Sierra Madre Playhouse revives its Off the Page series of free, in-person staged play readings with “The World’s Strongest Librarian,” a play about the power of books, muscles and human kindness, on Monday, Feb. 28, starting at 7 p.m. It is being presented in association with Sierra Madre Public Library’s One Book, One City celebration of the library-themed book, “The Midnight Library,” by Matt Haig.
Admission is free and no reservations are necessary.
In “The World’s Strongest Librarian,” Josh is the children’s librarian at a poor public library facing a huge budget crisis. He’s also a powerlifter, pumping iron in the library basement and running a video blog about young adult and children’s books, weights and life. Kids flock to his unconventional story time and check out books by the dozens. All but one kid, that is – a loner named Mr. T, who has the loud tics of Tourette syndrome.
Slowly, Josh and Mr. T form a friendship, and Mr. T finally ventures to Josh’s basement gym, where a friendship is born. The stakes go up when the town says the library needs to close for monetary reasons. This hits Josh and the kids hard and leads to them staging a ’60s-inspired Read-In rather than letting their library be shut down. The play’s ending reveals the true identity of Mr. T.
“The World’s Strongest Librarian” will get kids pumped up to read, to work themselves into shape and especially to be kind to others.
Alison Kalmus directs. Her previous credits at Sierra Madre Playhouse include “A Little House Christmas,” “A Christmas Memory,” “The Gondoliers,” and more.
The cast includes Christopher Showerman as Josh, Mimi Chen, who hosts “Peace, Love and Sundays” on 88.5 FM, and young actors Kalyan Mukhopadhyay, Jacqueline Li, Jordan Martinez and Sophia Barna. The four youth actors are members of the Alison Kalmus Theater Academy, the resident training program for young artists at Sierra Madre Playhouse.
The Spring semester of Alison Kalmus Theater Academy at Sierra Madre Playhouse begins Feb. 17. For more information, go to www.sierramadreplayhouse.org/
For more information about shows in the coming months at Sierra Madre Playhouse, call (626) 355-4318 or visit www.sierramadreplayhouse.org.
Sierra Madre Playhouse is at 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. in Sierra Madre. Free parking is available in lots behind the Playhouse and across the street, as well as street parking. There are several dining establishments just yards from the Playhouse.
All current county COVID-19 safety protocols in place at the time of the event will be followed, including the wearing of face masks indoors and the checking of COVID-19 vaccination status.
