Wilbur the piglet ready for his closeup as Charlotte's Web arrives for holiday run at ATP

Alberta Theatre Projects' next show is a holiday presentation of Charlotte's Web. It opens Nov.29. (Photo: ATP)

Calgarians from five to 105 are invited to watch as an unlikely friendship forms between a human, a pig, and a spider.

Starting with a preview on Nov. 26, the set at the Martha Cohen Theatre at Arts Commons will be transformed into a farmyard for Alberta Theatre Project's (ATP) holiday presentation of Charlotte’s Web, based on the E.B. White book.

Ellis Lalonde will be Wilbur, a piglet whose life is spared thanks to a girl named Fern, played by Alice Wordsworth.

“But as he grows and begins to cost his owners a fortune in feed, it will take help from all his new farmyard friends to save his life again, including the miraculous talents of a very special grey spider, ‘Charlotte, (played by Julie Orton),’” said ATP in a media release.

Calgarian Rebecca Northan explains it’s been an absolute delight directing this production.

“Bringing back warm memories of sitting on a hopscotch carpet, at the back of Miss Brown's Grade 2 classroom in Highwood Elementary School,” recalls Northan, who went on to create and perform in shows such as Blind Date, Goblin: MacBeth and Kung Fu Panties.

“She would read Charlotte's Web aloud to us for the last 10 minutes of class every day. There's no place I would rather be."

Director Rebecca Northan grew up in Calgary and first discovered Charlotte's Web when her grade 2 teacher at Highwood Elementary School would read it for the last 10 minutes of class each day.(Photo: ATP)

Lots of laughs

ATP promises lots of laughs, masks, movement and a dynamic set, for the play running until Dec. 29.

“Charlotte’s Web is a story that speaks to the heart of what it means to care for one another and find courage in unlikely places,” said ATP artistic director Haysam Kadri.

“This production combines the joy and magic of live theatre with a timeless message about friendship, sacrifice, and the beauty of life’s connections.”

Charlotte's Web is ATP's second production of its 50th anniversary season. The theatre company's first production, The Seafarer, starring Paul Gross and a cast of Calgary actors, which closed Sunday, sold more tickets than any non-holiday show in the theatre company's history.

Anyone looking for more information or for tickets can visit the ATP website.