The Goblins Will Git You, The Writings of James Whitcomb Riley
Created With Music by Bill Hoffman
July 18 – August 17
Fridays at 7 p.m.
Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Running time: 1 hour.
Admission: $12.
Children 12 and under: $8
Call (216) 401-5131
7243 Canal Road
Valley View, OH 44125
For Opening Night and the first weekend, if you call 216 401-5131 to reserve tickets and say “James sent me” you will receive the “James” discount…$10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under.
“An’ the Gobble-uns will git you ef you don’t watch out,” from his poem, Little Orphant Annie, is the most well known line penned by James Whitcomb Riley, The Hoosier Poet, and one of America’s most loved. Riley’s poems and stories, many of them written in dialect, captured and celebrated life in 19th century, small town America. The farm, the field, the garden, childhood friends and family were never far from the poet’s mind and heart. The Goblins Will Git You, The Writings of James Whitcomb Riley, is a collection of his stories and poems, some of them set to music by Bill Hoffman. Beginning Friday, July 18, this nostalgic look at American life, brought to life by a multi-generational cast, will take you and the whole family back to a simpler time.
Bill Hoffman is a director, writer and teacher who has worked in the theatre for over forty years. In 1976, he co-founded the Westbeth Theatre Center in New York and was its artistic director for eight Off-Off Broadway seasons. As a resident director at The Cleveland Play House for fourteen years and its director of education for ten of those seasons, he directed nearly 40 productions and produced twelve seasons of The Children’s Theatre Series and three seasons of the popular Club Cabaret Series. Bill began his collaboration with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s/Project ACT (The Homeless Children and Youth Project) in 1996 providing scholarships to CAMP Cleveland Play House for students living in emergency shelters; developing a play and then musical about homeless students, Shelter; writing and directing it’s video adaptation, EVEN YOU; and directing and adapting over fifty children’s books for The Reading Company. Since 2006, Bill has served as a life skills coach for Project ACT, tutoring homeless students at Woodland Hills Elementary and Paul Revere Elementary schools in Cleveland, Ohio. In the fall of 2011, Mr. Hoffman co- founded The Lantern Theatre at Canal Corners Farm and Market in Valley View, Ohio. Dedicated to producing family theatre that reveals and celebrated the history of our region, state and country, The Lantern Theatre is located within the historic, 1905 Wisconsin-style, dairy barn that was part of the Gleeson farm. Bill received a BA in theatre arts from Denison University and an MFA in directing from Ohio University. He currently resides in Garfield Heights, Ohio, with his wife, Jackie, and their cat, Topper.