The Hobbit

It held the audiences' attentions throughout with its comic characters, action-filled scenes and engaging story of friendship and adventure.

Carol-Ann Black, Showbiz Kidz/Showbiz Starz, Allen Park, Mich.

This is a great script for middle school. All the events can be found in the book/movie, but it adapts well on stage. A big cast can have fun with the magical characters.

Kristen Swanson, Penn Central Middle School, Perkasie, Pa.

We had a terrific production. Great characters, fun costume and makeup opportunities for students, and wildly exciting special effects. Gollum and the dragon scenes were a true highlight.

Ron Wells, Lawton C. Johnson Summit Middle School, Summit, N.J.

This is a very fun play to work on. My cast of all high schoolers actually enjoyed coming to rehearsals. What I really enjoyed about the play was that it broke into French scenes easily. My students were able to come when needed.

Sarah Hankins, Pearl High School, Pearl, Miss.

What a magical adaptation, faithful to the book and perfect for an all-youth cast! Sets are simple. Good balance between drama and humor! The dragon was a challenge, but fun to play!

Ron Solomon, Make It Up As We Go Productions, Pearland, Texas

The Hobbit is an exceptional script since it has kept the classic scenes from the book which made it a classic in the first place.

Mark Brown, ANTIC, Inc., Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

The Hobbit is wonderful and fun to produce. The characters are full of life, contributing to a fast-paced performance.

Alan Berry, Hale Center I.S.D., Hale Center, Texas

We selected this version of The Hobbit because it had a larger number of parts with interesting lines/scenes that give the audience an unforgettable memory of each character.

Alice Anderson, Haddam Neck Covenant Church Children's Theatre, East Hampton, Conn.

We found this version of The Hobbit to be the best suited for our company. We did it with 15 Middle Earth Minions who played trees, doors, cupboards, minor roles, set movers and extras. The production was highly effective and well received. We sold out all the performances on the second weekend!

Lisa Lees, All of Us Express Children's Theatre, East Lansing, Mich.

This was a great show and filled our houses; although it is not for the faint of heart in terms of technical challenge. We planned an extended outage at our theatre to build sets, costumes, props, and of course the dragon. We planned 5 weeks extra, and honestly could have used 5 more. Our theatre is a black box, the stage area for this production was approximately 50' by 15'. That allowed us to bring the action right up to the audience, and allowed some of our props to look larger than life in the smaller space. Particularly our Smaug, his head was 8' long, which looked large in our space. In a traditional proscenium theatre, the effect would not have been as good.

Brian Spain, Enter Stage Right, Port Huron, Mich.

Excellent adaptation. A real ensemble production, instead of one or two leads the whole cast was really involved.

Melissa Zak, Providence Academy, Plymouth, Minn.

It was a wonderful production. The scriptÑchallenging yet very appropriate for our actors ages 7-16.

Claire Yarrington, California Theatre Arts, Walnut Creek, Calif.

I read several different versions when deciding to direct The Hobbit with our high schoolers. This version, although not entirely true to the original book, does seem to be the closest to matching the spirit of the book and does give student actors rich characterizations to create.

Darlene Lentz, Sands Center/ Storybook, DeLand, Fla.

This was a play that was easily accomplished by middle-level students. It was flexible enough to accommodate varied students, number of cast members. The set needs were workable in either a small or large space.

Earlene DeLeon, Cedar Rivers Middle School, Maple Valley, Wash.

Excellent adaptation of Tolkien's book. My actors went out for the play because of their love of the book, and they commented how close to the story it was. Easy to find flashing staff and glowing swords on Internet because of "Rings" movies.

Linda Hasbrouck, Gilbraltar Area Schools, Fish Creek, WI

Solid writing -- excellent notes in rear of text. Audiences loved wry humor embedded in dialogue. Solid responses from audiences.

Ed Cornely, Cornely Productions, Westboro, MA

The Hobbit was a challenge and a wonderful production. With a cast of 41 with lots of Gollums and Elf attendants for the Elven Queen it was a joy to work with young people from five to eighteen. Thanks for helping to make our show a great hit.

Bebe Abel, Spotlight Youth Theatre, Waynesville, NC

Well received by the community. Great theater experience for the youth.

Vikki Halstead, City of Dinuba Parks & Recreation, Dinuba, CA