This moving and familiar tale about a puppet, woodcarver, blue lady, and talking cricket is told in a new gender-inclusive way that references popular culture and borrows from different performance styles, including vaudeville, classic cartoons, silent film, and sketch comedy, to ask, "What does it mean to be human?" Based on the 1883 children’s fantasy novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi, The Tragical, Comical, Historical Adventures of Pinocchio was commissioned by Playmakers of Baton Rouge and produced with a mix of 27 professional and student actors as part of the 2011-2012 main stage season. It was then workshopped and staged with 9 actors at the 2013 Patti Pace Festival as a keynote performance.