Long before she became a Newbery Medal-winning author and national ambassador for young people's literature, Jacqueline Woodson worked as a drama therapist for runaway and homeless kids in New York.
That experience of using the arts to mitigate adolescent trauma helped inspire her 2003 book, "Locomotion," a poetry-infused work that Woodson later adapted for the stage.
"Poetry is my go-to when the world feels like it's losing its mind," said the MacArthur "genius" fellow by phone from her New York home. "It's a grounding force in the world and is accessible to everybody."
Poetry is the language of 11-year-old Lonnie Collins Motion, whose nickname, Locomotion, gives the title to the show that makes its regional premiere Saturday at the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis.
The play revolves around Lonnie and his sister, Lili, 8, who have been orphaned after a fire ravaged the family's home, killing their parents. The siblings are separated in the foster care system and continue lives as best they can.
"Young people are so beautifully resilient and such survivors," Woodson said. Lonnie's "life may be jacked up because he lost his parents and is separated from his sister, but he activates toward a future that feels hopeful. How do you make something out of something that feels like nothing?"
When it premiered at the Kennedy Center in 2010, "Locomotion" had a cast of three — Lonnie was played by one actor and two others played his teachers, parents, friends and everyone else. For this production, director Talvin Wilks has expanded the cast to have more young people onstage and make their characters more distinct.
"When I come to a play like this, I want to treat it almost like a world premiere, with opportunities to explore," said Wilks. "It's important that Lonnie at least have Lili and his best friend, Enrique — two identified peer-to-peer characters — played by youth. That's really essential to show a young person's vision of an adult world."
