What’s On in Children’s Theatre in October

You may or may not believe this (the choice is yours) but I believe that the theatre cats at the Starborn Revue, Lady and Sir, have a little bit of magic somewhere inside them. That magic lets them visit theatres and concert halls all over the world when I think they’re backstage here at the Revue.

Once a month, I’m going to tell you what they’ve discovered on their travels, sharing with you what’s on at various children’s theatres or concert venues somewhere in the world. So watch for the new feature, “What’s On,” the last Wednesday of every month. There’s a cool map feature that will accompany the posts — watch for the link at the end of the post.

This month, Lady and Sir have been to Minnesota and to England (lucky cats) and they’ve found out about three theatres that are producing shows in October. One theatre will be touring around several places in the United Kingdom (in both England and Scotland). Each of these theatres has special ways to share their productions with as many kids as possible, no matter what their circumstances. I’d say that’s empowering!

The Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota is presenting a play intended for kids in 3rd to 8th grade called SEEDFOLKS. It’s about a girl who looks at a junky vacant lot, and sees possibilities instead of hopelessness. She imagines a garden there — and works to make it happen. SEEDFOLKS runs from September 30 to November 16. For more information and for tickets, you can go to the Children’s Theatre Company website.

Besides the regular performances, CTC presents an American Sign Language (ASL) performance for hearing impaired kids. This performance is also Audio Described (AD) for vision impaired kids. The theatre has also supplied an audience guide, so that people can know more about the play before attending. Be sure you click on all the icons for the audience guide, to learn more about the playwright and the actors, to find discussion materials and videos, and to find further resources.

Stages Theatre Company in Hopkins, Minnesota has two productions coming up based on kids’ books. Stages does a fabulous job of bringing books to life. From September 19 to October 19, they’re presenting JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH. James and his friends go on a fantastic sea voyage from England to New York in this adaptation by David Wood of the classic Roald Dahl book.

Stages presents a “Pay What You Can” performance for kids who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford to attend a live theatre production. That’s on September 21. They also have an ASL and AD performance, on October 4th, as well as a captioned performance on October 11th. For more information about JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, click here for Stages’ website.

From October 10 to  November 2, Stages is presenting a play based on the book ZEN TIES by Jon J. Muth, about a giant panda and his friends who have to cope with a grouchy neighbor. This is a World Premiere — no one in the world has done this play before. There will be a “Pay What You Can” performance on October 12. For more information about ZEN TIES, click here.

I will be posting an interview with one of the actors of ZEN TIES on the 3rd Wednesday in October. The interview might just have some comments from other members of the cast of ZEN TIES as well as cast members from JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH.

Now let’s go “across the pond” to Theatre Hullabaloo in England, where they’re preparing for a tour of various cities in England and Scotland from October 10 to November 8. The play they’re presenting is ANGEL, about an unlikely friendship that springs up between a young girl and an elderly woman. The first stop on their tour is Darlington in the north of England (by coincidence, that’s where my paternal grandfather was born!)

Theatre Hullabaloo’s website states “Our work is driven by the belief that young audiences have an entitlement to theatre of the highest quality which inspires the imagination and challenges the mind.” To find out more about Theatre Hullabaloo, and about this particular tour, check out their website.

Earlier in this post, I mentioned a map — there’s now a WHAT’S ON map page here at The Starborn Revue. On the page, there’s a big world map where I’ll put pins each month to indicate the theatres we’re visiting virtually that month. Below the large map there will be smaller maps showing exactly where each theatre is located, and a little information about that month’s theatre production(s).

To see what I mean, click this link. Be sure to scroll down so you don’t miss anything! The maps will be there all month — if you happen to be near one of the places, you can always check back to see what’s on.

If there’s a kids’ theatre event or concert coming up in your area, let me know so that I can feature it on the next edition of WHAT’S ON!