To start the 2016-2017 Season, Good Neighbors Theatre has begun a production series led entirely by teens, with a cast composed entirely of young children.

The brainchild of board members Angela Sloan and Paige Mayercik, both with acting and directing experience, this series promises to be a great addition to GNT’s goal to involve community youth in the dramatic arts.

Aesop’s Fables will be directed by Caroline Patterson of Livingston, with Briahna Alvarez of Byrdstown as assistant director. Evan Garrett, also of Byrdstown, will be doing lights and sound for the production. It will showcase some of the most popular of Aesop’s well-known fables.

The performances will be Saturday, August 27th at 7:00 pm and Sunday, August 28th at 2:00 pm at Good Neighbors Theatre, located at 8780 Highway 111 Byrdstown, TN.

Tickets are $5.00 each and lap babies are free. They are available at the Byrdstown-Pickett County Chamber of Commerce. All pre-reserved tickets must be paid for at the time the reservation is made. Stop by the Chamber located at 1005 Highway 111. The Chamber’s phone is 931-864-7195.

Tickets may also be purchased at the Good Neighbors Theatre ticket booth prior to the performances. All ticket sales are final. Unused tickets are non-refundable.

Those requiring special assistance must indicate their need at the time reservation is made. Make checks payable to GNT. Messages may be left at 931-864-4569.

So, who was Aesop? Little is known about the life of Aesop. According to historical facts he was a slave thought to have lived between 620 and 560 BC. While some legends suggest Aesop was an ugly hunchbacked slave, his real appearance is a mystery. Legend tells that he received his freedom from slavery by using one of his fables to save his master from an embarrassing threat. Aesop is probably the most famous fabulist storytellers of all time. His fables, always with a moral and ethical undertone, have presented countless generations with amusing and thought provoking tales.

Aesop took themes and ideas from folklore to create his works. The fables of Aesop were not written in his lifetime, but passed on from mouth to mouth. Finally, a collection of 352 Greek myths, simply called “Aesop’s Fables,” was created.

Through the course of the centuries, they have been translated into languages all over the world and eventually became primarily a way of teaching moral lessons to children. They have been told and retold in a variety of media, from oral tradition to written storybooks to stage, film and animated cartoon versions—even in architecture.

Until the 18th century, the fables were largely put to adult use by teachers, preachers, speech-makers and moralists. In Mediaeval times, fables were collected for use in sermons. At the start of the Reformation, Martin Luther followed Aesop’s example in the work, The Coburg Fables

When King Louis XIV of France wanted to instruct his six-year-old son, he incorporated the series of hydraulic statues representing 38 chosen fables in the labyrinth of Versailles in the 1670s.