(Originally published February 26, 2025)
Following the success of its three prior touring productions at the Museum of the Bible’s World Stage Theater (two runs of The Horse and His Boy in 2023, Prince Caspian in the spring of 2024, and The Pilgrim’s Progress last fall), the Academy of Arts Logos Theatre, based in Taylors, South Carolina, has for the first time chosen to launch a national tour in Washington, DC, with its adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Seventy-five years after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe first appeared in print, the Logos Theatre’s adaptation of it, written, directed, and choreographed by Academy of Arts Artistic Director Nicole Stratton, immediately draws audiences into World War II–era London and from there to the English countryside, where four siblings are being evacuated to escape the bombings. (Much like the professor who greets them at his country home, played with comically exaggerated eccentricity and absentmindedness by Noah Stratton, Lewis hosted child evacuees during the war.) When the youngest child, Lucy (played by Alice Johnson with an endearing mix of vulnerability, curiosity, and spunk), claims to have found a magical world called Narnia in a wardrobe in one of the professor’s many spare rooms, her siblings react in entirely believable ways. Edmund (Emmett Yopp), the next youngest, bullies and mocks her as the only person in his life he can punch down to. Peter (Brinton Stratton) and Susan (Bethany Bliss), trying desperately to be responsible older siblings in the absence of their parents, are concerned that Lucy is coping with the trauma of wartime, displacement, and family separation by engaging in escapism, and worry that she is lying or has gone mad.
Yet as the siblings soon find out when first Edmund and then all four end up entering Narnia through the wardrobe, Lucy (as she has stridently maintained) was not engaging in escapism but truly found another world. Fleeing from war and tyranny in their own world, the children find themselves caught up in it in Narnia, where the White Witch (Nicole Stratton) rules by force, manipulation, and magic and keeps the land frozen in a state of eternal winter. In their own world, the children are sent away from the air raids in London in an attempt to shield them from the reality of war and are constantly told to keep out of sight and out of trouble at the professor’s country home by his uptight housekeeper, Mrs. Macready (Lydia Miller). In Narnia, they are seen as the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy and immediately taken seriously by the Witch, who seeks to kill them as a threat to her power, and by a pair of beavers (Christian Lamas and Jennifer Swain) who risk their own lives to deliver the children to the great Lion Aslan, setting in motion an epic battle between good and evil.
The Logos Theatre uses an expansive cast and crew to keep the adventure (and its many parts!) moving seamlessly. Jesse Gould’s set design and Jeremiah Gould’s visual effects, including projections on the side and back walls of the theater, use every inch of the World Stage Theater space and give the illusion of a much larger world. Movable set pieces, including the titular wardrobe, the Beavers’ stick-framed home, and the imposing Stone Table, are skillfully rotated between scenes, often concealing or setting up character and costume changes. The characters walk through the aisles to the right and left of the stage, and between the two sections of the orchestra seating, immersing audiences in the story. My eight-year-old and I sat in the back row of the first orchestra section and experienced a great thrill when the life-sized puppet Aslan (designed and operated by a team of puppeteers led by Justin Swain) walked right behind us, near enough to touch.
See below: “A Q&A with Yisak Estifanos (age 8) about The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”
The crisp pacing, scene transitions, and use of the aisles for the characters to walk through are so effective in most of the play that the rare occasions where it’s done less well stand out. This chiefly occurs when Edmund leaves the Beavers’ house and heads to the White Witch’s castle near the end of the first act. In the book (and in the late-1980s BBC television series), Edmund’s journey through the snowy night forest to the castle is miserable, causing him to question his decision. In this play, Edmund’s abrupt appearance at the Witch’s castle almost immediately after leaving the Beavers’ home feels like a missed opportunity to engage with his character’s inner and outer struggles.
Puppetry, props (Kayla Goodfellow), costumes (Lucy Parker), and makeup (Rachel Maciejack and Rachel Sorgius) blend especially well to imbue Nicole Stratton’s White Witch and her wolves, led by Harrison Winkley as Maugrim, with icy terror. In one of the Logos Theatre’s few artistic liberties with Lewis’ text, the White Witch rides in a sleigh pulled by snarling, armored wolves instead of reindeer, adding to her intimidation factor from the moment she appears on stage. (So fearsome were the wolves that I half expected them to turn and snap at the Witch’s dwarf driver whenever he cracked his whip at them!)
C.S. Lewis wrote in 1956, after publishing the final volume in his seven-part Chronicles of Narnia, that “The Fantastic or Mythical is a Mode available at all ages for some readers; for others, at none. At all ages, if it is well used by the author and meets the right reader, it has the same power…” Seventy-five years after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe first appeared in print, its story of adventure and redemption, of power that seeks to dominate and destroy countered by power that sacrifices itself to restore and to heal, remains resonant on both page and stage. Viewers of all ages willing to immerse themselves in the fantastic and mythical will find much to enjoy in the Logos Theatre’s adaptation of Lewis’ tale and its reminder that even the coldest and darkest of winters eventually turn toward spring.
Running Time: Approximately two hours and 40 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission with presentation from event sponsor Compassion International.
UPDATE: Back by popular demand, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe returns from August 29 through October 19, 2025, presented by The Academy of Arts Logos Theatre, performing at the World Stage Theater on the fifth and sixth floors of the Museum of the Bible, 400 4th Street SW, Washington, DC. Tickets ($59–$85) are available for purchase online, at the Museum, or by calling (866) 430-MOTB.
