Jacked! A Beanstalk Remix

Jacked! A Beanstalk Remix at Coterie Theatre

A golden goose sounds like the answer to every problem—until the eggs it lays turn your neighbors into addicts.

Jacked! A Beanstalk Remix takes the old tale of a desperate boy and a magic theft and spins it into something closer to home. Writer Idris Goodwin uses hip-hop and spoken-word poetry to tell Jack's story through rhythmic language and breakbeats, turning the familiar climb into a modern reckoning. At the Coterie Theatre, this sixty-minute work replaces sing-along charm with urgent questions about what we're willing to risk when hunger won't wait.

Jack's farm can't feed him or his community, and his mother has nothing left to offer. So he climbs, he steals, and he brings home treasure that glows with promise. But those golden eggs carry an intoxicating power that doesn't solve the village's troubles—it magnifies them. The gift that seemed like salvation becomes a curse that spreads through the people Jack wanted to save.

The opioid epidemic rarely appears in fairy tales, but Goodwin plants it squarely in the beanstalk's shadow. Jack wants to help; the consequences ripple beyond his control. It's a story built for ages ten and older, using poetry and rhythm to explore what happens when a quick fix costs more than anyone expected.

Grab your ticket for Kansas City and see a classic tale stripped down and remade into something that hits harder than giants ever could.