TRIBECA — Old-fashioned phone booths have long since vanished from Lower Manhattan's streets — but one will appear onstage this spring as the star of a new play at the Manhattan Children's Theatre.
"The Lonely Phone Booth," based on a picture book by Upper West Side resident Peter Ackerman, tells the tale of one of the last remaining phone booths in New York City.
In the book, the sad, forgotten phone booth becomes indispensible during a snowstorm, galvanizing neighbors to prevent it from being torn down.
Cully Long, managing director at the TriBeCa-based Manhattan Children's Theatre, said he decided to turn the book into a play after hearing from several parents whose children were captivated by the story.
"We really love stories that speak to an urban experience," Long said. "A lot of children's books tend to be about animals on a farm. When you can get into something more appropriate to the everyday experience of a Manhattan 4-year-old, we're automatically attracted to that."
Writer Kristin Walter is drafting the script, expanding the colorful tale to a 45-minute show and possibly adding a song or two, Long said.
The original idea for "The Lonely Phone Booth" came to Ackerman as he was walking around the Upper West Side several years ago. His young son pointed to one of the last phone booths in the city and asked, "Why is that phone in a box?"
To Ackerman, "The Lonely Phone Booth" is about the community uniting around a cause and saving the phone booth, which helps everyone else connect but can't speak for itself.
"It's dependent on its neighbors to rise up and say, 'You can't take the phone booth away,'" Ackerman said.
"This is an example of people who are told something is going to happen [the booth being torn down], but they decide there's a better way."
The book, published in 2010 and illustrated by Max Dalton, has grown so popular that Ackerman said he has heard of children taking field trips to the four phone booths on West End Avenue that are still standing and inspired the story.
Ackerman, 41, said he was pleasantly surprised when he heard this fall that Manhattan Children's Theatre wanted to turn the book into a play.
"I'm excited about it," Ackerman said. "I'm very curious to see it."
"The Lonely Phone Booth" will run at the Manhattan Children's Theatre, 380 Broadway, from March 31 to April 28, 2012.