For a limited time, exclusive free backstage passes are available with code FREEBSP. Backstage passes after the final show each day include:
A meet and greet with the cast
An up-close experience with the puppets
A behind-the-scenes look at how the production was made
This offer is available only for opening-weekend shows, August 29 to September 1, 2025, and there are only 50 backstage pass tickets per show.
A Q&A with Yisak Estifanos (age 8) about The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
From his handwritten notes, and our post-play conversation. Lightly edited for clarity. —Hannah Estifanos
Would you like to introduce yourself? What do you enjoy about going to see plays?
My name is Yisak Estifanos, and I am eight years old. I like going to plays because they are very dramatic. The first play I saw was The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show at Imagination Stage when I was little. Since then, I’ve been to Imagination Stage again, Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo, and the Museum of the Bible, where I just saw The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by the Logos Theatre.
Who were your favorite characters in the play and why?
I liked Aslan because he reminds me of Jesus. And I liked the wolves, because wolves are some of my favorite animals and they were very scary in the play.
Were there parts of the play that were exactly as you imagined the story when we read the book? Were there parts that surprised you?
I really liked how they made the wardrobe, especially how it had a lion and flying horses carved into it. The wardrobe looked just like I imagined.
I was surprised that instead of reindeer, they used wolves for the White Witch’s sleigh. And I was surprised that they made it Christmas in spring!
Are there other details you noticed about the play that you’d like to share?
They made an illusion [at the beginning]: they had one train car and made it look like more.
They made it look like birds were flying by putting them on the people’s shoulders.
They walked through the aisle to make it look like [the characters were taking] a long trip, and they made it look like the aisle was a forest.
They created a language [for Aslan and the White Witch] to keep their conversation secret.
What ages would you recommend this play for?
From young kids up to grandparents!
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
PRINCIPAL CAST
Peter Pevensie: Brinton Stratton
Susan Pevensie: Bethany Bliss
Edmund Pevensie: Emmett Yopp
Lucy Pevensie: Alice Johnson
White Witch: Nicole Stratton
Professor: Noah Stratton
Father Christmas, Oreius: David Smith
Mr. Tumnus: Sam Singleton
Mr. Beaver: Christian Lamas
Mrs. Beaver: Jennifer Swain
Maugrim: Harrison Winkley
ENSEMBLE CAST
Lucy Pevensie Alternate, Ensemble Cast: Ivy Jones
Mrs. Macready: Lydia Miller
Margaret, Ensemble Cast: Jane Shanks
Betty, Ensemble Cast: Katrina McMindes
Older Susan, Ensemble Cast: Hope Barr
Tree Puppeteer, Older Edmund, Ensemble Cast: Jared Yopp
Stilt Trees: Jeremy Singleton, Nathan Sorgius, Allison James
Flying Trees: Kathryn Popkin, Amelia Guy
Butler, Fox: Elijah Parker
Dwarf, Aslan Puppeteer: Jonathan Overstreet
Aslan Puppeteer, Ensemble Cast: Justin Swain
Tree Puppeteer, Aslan Puppeteer, Ensemble Cast: Ben Pilgrim
Aslan Puppeteer, Older Peter, Ensemble Cast: Berend Sandersfeld
Spring Dancer, Ensemble Cast: Bethany Guerrero, Brooklyn Guerrero
Bird Puppeteer, Ensemble Cast: Naomi Colon
Spring Dancer: Rachel Sorgius
Bird Puppeteer, Spring Dancer, Ensemble Cast: Erin Campagna
Creature, Ensemble Cast: Kristen Goodfellow
Giant, Ensemble Cast: Simeon Miller
Hag, Ensemble Cast: Jennifer James
Bird Puppeteer, Spring Dancer, Older Lucy, Ensemble Cast: Anna Gardner Herren
Wolf, Ensemble Cast: Zachary Bentley
Ensemble Cast: Abigail Pierce, Miles Coleman, Michael Ingraham, Briana Yopp
PRODUCTION TEAM
Writer, Director, and Choreographer: Nicole Stratton
Set Design: Jesse Gould
Costume Design: Lucy Parker, Lydia Miller, Sean Basto, Sylvia Jackson, Emily Bailey, Nicole Stratton
Makeup Design: Rachel Maciejack, Rachel Sorgius
Lighting Design: Sam Singleton
Sound Design: Olivia Singleton, Kathryn Popkin
Prop Design: Kayla Goodfellow
Marketing: Jennifer Swain, Allison James
Graphic Design: Liz Preston, Jeremiah Gould
Visual Effects: Jeremiah Gould
Media: Jennifer James, Ben Maciejack, Joe Butler, Matt Hainsworth, Naomi Swain, Ariel Hopkins
Puppetry: Justin Swain, Jesse Gould, Zak Minor
TECHNICAL CREW
Stage Crew Manager: Jeremy Singleton
Costumes Manager: Lucy Parker
Lighting Technician: Nathan Weaver
Live Audio: Ashley Hallam
Sound/Puppet Voice Technician: Olivia Singleton
Prop Manager: Kristen Goodfellow
Makeup Manager: Rachel Sorgius
Dressers: Kathryn Popkin, Briana Yopp, Amelia Guy