The La Jolla Playhouse, in La Jolla, California, a suburb of San Diego, will present the world premiere of a new play, “The Squirrels”, during its 2018-2019 season. The dates and casting have not been set yet.

“The Squirrels” by Robert Askins, directed by Christopher Ashley.

Winter is on its way, and the squirrels are restless. Mistrust is growing between the Grey Squirrels, who enjoy a rich cache of nuts, and the outcast, hungry Fox Squirrels. When a wily outsider ignites a savage war, the consequences are catastrophic. This epic play reveals the animal instincts driving us all.

The choice of species is fitting for the local given the squirrels in Southern California are primarily fox squirrels and gray squirrels.

An article on November 8 in the San Diego Union-Tribune says that Director Ashely calls the new work "playful and super-funny and unexpected in every possible way," and says that as with good sci-fi, the fantastical setup allows the piece "to explore our society with just enough remove that you can make bold, interesting statements. It’s squirrels in a tree, but you would recognize lots of things in this cultural moment."

Ashley noted that the costumes were not going to look like 'Disneyland', but they will convey an essential ‘squirrel-ness,’ to coin a term.

Tickets to the Playhouse’s 2018-2019 season are available only via subscription at the moment: (858) 550-1010 or lajollaplayhouse.org.

Keep tuned in as more news will be added here when it is available. It will be interesting to see how much the play’s costuming looks like fursuits.

War With the Newts is a theatrical adaptation of the satirical novel by Karel Čapek, who is known for popularizing the word "robot" through his play R.U.R. It was adapted by Professor Natsu Onoda Power and performed at Georgetown University.

The play consists of a series of vignettes depicting the events surrounding the uplifting of a species of hyper-intelligent newts. When they are first discovered, they are seen as an able-bodied workforce, but gradually they begin to see how they are being enslaved by humans, and rise up in revolution. The newts were portrayed by actors wearing kigurumi newt suits and fingerless arm-gloves, and they frequently stole the show from the human actors. I had the opportunity to see the play in its world premiere run at Georgetown University. For a new play, this had a remarkable level of polish, while at the same time being eclectic, energetic and engaging.

It's hard enough getting to know your fiancée's family at the best of times, let alone when they're a bunch of animals. Such is the premise of Fursona Non Grata, a two-act play read at Califur IX.

A woman raised by furries, brings her fiance home for Thanksgiving to meet the family for the first time. Fur-larity ensures.

The play was first read in June 2012, and was presented as a radio play at Wild Nights in April. In contrast to Furry Tales – which held a reading at Anthrocon 2007, and left furs amused, but with reservations about the show's grounding – Fursona Non Grata has actual research behind it.

Playwright Jeff Goode created Disney's American Dragon: Jake Long and wrote The Eight: Reindeer Monologues. While demurring to identify as a furry himself, he attended Califur I, and was guest of honor at Rocket City FurMeet 2007 and Oklacon 2008; from this, he's put together a story which is, if fanciful, at least more of an exaggeration of reality than an apologetic for CSI's fursuit fetishists.

Hello again! Back from CaliFur in Southern California. And speaking of that…

We’ve mentioned before Fursona Non Grata, the new furry-themed play written by Jeff Goode (creator of American Dragon: Jake Long and The Eight: Reindeer Monologues). In case you need a recap: A young woman has been raised by furry fans. One day, she brings home her fiancee’ to meet the family… As it turns out, Jeff and the Sky Pilot Theater Company staged a readers’ theater version of Fursona Non Grata at CaliFur this year — to laughter, thunderous applause, and a standing ovation. The producers of Fursona announced that for the actual on-stage production of the play (scheduled for next year) they are looking to have some actual high-quality fur-suits constructed… and that costs money. So, they have started up an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds. Check it out here to find out more about what they need. And keep your eyes on InFurNation to find out when the play will premier!

image c. 2013 Jeff Goode

On tour now is Imago Theatre's ZooZoo, a production chock full of anthropomorphic animal costumes.

