ensemble members in Cheaper by the Dozen
The Playcrafters Barn Theatre closes out its 2025 season with Cheaper by the Dozen, adapted for the stage by Christopher Sergel and directed by Emma Terronez. It offers family-friendly entertainment … if also entertainment devoid of yuletide cheer for the particularly Christmas-adverse.
While it shares a title with the 2003 film starring Steven Martin, this play’s resemblance stops there. Based on the semi-autobiographical novel written in 1948 by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey (which was later turned into a 1950 movie), Cheaper by the Dozen tells the story of the Gilbreth family. The father is hyper-fixated on keeping his family as efficient as possible, like they’re workers in his factory. In particular, he’s focused on making sure his children all graduate school early for reasons that are unveiled later. Set in the 1920s, the play follows the clan as they navigate the joys of child-rearing and the ever-constant disagreements between generations. “Disagreements,” here, amounting to the family patriarch chafing at the thought of his daughters wanting to wear stockings and makeup and go out on soda dates. It’s quaint, harmless fun.
After researching the info in the prior paragraph, though, I have to digress and gripe. The real-life parents, Frank Bunker Gilbreth and Lillian Moller Gilbreth, were each accomplished and impressive individuals in their own rights. Frank was an engineer and author, while Lillian was an engineer, psychologist, educator, and even earned a freaking PhD. Here, she’s reduced to “Mother,” and her brilliance is barely alluded to. What a shame.
Okay, moving on. Terronez's cast is composed of a handful of adults and an abundance of children. There are the aforementioned parents, Mr. Gilbreth (Joe Urbaitis) and Mrs. Gilbreth (Emmalee Hillburn), both of whom ground the whole production with a great deal of parental gravitas. There are ancillary characters in a visiting doctor (Bradley Franks), a stuffy educator (Jonna Hicks-Bird), and the family cook (Ashley Hoskins). Then there are the nine Gilbreth children (the other three are unnamed and unseen babies), as well as a couple of teenage suitors (Lennon Roberts and Nathan Hartfelt) who come to woo the eldest child. The story's primary focus is on the eldest daughters: Anne (Chloe Hansen), Ernestine (the magnetic Whitney Brown), and Martha (Cami Beyer). Ernestine is accompanied by Frank (Levi Bacon), who helps narrate and set the scene for what comes in the following years. The remaining kids are portrayed by Archie Nolen, Caleb Beyer, Carson Kowalik, Ella Hoskins Richmond (the real-life daughter of Ashley). and Azalea Hillburn (the real-life daughter of Emmalee).
Cheaper by the Dozen's actors are all enjoyable enough, and perform the script well, despite some occasional opening-night issues with projection here and there. It’s fun watching the next generation of local actors getting their bearings on stage. Terronez utilizes the full length of the stage and keeps her cast moving so that things rarely go stagnant. But most importantly, the kids look like they’re having fun, and that’s what truly matters in a production that predominantly features children.
Unfortunately, the technical elements on Friday were a bit of a mixed bag. The costume design by Terronez and Elle Winchester was charming and close enough to period-appropriate. The scenic design by Winchester and Chris Sambdman was largely good, though some of the finer details left a lot to be desired. Meanwhile, the lighting design was patchy, with some segments of the stage being almost totally dark as actors would cross through them. Finally, the sound design was frustrating, with scene changes happening in silence, and then the occasional sound cue either coming in way too loud or way too quiet.
Overall, Cheaper by the Dozen is a sweet and warm play to close out Playcrafters' 2025 year. It features a slew of children who are evidently having a blast, and a story that will offend no one, with a hearty dose of nostalgia on the side.
Cheaper by the Dozen runs at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre (4950 35th Avenue, Moline IL) through December 21, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)762-0330 and visiting Playcrafters.com.
