ABOUT
It’s morning in the underground colony of naked mole-rats. And that means it’s time for the morning song, when the whole colony comes together to celebrate their nakedness. But today something’s
amiss: Wilbur is missing. His friends—Grande, Venti and Tall—are sure that he’s happily naked (and moisturized) somewhere. But still, it’s not like Wilbur to miss the morning song.
In fact, Wilbur isn’t particularly happy. He’s grown tired of the monotony in the tunnel, from the never-changing weather to the always being naked. And then suddenly—as if in answer to his daydreams—a hat falls from the sky. And then a shirt. And then a pair of pants, a blazer, a tie! With a full outfit at his feet, Wilbur decides to do something no naked mole-rat has ever done before: Wilbur gets dressed.
When Wilbur shows off his new outfit to Grande, Venti and Tall, they are shocked, disgusted and, frankly,offended. Naked mole-rats don’t wear clothes! But, Wilbur likes the way he looks, and sees nothing wrong with his tasteful ensemble. And so, against the advice of his friends, Wilbur decides to share his passion for fashion with everyone and open his very own clothing store.
The grand opening of Wilbur’s store, Hats and More, causes quite a scandal. It even makes the naked mole-rat news on CNN, the Constantly Naked Network. Then, when more clothes mysteriously begin to rain down from the sky, the colony erupts into a panic. Grande, Venti and Tall are fed up and decide that\ there’s only one way to deal with Wilbur’s strange behavior. It’s time to visit Grand-Pah, the oldest, greatest and most naked mole-rat ever. Perhaps he can set Wilbur straight.
Wilbur’s clothes shock even Grand-Pah and he orders that the colony assemble for a proclamation. (A proclamation from Grand-Pah is serious business.)
Meanwhile, clothes are still raining from the sky...
Amidst all this chaos, Wilbur realizes that his simple decision to get dressed has had serious repercussions. And yet, he isn’t sure what to do next. Will the colony ever accept a not-so-naked mole-rat? Should he just give in and go nude? Or is it, perhaps, best that Wilbur leave the colony altogether?
There is a lot of fun information in this video but the story starts a 3:15 minutes in.
Mo Willems’ interest in cartoon art began when he was just three years old when he started to draw and create his own characters. He became upset when adults would politely comment on his creations, because he knew they were only doing so out of necessity. Therefore, he began to write funny stories because he knew if adults laughed then it was good, and if they commented politely then it was bad. The beginning of his professional career was as a writer and animator for PBS’ Sesame Street, for which he won six Emmy Awards for his writing. While serving as head writer for Cartoon Network’s Codename: Kids Next Door, Mo Willems began writing and drawing books for children. Mo Willems also has multiple drawings, wire sculptures, and ceramics (done in collaboration with his father) exhibited in numerous galleries and museums across the nation. His graphic story about his family experiences during 9-11 for DC comics resides in the Library of Congress’ permanent collection. Forty-seven years later, he is a stay-at-home father because he “loves the idea of eating lunch with his family every day,” and writing allows him to do that.
Check out all his books here! https://pigeonpresents.com/books/
| General M. Hambrick | Director/Choreographer |
| Makena Reynolds | Assistant Director/Choreographer |
| Alex Marshall | Music Director |
| Trevor Coon | Assistant Music Director |
| Ailish Harris | Stage Manager |
| Emma Elzinga | Assistant Stage Manager |
| Jayden Dudley | Assistant Stage Manager |
| Bella Dixon | Production Assistant |
| Sydney Cheek-O'Donnell | Department Chair |
| Cami Sheridan | Office Manager |
| Aaron Swenson | Marketing/Comms Coordinator |
| Dave Schmidt | MTP Head |
| Amber Bielinski | Production Manager |
| Camille Dedman | Assistant Production Manager |
| Kyle Becker | Technical Director |
| Halee Rasmussen | Assistant Technical Director |
| Gage Williams | Scenic Mentor |
| Heather Rogers | Scenic Designer |
| Abish Noble | Scenic Charge Artist |
| Michael Horejsi | Lighting Mentor |
| Rachael Harned | Lighting Designer |
| Colter Lincoln | Assistant Lighting Designer |
| Jen Jackson | Sound Mentor |
| Emily Chung | Sound Designer |
| Aaron Hoenig | Sound Engineer |
| Mark Fossen | Dramaturg |
| Arika Schockmel | Properties Designer |
| Mae Hinton-Godfrey | Assistant Properties Designer |
| Sam Dalton | Properties Artisan |
| Brenda Van der Wiel | Costume Mentor |
| Wendy Massine | Costume Shop Manager |
| Camille Dedman | Co-Costume Designer |
| Ariana Hatch | Co-Costume Designer |
| Samantha Wootten | Hair & Makeup Designer |
| Ashlen Boresow | H&M Singer |
| Maddy Crimi | Cover |
| Alex Fish | Wilbur |
| Nate Ginsberg | Understudy Wilbur |
| Caleb Hunt | Announcer; Cover |
| Zoe Killian | Secret Service / H&M Singer |
| Lexie Lilley | Tall / H&M Singer |
| Alexander McConkie | H&M Singer / Cover |
| Jonathan Onyango | Grand-Pah |
| Lila Prince | Grande |
| Mariah Stanelle | Stark Naked / H&M Singer |
| Matthew Tripp | Venti / H&M Singer |
BEFORE THE SHOW
WILBUR
Wilbur is fun, kind, and curious about clothes. Wilbur finds out that clothes could help him be unique.
