Theatre Albany’s ‘Into the Woods’ … what happens after happily ever after?

ALBANY — Pretty much all of us grew up with the fairy tale characters that were ingrained in us during our youth: Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack who traded his cow for magic beans …

But in 1986, musical impresario Stephen Sondheim took a look at those characters and asked: “What happens after happily ever after?”

Answering that question was the basis for Sondheim’s classic “Into the Woods,” a play that takes a look at these fairy tale characters as they deal with some of life’s losses, dangers and hard choices.

Demi Addison lived most of her formative years dwelling on – and bringing to life on stages – some of those characters of her youth. Now a mom, but no less a theater geek, Addison was pleased to be selected to bring Sondheim’s classic to the Theatre Albany stage over the next two weekends.

“This play was brought to me by the community,” Addison, who made her directorial debut during Theatre Albany’s 2025-26 season, bringing “Little Women” to the stage, said. “I wanted dearly to direct ‘Little Women’ because it’s one of my favorite novels and musicals. ‘Into the Woods’ is such a bittersweet story, I was thrilled when I was approached about directing.”

“Into the Woods,” which will be brought to the stage by a troupe of 27 Theatre Albany thespians, is scheduled for performances Sept. 11-13 and 18-21. The two Sunday shows are 2:30 p.m. matinees. Friday and Saturday shows each weekend start at 7:30 p.m.

Addison caught the theater bug in high school, primarily because both of her parents were involved in local theater, and she carried her torch for acting into college and beyond, performing in a number of community theater productions. When she returned home to southwest Georgia, the lure of the stage called out to her. And she answered.

Now, though, she’s making her mark as a director, bringing to life the actions of an entire cast, not just a single character.

“It’s a powerful feeling, but a daunting one,” Addison said of directing. “It’s a different feeling from acting. When you’re on stage, you get your joy from the audience and their reaction. With directing, though, it’s like you spend the weeks leading up to the performance preparing this thing, and then when it’s time for the performances, you give it over to the actors and the audience.

“Trust is essential, and honestly, directing can lead to a slippery slope where the director becomes the ‘god’ of the play and wants everything done in his or her image. That’s why I’m fortunate to have such a talented cast, the ones who are regular actors in our productions and new ones who are really, really talented. I’m surrounded by teammates who have knocked me off my feet. Sure, it’s a cliche’, but we’ve become a little family.”

As she prepares for “Into the Woods’” opening night, Addison ponders a question as to whether directing has her thinking of returning to the stage as a performer.

“There are times in a production like this that you start to feel like a puppeteer, with a say in all these moving pieces,: she said. “Directing is a different kind of job, and when you build the kind of closeness we have, you have the chance to create something together.

“I might at some point want to take on a role as a specific character, and there are times I look at a character and say ‘If that was me, I’d …’ But seeing all these pieces come together, all this hard work paying off, there’s just a lot of joy in this.”