Five Little Monkeys, a play adapted from the original children’s book of the same name invites children to interact with the cast during the play.

Eileen Christelow, the author of the book, wrote the book based on the nursery rhyme. Christelow wrote a total of ten books based from nursery rhymes for her series. 

Adventure Theater: Musical Theater Center took four of Christelow’s stories and adapted them into plays. Five Little Monkeys tour is one of those four.

Artistic director of this theater group, Michael Bobbitt, said the idea for the play came from an old production manager who loved the books. The idea was presented to Bobbitt who then mentioned the idea to Christelow’s agent and she agreed to let them create the play.

Some of the actors in the play are from the original cast from the tour in the spring of 2012, but much of the cast is new to the production. The cast is also physically fit since their monkey characters have physical scenes.

The play begins with the Mama Monkey trying to get ready for her day. When the baby monkeys wake up Mama Monkey invites the audience into her house. 

Mama Monkey realizes she forgets something and goes to the store to pick it up, leaving the audience in charge of her baby monkeys.

The baby monkeys create havoc throughout the day leading up to the ending scene where Mama Monkey tries to put her babies to bed and the five little monkeys are jumping on the bed.

The audience for the Five Little Monkeys is primarily kindergarten through fourth grade.

“I think kids and parents alike will have a lot of fun and it’s interactive. So usually the kids will start screaming and shouting and jumping for joy in the audience,” Bobbitt said.

Five Little Monkeys will perform at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m April 16 at Stephens Auditorium. Tickets bought in advance are $4 and $5 when bought at the door.