GRAND_PAH
Grand-Pah is smart and friendly and surprises everyone at the end.
Tall, Grande, and Venti are Wilbur’s friends:
TALL
Tall is unsure about clothes and is very nice to Wilbur even though she doesn’t really agree with him.
GRANDE
Grande is the popular naked mole rat and is confused about Wilbur’s decision to wear clothes.
VENTI
Venti is cool and says ‘dude’ a lot. He is relaxed about Wilbur and the clothes situation.
SECRET SERVICE MOLE RAT
A strong and fierce mole rat who protects Grand-Pah.
WEATHER MOLE RAT
A naked mole rat who has to report the weather in the tunnels, which never changes.
STARK NAKED
Stark Naked is a news reporter who is serious and confident.
APPAREL - (n) clothing of a particular kind, such as a casual T-shirt- CHIC - Elegant and stylish
- COINCIDENCE - (n) two events or more that happen at the same time on accident but seem to be connected
- COLONY - (n) a group of animals living together
- CRINGE - To show disgust or embarrassment at something
- DRASTIC - Extreme in effect
- EPIDERMIS - (n) the outer layer of skin
- INCONCEIVABLE - Impossible to imagine or believe
- NAKED - (adj) also means nude; not having clothes on the body
- NAKED MOLE RAT - (n) a small animal that is pink and wrinkly with long teeth that are found in tunnels in east Africa
- NETWORK - (n) a company that has programs to broadcast on the radio or TV
- NOVELTY - Something new and unusual
- PANIC BUTTON - (n) an item you press in an emergency that usually makes something happen
- PROCLAMATION - (n) an official public announcement
- PROCLIVITY - A strong liking for something that is usually considered bad
- REGAL - Similar to or suitable for a king or queen
- SARCASM - (n) words that are the opposite of what you mean, to either insult or show irritation
- SCANDAL - (n) something that happens that surprises, shocks, or upsets because of actions that may be legally or morally wrong
- TAILOR - (n) a person who makes clothes just for you; (v) to adjust clothing so it is just your size
- TUNNEL (n) a covered, cylinder passageway, mostly underground
Rock music is an important part of this play. Rock music is a type of popular music. It originally started in the 1940s and 1950s with the start of rock and roll. Rock and roll grew out of rhythm and blues and country music.
Rock music has a strong beat, a simple melody, and lyrics that often repeat. A rock band might feature electric guitar with bass guitar and drums.
There are a number of different type of rock music like blues rock, folk rock, country rock, punk rock, glam rock, and jazz-rock fusion.
Rock music has the same folk tradition as the protest song. Rock music has been involved with political activism.
There are many Cultural References in this production. Knowing them will help you understand the humor of the show.
Starbucks is a coffee shop with lots of different types of coffee and lattes. They also sell cold drinks, hot drinks, and snacks. The main sizes of cups are Tall, Venti, and Grande.
H&M is a clothing store but used to be a hunting and fishing store. They sell trendy clothes, which are clothes that are popular clothes at the moment.
GAP is a store where you can buy casual clothes for men, women, kids, and babies.
While the naked mole-rat is probably best known for looking like a bratwurst with teeth, they are remarkable creatures for a variety of reasons. Check out these interesting facts.
- Naked mole rats live in East Africa.
- They live in dark underground communities composed of tunnels and chambers.
- They continually dig narrow tunnels with their sharp front teeth in search of food and to avoid snakes, which are their natural predators.
- Their main source of food is the underground roots and tubers of large plants.
- Similar to bees and ants, naked mole rats live in hierarchical colonies with one queen, a select group of mates, soldiers for defense, and lots of workers.
- A typical naked mole rat colony has eighty members. Sometimes a colony can live in an area the size of twenty football fields.
- Naked mole rats are generally three inches long and have hardly any hair on their bodies.
- They are the only known cold-blooded mammals.
- Their sharp front teeth are used to dig tunnels. Their teeth can move independently or spread apart.
- Since they live in a dark environment, naked mole rats are nearly blind and usually move through tunnels with their eyes closed.
- Whiskers on their cheeks and tail help guide them through tunnels.
- Naked mole rats can live over twenty-five years—ten times longer than a mouse. This is because they are able to slow down their metabolism when food sources are low.
PLAY ON WORDS
- “We live in a tunnel of rock, so we rock!”
- This joke uses two types of rock: rock as in rock music and rocks you find in the ground.
- “I’m wearing my birthday suit.”
- A “birthday suit” is when you are naked like the day when you were born, when you do not wear anything AT ALL.
- “There must be more to the fabric of my life.”
- “Fabric of my life” means all the events that happen in your life. This is funny in the play because at this moment, the characters aren’t wearing clothes.
SARCASM
- Sarcasm is mocking or saying something you do not mean.
- One example would be, “Oh, that’s just great” when something isn’t great at all.
- Grande, who is really sarcastic, says to Wilbur: “If you like clothes so much, Wilbur, then why don’t you just open a store or something!”
- Grande is teasing Wilbur because he actually doesn’t want Wilbur to open a store.
- Have you ever been incredibly interested in something but those around you were not? How did that feel? What did you do?
- What is a passion of yours? How would you share it with others?
- Have you ever done something everyone thought was crazy? Why? What happened?
- What kind of clothes do you like to wear? How would you feel if someone didn’t like your style?
- What are some rules that are important? Have you ever had to follow a rule that you didn’t agree with?