing his corporate “family” and friends, that he finds himself again.

Funny and thoughtful, the play’s dignity and depth are captured by the able cast, fluidly shifting from slapstick to seriousness.

Gary Mascaro did the intriguing choreography; the striking sound design and music is credited to Michael Silversher (John Fitzgerald is the percussionist). Set and costume design by Martin Zboril and Nicole Morin, respectively, are both simple and innovative.

There is one jangling note that the company should give thought to. As in Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” and as so many children have done in fun, in this play the bear and his friend Joe become blood brothers. Sadly, the specter of AIDS means that such scenes now have no place in children’s theater.

Although no performances will be open to the general public (a real loss), the show will continue to tour schools and in addition will play to 32,000 fifth-graders during the Music Center’s 18th annual Blue Ribbon Holiday Festival at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Monday through April 21.