TPAC offering Family Field Trips this season
The Family Field Trips are designed to give children and adults a fun, family-friendly experience with live performance. The lively, high-quality entertainment features artists with international reputations and a multi-cultural blend of art with broad appeal to people of different ages and backgrounds.
“For more than two decades, TPAC Education has presented an extraordinary season of theatre, dance and music?stellar programming from local and international artists, a national model that sells out year after year,” said Kathleen O?Brien, TPAC?s president and CEO. “Now, we?re extending that to the general public, priced with families in mind. The Family Field Trips reflect the quality and variety in arts and entertainment that audiences have enjoyed at TPAC for years. This is what we do. This is what makes TPAC distinctly different from anyplace else. Our four theaters are equipped to handle many different kinds of productions, from blockbusters and the world?s great works of art, to these absolute jewels of entertainment in our first family series.”
The three-show series includes the following performances:
?Little Donkey,? December 9, a clever, comical musical adapted from popular children?s literature by Theater Terra, winner of the Netherlands? top theatre award;
?Strings of Fire,? February 10, featuring the rich traditions, sights and sounds of South American and Cuban music as performed by Cuerdas de Fuego Ensemble; and
?Moving Beyond Balance,? March 31, an edgy, athletic blend of dance theatre, illusion, gymnastics, physical comedy and circus skills from Snappy Dance Theatre, a professional troupe based in Boston.
The productions are also highlights of TPAC Education?s 2006-2007 “Season for Young People,” a weekday series of performances that serves up to 40,000 students and educators from across the state annually (more than 1.4 million since 1983). TPAC selected these three companies for the new series to provide variety in art forms and world culture, in addition to genuine public appeal to a broad age range.
The new series, which builds on tremendous response to weekend Family Field Trips TPAC Education presented in 2003 and 2005, has entertainment, cultural awareness, and educational value for audiences of all ages?equally enjoyed by young children, teenagers, and adults.
“We see a tremendous demand for family programming at TPAC. Parents and grandparents are always looking for entertainment that the whole family can enjoy together,” said O?Brien, noting the response to ?Annie,? ?Peter Pan,? ?Sones de Mexico Ensemble,? ?The Story Builders,? ?Dora the Explorer,? ?Stomp? and other recent family-friendly titles.
?In Little Donkey,? expressive, English-speaking actors from Amsterdam are fully visible to the audience as their larger-than-life puppets tell an adventure-filled story about friendship. Crafted in the same theatrical tradition (Japanese Bunraku) that inspired the costumes in Disney?s The Lion King, the production creates a colorful world for the imagination and the lovable characters from books by Rindert Kromhout and Annamarie van Haeringen.
?Strings of Fire? (“Cuerdas de Fuego”) is a lively, interactive show with Ramon Romero on the harp, the national instrument of his native Paraguay, Rafael Manriquez of Chile (guitar and vocals) and percussionist Carlos Caro of Cuba. Much smaller than its cousin in the orchestra, the Paraguayan harp often sounds like a guitar, from rapidly picked melodies to rich combinations of chords. The internationally renowned artists use a variety of fun-to-watch techniques to play traditional and contemporary music from Latin America.
As the title ?Moving Beyond Balance? suggests, Snappy Dance Theatre has earned a reputation for surprising the eye with special effects and the seemingly-impossible physical feats of company members. Visibly influenced by diverse backgrounds in comedy, sports, theatre, and even the circus, the high-energy troupe puts on a funny show that crosses the boundaries of age, gender and culture.
Individual tickets for Family Field Trips are $9 for children twelve and younger, and $12 for adults. For individual tickets, visit the TPAC Box Office (Downtown or at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in The Mall at Green Hills), or any Ticketmaster outlet. Tickets may also be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 615/255-ARTS (2787). Adult tickets are available for purchase at online at www.tpac.org.
Three-show subscriptions are available for $27 per person, offering such incentives as a discount and preferred seating. Subscriptions can be purchased at the TPAC Box Office (Downtown or at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in The Mall at Green Hills) or by mail. Please call 615/782-4019 to be added to the mailing list.
A limited number of “pay what you can” seats will be available beginning at 12:30 p.m. on the day of each performance. With a minimal contribution to TPAC Education, patrons can gain admission based on an honor system of what they can afford to pay.
For more information, please visit www.tpac.org/shows/familyfieldtrip or call 615/782-4019.