ZooZoo is a 55-minute performance comprised of a series of short, silent theatre pieces, each from four to seven minutes in length. The cast of five play animals ranging from fireflies to hippos, in skits that include penguins playing musical chairs, and anteaters dressed as waiters. As the promotional video shows, there is quite a bit of audience interaction:

Having completed most of their tour already, the production appears in Ithaca, New York on Friday, April 12, and then moves on to Cleveland, Ohio (May 7-11) and St. Albert, Alberta (May 28-June 1).

Currently touring the United Kingdom is I Was A Rat!, a stage play based on the book by British author Philip Pullman.

Pullman's 1999 book opens with elderly couple Bob and Joan answering a knock at their door, and finding a boy in a tattered page's uniform. When asked who he is, the boy can only tell them, "I was a rat". Having no children of their own, Bob and Joan take the boy in and name him Roger. They soon find he has distinctly ratty behaviour - he cannot eat with a spoon and, on his first night, chews his bed linen to shreds.

Bob and Joan attempt to find Roger's parents, but find the authorities disinterested and unhelpful. After Roger runs away during an examination by the Philosopher Royal, he gets exploited as a sideshow freak, used as an assistant to house-breaking, and eventually takes refuge in the sewers. With the local newspaper The Scourge feeding the hysteria, he is eventually caught and, as "the monster of the sewers", put on trial for his life.

I recently attended a performance at the Liverpool Playhouse. The stage play follows the book fairly faithfully; it was extremely well done, and I had so much fun watching it that I returned to catch it a second time before the production moved on to their next venue.

Taking a break from matter of Further Confusion for something a bit more unique: A new entry in the slowly-growing pantheon of anthropomorphic live theater. Triassic Parq recently won the Best Musical Award at the Fringe NYC theater festival. Written and directed by Marshall Pailet (with help from Bryce Norbitz and Stephen Wargo), it’s described like this: “… a hilariously inventive and decidedly adult take on the Spielberg blockbuster — as told from the point-of-view of the captive dinosaurs. With plenty of goats around to eat, this tribe of non-breeders is pretty satisfied with life. But when a T. rex suddenly sprouts the male sex organ and falls in love, the dinos’ entire belief system comes into question, evolving into a battle between the Velociraptors of Faith and Science. Narrated by none other than Morgan Freeman (played by Camryn Zelinger), Triassic Parq is a true thrill ride 200 million years in the making, filled with singing, dancing and a wide variety of reptilian hook-ups.” You heard it here. Keep an eye out for a traveling company performing Triassic Parq near  you. If you’re currently near Southern California, Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills is performing the play from now until late February. Check out their web site .

The Cartoon Brew reports that at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, July 27, at the Jon Lovitz Comedy Club in North Hollywood, voice actor Rob Paulsen who played Yakko on the Spielberg/WB animated TV series Animaniacs, and composer Randy Rogel who wrote the songs, will present a 1 ½-hour live medly of Animaniacs songs, including their most popular numbers plus others that were cut from the TV cartoons, for a live podcast. Age limit: 18 and over. Tickets are $20. At Universal City Walk, 1000 Universal Studios Boulevard, unit #222, Universal City, CA 91608; (818) 824-6545.

Paulsen was also Dr. Scratchansniff and Pinky of Pinky and the Brain on Animaniacs, several characters on Tiny Toon Adventures, and many roles going back to Raphael of the original 1980s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV cartoons. If you are in the Los Angeles area, this is a rare chance to see the man who has brought many of TV’s and motion pictures’ anthropomorphic characters over the last thirty years to life.

Jeff Goode is the creator of American Dragon: Jake Long for the Disney Channel. Previous to that he was well-known as a playwright, responsible for such works as The Eight: Reindeer Monologues. He has also been a Guest of Honor at several furry fandom conventions. Combine all those facts and you might just have an explanation for his latest work for the stage, Fursona Non Grata. Here’s what the press release says: “A young woman raised furry brings her mundane fiancé home for the holidays to meet her family for the first time.  Fur-larity ensues. Screenwriter and playwright Jeff Goode, the creator of Disney’s American Dragon: Jake Long and the author of The Eight: Reindeer Monologues is developing a new stage play for SkyPilot Theatre Company in Los Angeles, inspired in part by his misadventures as a GoH at Califur, Rocket City Furmeet and Oklacon.  The original comedy Fursona Non Grata will have its first public reading on:  Sunday, June 17 @ 3:00 p.m.  at the Sherry Theater, 11052 Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood, CA. Admission is Free!

