Mouse in the house

• By ROBIN MILLER
• Arts writer
• Published: Jun 14, 2009

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Now, if you give a mouse a broom, chances are the Manship Theatre stage won’t be enough for him.

A broom won’t be enough, either.

He’ll have to have a mop and brushes on his feet so he can glide across the front lobby in the Shaw Center for the Arts as he’s doing now. Or she.

Because The Mouse in this production is being played by Ashleigh Gray Dowden.

Yeah, she’s a girl. OK little boys, don’t scrunch your noses. Girls can be cool, especially when they’re playing the part of The Mouse.
And we all know The Mouse is cool. Most 4- to 6-year-olds out there will tell you that right off.

That’s the age demographic for Laura Joffe Numeroff’s 1985 book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, but don’t let it fool you. Adults will revel in this story, too.

“It’s so much fun, because you’re watching the boy become the parent,” Neena Kelfstrom said. “And being a parent, I’ve watched this and thought about my own daughter. Kids will do things, and you can’t help but wonder, ‘Why did you do that?’”

But there’s never really a clear answer. They do it because they’re kids, right?

And The Mouse weaves his mischief because he’s, well, a mouse. But mischief isn’t the right word for this.

Innocence is better. The Mouse just doesn’t know any better.

“And by the end of the play, the stage is going to be a mess,” Kelfstrom said.

Kelfstrom is directing Playmakers’ stage production of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, which opens Friday, June 19. Yes, it will play out in the Manship Theatre, but no, The Mouse won’t be sweeping up the Shaw Center’s lobby.

Dowden will limit all of The Mouse’s antics to the stage. She’s just posing for photos in the lobby at this moment, joined by Scott Siepker, who’s playing The Boy.