Charlotte’s Web Closes Out 2025-2026 Wheelock Family Theatre Season
6,000 schoolchildren expected to attend performances of stage adaptation of E.B. White’s beloved children’s story
Charlotte’s Web Closes Out 2025-2026 Wheelock Family Theatre Season
6,000 schoolchildren expected to attend performances of stage adaptation of E.B. White’s beloved children’s story
Cast members of Wheelock Family Theatre’s production of Charlotte’s Web, on stage through April 26. At center is Anna Kovas as Fern and Malik Mitchell as Wilbur. Photos by Benjamin Rose Photography
This article was originally published in BU Today on April 1, 2026. By John O’Rourke
EXCERPT
Who doesn’t recall the first time they read E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, the story of an enterprising barn spider named Charlotte who saves the life of a pig named Wilbur by weaving words and phrases into her web that turn him into a celebrity, saving him from the slaughterhouse. The gentle antics of White’s barnyard animals have been entertaining young readers since the book first appeared in 1952. In the intervening decades, more than 50 million copies of Charlotte’s Web have been sold, cementing it as a children’s classic that’s still routinely taught in classrooms. For many young readers, the book serves as their first introduction to the cycle of life and death.
Now, Wheelock Family Theatre is bringing E.B. White’s barnyard to life in a theatrical adaptation by Joseph Robinette. In fact, Charlotte’s Web is the most produced show in WFT’s history (this is the seventh time it’s been staged, the first time in a decade).
“This is one of those plays that continues to get brought back year after year across the country,” says Nick Vargas (Questrom’23), WFT executive director. “It’s a story of hope, and I think we’re in a time where hope and joy are often hard to feel. I want audiences to come and feel those things.”
The current production has several new features that set it apart from previous stagings. For starters, it’s being staged with a small ensemble cast, with actors shifting effortlessly between human and animal characters. “There is an opportunity for the actors to be playful and turn into different characters in the blink of an eye, sometimes in front of the audience, and then asking the audience to expand their imagination and to play with us, too,” Vargas says.
Demand for the show is among the highest of any Wheelock Family Theatre production, with an estimated 10,000 people expected to attend a performance, including 6,000 school children coming to one of the show’s matinees, made possible by subsidized ticket prices.
Vargas says he’s not surprised by schools’ outpouring of interest in attending the show. “Teachers are eager to bring stories to life and they’re eager to provide their students with the opportunity to take what they’ve been reading and learning about and see it on the stage.”
And to help teachers and students alike, WFT has produced a resource guide for educators that includes a range of activities they can use in the classroom, among them a section on how teachers can talk to their students about loss and death. And families can scan a QR code for a set of four questions they can use to discuss the story’s themes with their children.
CHARLOTTE’S WEB
Runs weekends through April 26 at Wheelock Family Theatre, 180 Riverway, Boston.
Adapted from the beloved novel by E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web tells the heartwarming story of friendship, loyalty, and the cycle of life on a family farm. As season change, the animals experience joy, fear, and loss, ultimately celebrating the enduring power of love and selflessness.