How To Train Your Dragon - the story of a young Viking who defies generations of tradition by befriending a dragon - was a hit for DreamWorks in 2010.

Loosely based on a children's book series by Cressida Cowell, the movie grossed nearly $500 million worldwide, and won the 2010 Ursa Major Award for Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture.

Now the story is being adapted for the stage.

This week, stage plays with anthropomorphic animals are being performed on both sides of the Atlantic.

An adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book is being presented at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast, Ireland. The classic tale of man-cub Mowgli's adventures amongst the denizens of the jungle is brought to life with actors in animal roles wearing minimalist animal costumes.

Meanwhile, in Decatur, Georgia, USA, the PushPush Theatre company is presenting The Squirrel Trap. In this play, office drudge Gil finds his attic is inhabited by a talking squirrel – who readily dispenses advice on personal relationships. The role is played by a bearded actor in ordinary clothes with the addition of a large bushy tail.

This Thursday (July 21) sees the final performance of Squirrel, or The Origin of a Species, playing in the Redrum theater at Fort Fringe in Washington D.C., USA

A two-man comedy by Michael Merino, Squirrel is a dialogue between nineteenth-century naturalist Charles Darwin (played by Ian LeValley) and an American Grey Squirrel (played by Carlos Bustamante).

The play is presented as a series of skits, jumping about about in time and setting but roughly following Darwin's life between his voyage on the HMS Beagle and his writing On the Origin of Species. Bustamante brings the Squirrel to life with only a grey hat with ear flaps, and his own squirrelly movements.

The topic of anthropomorphic animals is coming to the Walking Fish Theatre next month, as it shows "Kiss Me Furry" – a Valentine edition of Revival Burlesque. [broadwayworld.com]

When the heir to the Yummy Pussy cat toy company fortune is kidnapped, her stepmother, Mrs. La Prix, hires a Private Jane to solve the mystery. One P.I. Martel and her boy Friday go undercover and infiltrate the secret nightclub, "The Fur Pile".

Explore the seedy underbelly of the world of ..."furries"?!?

The noir burlesque play – described as "like Hitchcock, but Grace Kelly is dead and there is more nudity" – was written by Max Guerin and is guest-directed by Madi Distefano (interview).

The show plays Friday 11th (8 & 10PM), Saturday 12th (8 & 10PM) and Monday 14th (8PM) at 2509 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19125. Tickets are $15 online, or $18 at the door.

Yiff!, the new British musical hoping to take London for a fuzzy whirlwind ride has updated it's cast and crew last January for it's latest showcase reading at the Kingshead Theatre. New characters include Samba - a lion cub, ishi_qweek - a dolphin, and Robodog who's... well, a robot dog. New songs range from the mundane to the rude ("The Ultimate Yiff" a good example.) Videos of both stage readings to date can be found on Tim Saward's YouTube channel. yiff.org.uk

Ursa Major Awards

The Ursa Major Awards - an annual award given for work in the anthropomorphic fandoms - has opened for final voting to decide the 2007 winners! Those up to grab the award include mass media and fandom regulars fighting side by side. Those to look out for include Ratatouille, Doctor Who, Blotch, Lackadaisy, Newshounds and Ozy & Millie.

Steve Gerber

Steven Ross Gerber, the legendary Marvel comic writer best known for creating Howard the Duck and more recently Stewart the Rat, has passed away in hospital while awaiting a transplant for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Sources say he continued to work until he died on February 10th, 2008 - aged 60.

The new musical Furry Tales was presented as a staged reading this Thursday night, at the CLO Caberet in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Ten musical numbers were included within the ninety-minute show, which was performed in one act.^[1][2]

The board of Anthrocon, Inc. had been invited and was there in force, including chairman Uncle Kage, art show director PeterCat, and director of publications Xydexx. They weren't the only ones. Advance promotion in local press and the Anthrocon forums and LiveJournal led to significant demand for tickets, and almost every seat in the house was filled.